Fabian Thylmann


Fabian Thylmann is a businessman from Germany who was founder and managing partner of the Internet pornography conglomerate Manwin. In October 2013, he sold his stake in the company, which was at the time the largest pornography operator in the world. Since then he acts as an angel investor for young Startups in Brussels, Belgium where he also operates a co-working and incubation space, SN-Cube.

Life and career

Thylmann was born in Düsseldorf. He is married with two children. He started computer programming when he was 17. His breakthrough came in the late 1990s when he developed software called NATS, which enabled website operators to track users' clicks on advertisements and links so that they could be paid commission. Thylmann used the money he made with NATS to buy various Internet pornography companies, and in March 2010, he established Manwin by acquiring the companies Mensef and Interhub. Manwin bought Pornhub, YouPorn, RedTube, Brazzers, Twistys.com, Mofos and other pornography websites.

Sale of Manwin

In October 2013, Thylmann stepped down and sold Manwin for €73 million, for undisclosed reasons.
Upon the sale of Manwin, Thylmann wrote in a letter to employees:

Extradition and indictment

In December 2012, Thylmann was extradited from Belgium to Germany on suspicion of tax evasion. He did not contest the extradition order, although he reportedly denied avoiding paying tax.
In April 2015, Thylmann was indicted by the Cologne, Germany federal prosecutor on tax evasion charges. The charges were dropped when he paid 5 million euros but he still faces a suspended sentence in another case.