One of the co-founders of LadBible, a digital platform that creates content aimed at young men, has decided not to return to work after taking a seven-month sabbatical from the business.

Arian Kalantari, who set up LadBible with a school friend, Alexander “Solly” Solomou, and developed it into a successful digital platform with millions of followers, resigned this week, saying it was the right time “to create space in my life for new challenges and new adventures”.

He had been on sabbatical since January, shortly after getting married.

He said: “It has been an incredible journey to see this business grow and thrive over the 11 years since Solly and I founded it.” He said he would remain a “passionate supporter” of LBG Media, LadBible’s parent company.

In a statement, Solomou thanked his “good friend” Kalantari for “his support over the years, both in terms of the vital contribution to the founding of the business and the years of success that have been achieved since”.

LBG Media announced Kalantari’s departure as chief operating officer while issuing results showing revenues for the first half of 2023 had increased 10% to £27.2m.

Solomou said it was a strong performance against a “tough macroeconomic backdrop” and demonstrated engagement with “the hard-to-reach 18- to 34-year-old demographic”.

Kalantari retains a 2.7% stake in LBG Media, which is valued at £165m. The company claims its social media content – mainly video and photos, some posted by users, the rest harvested from the internet – reaches 28.5 million people in the UK and 115 million in the US on social media.

LBG Media’s website states: “As well as sharing content submitted by our community, we produce articles, celebrity interviews, documentaries, reality shows, political live-streams and hard-hitting social purpose campaigns – all with our youth audience and their interests in mind.

“We’re not just about viral entertainment. Our audience turn to us at big moments on serious issues.”

In 2012, Laura Bates, of Everyday Sexism, accused the company’s UniLad site of “encouraging rape culture” and “a culture of misogyny sickeningly disguised as ‘banter’”.

In 2015, Solomou told the Guardian that the company had been on “a learning curve”, saying it no longer endorsed the idea of lads as “louts”.

“In my eyes, the lad is someone who spots a grandma crossing the road with heavy shopping, someone with manners, who is polite, who can be a hero,” he said.

Kalantari and Solomou, both 32, founded the business a few years after leaving Stockport grammar school.

As well as LadBible and UniLad, the Manchester-based LBG Media also counts SportBible and GamingBible among its platforms, plus Tyla, which is aimed at a female audience.