LOS ANGELES — Gathering information from industry “insiders,” CNBC has listed “Porn’s Most Powerful Players” on Yahoo.com.
There are no big surprises on the list to those in adult, but the article did report a few not-so-common facts from its sources about the big names, along with slide show photos.
For example, the piece mentions that CCBill processes $1 billion transactions a year, ECN/IVD's Frank Kay now owns Baci Lingerie, and Kink.com’s San Francisco Armory headquarters was bought for $14.5 million.
In no particular order, the who’s who list includes Manwin’s Fabian Thylmann, Larry Flynt, LA Direct Model’s Derek Hay, CCBill’s Ron Cadwell, Steven Hirsch, attorney Marc Randazza, East Coast News/IVD’s Frank Koretsky, Doc Johnson’s Ron Braverman, Kink.com CEO Peter Acworth, and gossip blogger Mike South.
CNBC pointed out that performers rarely have any power in the industry and it’s the big guns behind the scenes that pull the strings. “While some [power brokers] have familiar names, the majority prefer to keep a low profile. And more and more, the most powerful people in porn have no direct ties to onscreen sex.”
For the most part the brief article did report correctly on the state of some of the major players, mentioning Thylmann’s arrest, Flynt’s acquisition of New Frontier, and Randazza’s shut down of file-locker site Oron.
It's obvious that the list included the industry's mainstream "marquee" names, and a number of adult's elite were left out. But you know who you are.
