Pornhub Parent Company's CEO, COO Resign: What Forced Them To Leave?

MindGeek, the internet company that operates the Pornhub platform, has announced the resignations of CEO Feras Antoon and COO David Tassillo.

What Happened: Variety reported the departure of the executives in a statement issued by MindGeek.

“Antoon and Tassillo leave MindGeek’s day-to-day operations after more than a decade in leadership positions with the company,” the statement said. “With the company strategically positioned for long-term growth, MindGeek’s executive leadership team will run day-to-day operations on an interim basis, with a search underway for replacements.”

MindGeek said it has been coordinating a leadership transition since early in the year, adding that Antoon and Tassillo will remain shareholders in the privately owned company that is majority-owned by Bernd Bergmair, a former Goldman Sachs GS banker.

See Also: Mrs. Claus Tops Pornhub Naughty List For Most-Searched Christmas Characters

Why It Happened: Antoon and Tassillo’s exit follows a lengthy investigative report into the company by the New Yorker that determined Pornhub hosted sexually explicit nonconsensual videos — including footage involving children — for years despite policies that supposedly prevented such videos from being made available.

"MindGeek is registered in the tax haven of Luxembourg, but its main office is in Montreal," said the New Yorker investigative article.

"The company employs around sixteen hundred people, and the online platforms it owns, which include Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn, and Brazzers, received approximately 4.5 billion visits each month in 2020, according to a company spokesperson — almost double Google and Facebook combined."

MindGeek’s website defined the company as being on a mission to “deliver a world-class portfolio of entertainment experiences and IT solutions to a global customer base, utilizing our expertise to drive innovation and build new solutions exceeding customer expectations.”

The company’s website makes no mention of its adult entertainment properties.

Photo: Marco Verch/Flickr Creative Commons.