Ladbible rescues Unilad - with 200 jobs saved

Social media-first publisher Ladbible has snapped up rival Unilad following its financial collapse earlier this month.

The deal to buy the company out of administration safeguards more than 200 jobs in Manchester and London.

The financial sums involved were not disclosed but such agreements are usually completed for a nominal sum.

Both brands were founded by the entrepreneur Alex Partridge but he sold a majority stake in Unilad to Bentley Harrigan in 2014.

A court heard on 4 October that Unilad's owner had debts of £10m - with half that sum owed to Mr Partridge, making him the biggest creditor.

HM Revenue and Customs was said to be owed £1.5m in tax.

Ladbible said it now planned to create the "largest social video publisher ever, and a youth media brand to be reckoned with".

In August alone, their combined videos were viewed 4.5 billion times online.

Ladbible's statement continued: "We believe that the Unilad Group brands complement our existing offering and we can promise our audience more of the stuff they love from all the brands in the new Ladbible Group family."