Adultery website Ashley Madison ‘may have to scrap £130m London flotation’ after hackers access database

Adultery website Ashley Madison may be forced to scrap its planned £130 million London share flotation after it was the victim of a disastrous hacking attack, analysts said today.

The Canadian owner of the site, which boasts 37 million “anonymous users” worldwide including more than a million in Britain, had been hoping to list its shares on the Stock Market later this year.

But analysts said any credibility that Avid Life Media might have with investors could now be fatally holed by the huge breach by the Impact Team group of hackers, which has threatened to release the names and addresses of users including their “secret sexual fantasies”.

Dating-industry analyst, and editor of Online Personals Watch, Mark Brooks said: “They’ve hinged their entire existence on privacy. It’s definitely going to affect their IPO plans. It’s going to reduce the value of this company. People prize their privacy on online dating sites. This is compounded 1,000 times on AshleyMadison.com over a typical dating site.”

Matthew Kennedy, analyst at US financial research firm Renaissance Capital, said: “This [hacking] could certainly douse the flame of a hot internet IPO.”

Paul Keable, vice president of communications at Avid Life Media, said the City listing wasn’t “a firm plan” but remains an option “irrespective of today’s news”. Avid Life Media, which also runs Cougarlife.com and EstablishedMen.com, aims to raise funds for marketing and international expansion.

It said it wanted to float its shares in Europe rather than North America because of its more liberal attitude towards adultery.

Ashley Madison, which has the slogan “Life is short. Have an affair,” said it has now secured the site and condemned the hack as an act of criminal “cyber terrorism”. It also said that it is waiving its usual £12 fee for deleting a user’s details.

The Impact Team claims to have complete access to the company’s database including user records for every member, but has so far released just limited amounts of data. It says it is prepared to release all customer records unless the site is closed.