Episode 8: Inside Porn’s Star Chamber
In the season finale, Alex and Patricia discover how Visa and MasterCard became the reluctant rulers of porn. And they figure out what being ruled by credit card companies means…
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When Financial Times reporter Patricia Nilsson started digging into the porn industry, she made a shocking discovery: Nobody knew who controlled the biggest porn company in the world. Now, Nilsson and her editor, Alex Barker, have figured out who the guy was, and much more. Their reporting reveals a shadowy power structure that includes billionaires, tech geniuses and the most powerful finance companies in the world.
Most Recent Episode
Episode 8: Inside Porn’s Star Chamber
In the season finale, Alex and Patricia discover how Visa and MasterCard became the reluctant rulers of porn. And they figure out what being ruled by credit card companies means…
Episode 7: Porn Meets OnlyFans
Alex and Patricia track down the family behind OnlyFans, the site that has transformed online porn by shifting power back to performers. But there is a whole other side to…
Episode 6: Knocking on the Door of a Porn Empire
One of the biggest porn companies in the world was forced to radically change its practices. But another porn giant changed almost nothing. Patricia travels to the company's Prague headquarters…
Episode 5: The Billionaire Who Took Down Porn
A billionaire hedge fund manager reads a scathing column about a popular porn site. He sends an angry text to the CEO of MasterCard. Almost overnight, the biggest porn company…
Episode 4: Playboy vs. Rusty and Edie
How is it legal for porn sites to host millions of videos uploaded by users? The answer is in the story of an Ohio family in the early 1990s. In…
Episode 3: Mr. Goldman, Mr. Sex
When Fabian Thylmann ran into trouble with the law, a former Goldman Sachs banker swooped in to buy his porn sites. But nobody knew who he was. He managed to…
Episode 2: The Darth Vader of Porn
A decade ago, a computer programmer named Fabian Thylmann began to build one of the biggest porn empires in the world. How did Fabian do it? He was good with…
Episode 1: Porn Meets the Internet
Stoya is a porn star who saw first-hand how a firehose of free porn online transformed the adult industry. She sends hosts Alex Barker and Patricia Nilsson a quest: Find…
Hot Money: Who Rules Porn?
When Financial Times reporter Patricia Nilsson started digging into the porn industry, she made a shocking discovery: Nobody knew who controlled the biggest porn company in the world. Now, Nilsson…
The Hosts
Patricia Nilsson
Patricia Nilsson, host of Hot Money, is a reporter with the Financial Times, where she covers a broad range of industries such as retail, cannabis and — increasingly — porn. Before…
Alex Barker
Alex Barker, host of Hot Money, is the global media editor at the Financial Times, leading coverage of the entertainment, advertising and news business. He has reported for the FT…
