Episode 2: The Darth Vader of Porn

Explicit content warning

06/07/22 • 32 min

2 Listeners

Hot Money: The New Narcos

A decade ago, a computer programmer named Fabian Thylmann began to build one of the biggest porn empires in the world.

How did Fabian do it? He was good with money in a business that was starved of finance. He convinced Wall Street to bankroll his vision to take control of the industry.

If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A decade ago, a computer programmer named Fabian Thylmann began to build one of the biggest porn empires in the world.

How did Fabian do it? He was good with money in a business that was starved of finance. He convinced Wall Street to bankroll his vision to take control of the industry.

If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Previous Episode

Episode 1: Porn Meets the Internet

1 Recommendations

Stoya is a porn star who saw first-hand how a firehose of free porn online transformed the adult industry.

She sends hosts Alex Barker and Patricia Nilsson a quest: Find out who is in charge, and get to the bottom of how the business of porn really works.

If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next Episode

Episode 3: Mr. Goldman, Mr. Sex

When Fabian Thylmann ran into trouble with the law, a former Goldman Sachs banker swooped in to buy his porn sites. But nobody knew who he was. He managed to keep his identity a secret for years --- until Patricia rumbled his game.

If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hot Money: The New Narcos - Episode 2: The Darth Vader of Porn

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:15.516

Pushkin. So warning time. We're two journalists from the Financial Times, and for six months we were set free to pursue one question. Who controls the porn industry. There's some content that really won't be suitable for kids, and only when strictly necessary, we've used recordings of investment bankers in the wild.

Speaker 100:00:45.996

I want to take you back in time to two thousand and twelve, to winter evening