http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/a...rofits-of-porn
Massive porn site network has Montreal roots
Try this as an experiment: Search the word ?sex? in Google and see what you find.
The first result is the Wikipedia entry for ?sex.? And second? Pornhub.com, a no-holds-barred hardcore sex site with thousands of videos anyone can watch for free.
It?s a company that was started by a group of friends in Montreal that?s behind Pornhub.
In fact, the company, which is now called Manwin, owns what?s believed to be the biggest network of online porn sites in the world.
You?ll find virtually no mention of the fact on its website, including its job postings, yet it?s behind hugely successful hardcore websites such as Brazzers and Mofos ? and dozens of others unmentionables in a family newspaper.
It?s also behind several YouTube-like Internet porn channels, which allow viewers to watch videos for free. One of the biggest such ?tube? sites is Pornhub.
Tube sites are controversial because while porn producers accuse them of posting pirated content, they also hope people would be enticed to enter the pay sites and buy memberships. That doesn?t often happen.
The advent of tube sites has severely eaten away at the profits of online porn pay sites and traditional video production companies.
?They are the YouTube of porn,? says Sean Defreitas, an owner of Toronto-based Trifecta Creations. ?They?re hurting a lot of people who pre-produce content.?
Manwin, with its pay sites and its tube sites, plays both sides. Despite repeated requests, the company refused to grant an interview to the Star.
The friends, some of whom knew each other from Concordia University, sold out in 2010 to a German online porn entrepreneur, for well over $100 million, according to New York magazine.
Manwin has more than 325 employees in its Montreal office.