Buying and selling adult websites is a challenging business. From high-stake deals to multi-million sums, the merger and acquisition space of the adult entertainment industry is an extremely crucial component. Any change to a company’s ownership could directly influence the short and long-term health of the industry.
For example, MindGeek (the parent company of Pornhub) was purchased by a private equity firm that now owns all assets related to one of the most prolific brands in the online adult entertainment space.
That’s why professionals like Bruce are highly sought after. Bruce is the chief executive officer and founder of Adult Site Broker (ASB). ASB is the oldest and most successful commercial merger and acquisition brokerages in the entire adult industry. YNOT sat down with Bruce for an exclusive interview about his work, trends in buying and selling, and what it means to be a member of an ever-changing industry.
YNOT: What is your job?
Bruce: I help people and companies in the adult space buy and sell adult websites and companies. Our goal is to create a win-win situation between all parties concerned.
YNOT: What is the role of a website broker in the adult entertainment space, and why is the specialization on adult entertainment so crucial?
Bruce: I feel my role is to help my buyers find just the right property and my sellers to find just the right buyer. For my buyers, I want to make sure that whatever they buy, they’ll be happy with the purchase and make money on it. For my sellers, I want to ensure they can sell their site quickly and easily and get as much money as possible for it.
As for specializing in adult entertainment, it’s very different than what mainstream brokers do. You must know the industry well and know the people. Adult is a very, very different animal. We know both. We get out to many adult shows and make sure we’re there to talk to the people in our industry and answer any questions they might have. Of course, we’re always available by email to answer questions as well.
We pride ourselves on responding right away to any messages, even those with people we won’t be doing business with. It’s all about practicing the golden rule. It should apply in the business world as well, but often sadly it doesn’t.
YNOT: How do you deal with being an ‘ethical broker’?
Bruce: Yes, our slogan is the ethical broker, and there’s a reason. We practice the highest ethics in all our dealings, making sure everyone is well taken care of, both the buyer and the seller. That’s partly why we get so many referrals.
YNOT: You’ve written extensively for YNOT, and this was one of those topics. How do you account for the ethical position compared to others in this space — your competitors?
Bruce: I’m not here to talk about my competition and its shortcomings. But I have heard some stories of practices by others that are not at all how we do business. I guess if it works for them that’s fine, but I need to sleep at night.
YNOT: What constitutes a strong deal?
Bruce: A strong deal is one where all parties involved are happy.
Again, getting back to our testimonials, we have testimonials from the buyer and the seller on many of our deals. How do you attain that? By listening to everyone’s issues and concerns and making sure they are all taken care of.
YNOT: How do your listings come about?
Bruce: Several ways. Most of our listings come from referral business, where one of our past clients refer someone else. And that’s the most gratifying type of business to get. I have a really good feeling when a deal is closed, and both the buyer and seller are happy. That assures repeat and referral business. We get several leads every day from our website. I attend a number of industry shows and meet people either selling or buying sites, as well as people who know someone who wants to buy or sell. We have our affiliate program, ASB Cash. People go to ASB Cash, sign up, and refer much more business to us. On a closed escrow they receive a 20% share of our commission.
And often the leads come from listeners to our podcast, Adult Site Broker Talk. That’s something I’m very proud of. We’re coming up on 150 episodes. It’s hard work, but it’s well worth it.
YNOT: Do you work with just sellers? Or do you work with buyers too?
Bruce: We don’t discriminate (laughing). We love working with buyers who are looking for something other than what we’re listing. We are more than happy to go out and shop for our buyers after they give us the parameters and budget for what they want.
YNOT: What sort of advice would you give to a potential buyer or seller?
To sellers, I’d say this. Be careful not to sell either too late or too early. Too late is normally a site that is dropping in sales, and they wait to sell it until things have dropped off a cliff. Watch your numbers. Make adjustments if things start to go down. Too many people let their sites sit for long periods of time and don’t work on them. Then they’re surprised when business tanks and it’s near impossible to sell their site. It’s much better to sell it before you put it on autopilot. Websites don’t do well without regular loving care.
If you’re a buyer, you need to determine what it is you want to buy before looking. That may sound obvious, but to many, it’s not. For those outside our industry, a porn site is a porn site. Many people send me an email and say simply “I want to buy a site, or I want to buy a porn site”. That doesn’t give me much to go on. It’s like saying “I want to buy a car.” Or “I want to buy a house.”
Specifically what type of site do you want to buy? If it is a membership site (or paysite), straight or gay? And under straight or gay, what niche specifically? Or there are cam sites, fan sites, tube sites, adult toy or (pleasure products) sites, social media sites, etc. You also need to determine and tell me what your top-end budget is. So see, there’s a lot more to this than “I want to buy a porn site”.
YNOT: Why do you work in the adult industry?
Bruce: I love this industry. The people are outstanding. I travel to exciting places for shows, and I really enjoy my work.
But the people are number one. I’ve been in the mainstream before, and the people in the adult are much nicer and more like a family to me. Adult has given me many lifelong friendships, and it’s an industry I never plan to leave completely.
You can follow Bruce on Twitter (@ASB_Bruce). Bruce’s work on YNOT is available by clicking here. Visit Adult Site Broker, ASB Cash, and Adult Site Broker Talk (podcast).
