LadBible, one of the UK’s biggest online media success stories, is sacking 10% of its staff following a slump in its share price and a warning about tough trading conditions.
The Manchester-based company blamed the state of the economy, which it variously attributed to the war in Ukraine, the hangover from Covid lockdowns and growing price inflation caused by “political instability”.
Staff were told the redundancies, which follow a recent hiring spree, were necessary to “put ourselves in a better position when markets have settled and economic growth returns”.
LadBible was founded by 31-year-old Alexander “Solly” Solomou, who retains a substantial stake but cashed in shares worth about £50m when it floated last December. Since then the share price has fallen by 65% as the market soured on media and tech stocks, leaving some investors facing hefty losses.
Insiders at the company suggested the future of the business could hinge on whether it can successfully expand into the US, where it has opened an office and hired a small number of staff ahead of a full launch next year. Advertising rates are much higher in the US and LadBible already has an enormous reach in the country thanks to users who consume content produced for its existing UK and Australian audiences. However, the US is a notoriously tricky place for overseas media outlets to expand.
Although LadBible had its roots in sexist Facebook pages, it long ago reinvented itself as a youth-focused publisher best known for viral social media posts aimed at men and women. This allows it to reach an enormous audience – it claims its content reached 315 million people in the first six months of 2022 – but it can be hard to monetise those page views, while the approach also leaves the business at the whims of social media algorithms.
LadBible last month announced it had made a half-year pre-tax loss of £1.9m, which it mainly attributed to the costs of hiring more staff. This recent expansion has made the sudden redundancies even more surprising for employees.
It is not alone among British media companies who fear that advertising income could be cut in the coming months if the UK enters a recession and companies slash their marketing budgets. The company has outlasted many of the new media startups that attracted substantial investment in the 2010s, while swallowing up former rivals such as UniLad.
