LADbible to shed jobs in Australian business restructure

UK-based youth publisher LADbible  is restructuring its Aussie business at the end of the year, with 52 employees at risk of redundancy.

EXCLUSIVE

UK-based youth publisher LADbible is restructuring its Australian business at the end of 2023, with 52 Australian staff at risk of redundancy across its Sydney and Melbourne offices.

A source, who declined to be named, told news.com.au that the announcement was made to Australian staff on Sunday, September 12 by UK-based chief financial officer Tim Croston.

“He came in and just read off a piece of paper,” the source said, adding that they believed the local management team did not know the announcement was coming.

“All staff were made redundant but will work until the end of the year and will receive redundancy repayments.”

A spokesperson for LADBible confirmed that up to 52 staff are affected, however the spokesperson added that it is exploring the possibility of continuing its Australian operations through a "strategic partnership" which could lead to some roles being retained.

"We are not closing, the business will continue but with an optimised operating model," the spokesperson said.

"We intend to centralise our editorial and social content to our industry leading teams in the UK and we are in discussions with a number of strategic partners to continue our commercial business in Australia."

"We are confident that this operating model, in place for the new year, will further grow our audience across our APAC brands and continue to deliver the high-quality content we are known for."

"The ambition is for around a third of these individuals to be part of the strategic partnership we are exploring in market and so it is hoped therefore that the actual number of redundancies will be far fewer than the ‘at risk’ headcount."

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LADbible CEO and co-founder Alexander ‘Solly’ Solomou.

According to its website, LADbible Australia, which launched in 2019, has a readership of around 10.8 million. It also operates SPORTbible Australia.

LADbible is part of LBG Media Group, a UK-based niche publisher, which listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market in late 2021 with a valuation of £360 million (A$692 million).

The company was founded by Alexander ‘Solly’ Solomou and Arian Kalantari in 2012 in Manchester as a Facebook page while they were studying at university.

Mr Kalantari stepped down from the business in July this year, while Mr Solomou is its CEO.

The Group also includes titles such as SPORTbible, GAMINGbible, UNILAD, female-focused publisher Tyla, branded content agency Joyride and licensing arm CONTENTbible.

The source said the decision to shut its Australian business didn’t come as a surprise.

Co-founder Arian Kalantari left the business earlier this year.

In October, LBG bought US business Betches Media, a digital publisher with a focus on millennial and Gen Z women, a move it said “significantly accelerates growth and presence in the key US market”, and it is understood the company has been increasingly focussed on its US business.

“I wasn’t overly surprised, despite the fact that [the Australian operations] were the only part of the business to turn a profit,” the source said.

However, LBG  disputes the suggestion that its Australian business is the only part of the organisation turning a profit. 

"It is not factually correct to say that the Australian business is the only profitable part of the Group," a spokesperson said.

The source added that following the group’s disappointing financial performance in 2022, which saw its net profit after tax fall six per cent compared to the previous year, LADbible’s UK Christmas party was cancelled, and its Australian party delayed.

“LADbible APAC (Asia Pacific) staff were told we didn’t have to worry about redundancies and that our Christmas party would be rescheduled to February 2023,” the source added.

In its 2022 full year results presentation, the company described Australia as a “core international market” adding that: “the performance in Australia was particularly strong”.

But, the source said, alarm bells were sounded after a local HR staff member left the firm not long after being appointed, and the company “sent a mass email saying they had mucked up super payments”.

The email LADbible sent to Australian staff regarding their superannuation payments. Picture: Supplied.

In the email, supplied to news.com.au, LADbible blamed the delay in paying super for the first three months of 2023 to its Australian staff on a technical error.

The email said all staff would “receive the owed amount plus interest”.

“I can also confirm that the system issue was fully resolved and Q2 super payments were processed without issue,” the email, sent in August, continued.

Its recently-announced half year results for 2023 show LBG Media Group made revenue of £27.2 million (A$52.3 million) for an operating loss of £1.3 million (A$2.5 million).

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