Feras Antoon
Born (1975-06-29) 29 June 1975 (age 48)
Damascus, Syria
NationalityCanadian
Alma materConcordia University
OccupationBusinessman
Known forCo-owner, MindGeek
TitleCEO, MindGeek
SpouseNicole Manos

Feras Antoon (Arabic: فراس انطون, romanized: Firas Antūn; born 29 June 1975) is a Syrian-Canadian pornographer, and the co-owner and CEO of Aylo, the world's largest pornography company, which runs sites including YouPorn and Pornhub. He created his first porn website in the early 2000s before co-founding Brazzers, which specialized in the MILF segment of porn distribution. He and David Tassillo later bought Manwin (MindGeek, Aylo) from Fabian Thylmann.

Early life

Feras Antoon was born on 29 June 1975 in the city of Damascus, Syria, before immigrating to Canada. A resident of Montreal, he graduated with an engineering degree from Montreal's Concordia University.[1]

Career

In the early 2000s, with four other recent Concordia engineering graduates, he created his first porn website for Mansef Productions. The company was run by Stéphane Manos, and Antoon would become his brother-in-law.[2]

Their first porn company, Brazzers, was set up in about 2005 by Ouissam Youssef, Matt Keezer, Stephane Manos, and Feras Antoon with the company name being an allusion/homage to their mainly Middle Eastern origins, and their pronunciation of "Brothers".[3] Brazzers focused on the sexualization of MILFs.[4] According to Antoon, "At first, they focused on busty women, because the big tits niche was so cheap. They realized that the MILF niche – the older-women niche – is even bigger. And they became masters of the big-tit-MILF niche".[4] Further expansion led to sites including YouPorn, before all the businesses were sold to German businessman Fabian Thylmann for an estimated $140 million.[3]

In January 2011, commenting on paid and free ("tube") porn sites, Antoon said, "I personally have one or two memberships, and I still go to the tubes. I get my appetizer on the tubes, my main course on one of the sites."[5]

Following his extradition from Belgium to Germany in 2012, on charges of tax evasion, Fabian Thylmann, the owner of Manwin (which changed its name to MindGeek in 2013 and Aylo in 2023) sold the company to its two senior managers, Antoon and COO David Tassillo, for a reported €73 million.[6][7] Antoon is the CEO of Aylo (formerly Mindgeek, Manwin), which in 2014 was described as a "porn monopoly".[7][8]

By 2016, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) in Montreal had executed search warrants and obtained cease-trade orders for 13 people, with allegations of insider trading including Antoon, David Baazov, Josh Baazov, and John Chatzidakis.[9]

Personal life

Antoon lives in Montreal, Canada.[10][11] He is married to Nicole Manos, a Canadian of Greek descent. The couple have two sons. Nicole is the daughter of George Manos and Louise Laberge Manos (1952–2017).[2] His brother Mark Antoon is a vice-president of Aylo.[12] Antoon's Can$19-million dollar mansion in the 'Mafia Row' neighbourhood of Montreal burnt down in a suspected arson on 26 April 2021.[13][14] Ten months later, he made unsubstantiated claims that someone incited by "extremist religious groups" from the "darkest corners of the internet" was responsible for the destruction.[15]

References

  1. ^ Pailliez, Caroline (8 February 2014). "Les rois de la porno sont des Montréalais". Le Journal de Montréal (in French). Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  2. ^ a b Pailliez, Caroline (8 February 2014). "Une entreprise familiale, mais pas pour la famille". Le Journal de Montréal. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  3. ^ a b "March 2012 Archives – 10/10 – Philosophy for life". www.philosophyforlife.org. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  4. ^ a b Nancy Jo Sales (23 February 2016). American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-385-35393-9. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  5. ^ Wallace, Benjamin (30 January 2011). "The Geek-Kings of Smut". NYMag.com. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  6. ^ "Germany's 'Porno King' gives up empire". The Local. Berlin, Germany: The Local Europe GmbH. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  7. ^ a b "How a (Canadian-founded) company you've never heard of took control of the porn industry". National Post. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  8. ^ "Executive Profile: Feras Antoon". Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  9. ^ Linde, Damon van der (23 March 2016). "How Amaya CEO David Baazov went from high school dropout to running the world's biggest online poker room". Financial Post. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  10. ^ Linde, Damon van der (2 September 2016). "'2016 will be our best year': How the geeks took over Montreal's porn industry". Financial Post. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  11. ^ Lemco, Tyler (21 October 2016). "Forget LA: Montreal Is North America's Porn Hub". Thrillist. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  12. ^ Balsam, Joel (30 November 2016). "How Montreal Went from Sin City to Porn Hub". Vice. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  13. ^ "Montreal mansion of Pornhub owner destroyed in criminal fire". CBC. 26 April 2021.
  14. ^ Jain, Akshita (27 April 2021). "Pornhub CEO's mansion goes up in flames in suspected arson". The Independent. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Pornhub's elusive co-owner broke a decade-long media silence after his $16 million mansion burned to the ground". Business Insider Nederland. 19 January 2022.
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