Business is booming at OnlyFans, and one person in particular is benefitting from the platform's success.
Fenix International, the parent company of OnlyFans—a subscriptions-based platform best known for adult content—is owned by Ukrainian American entrepreneur Leonid Radvinksy.
This week it was revealed that Radvinksy received $338 million in dividends from the company, following a year of growing demand for its content, used by sex workers, musicians, sports stars, and others.
London-based OnlyFans was founded in 2016 by British businessman Tim Stokely, with Radvinsky buying a majority stake in the company two years later. Radvinsky was something of an expert in the industry as he owned adult pornography site MyFreeCams.
He is now the sole shareholder of the company, OnlyFans told Fortune.
Although OnlyFans had been around for a while, Radvinsky crucially held control of the company during the pandemic, when it catapulted to fame as people resorted to digital adult entertainment amid lockdowns.
During the peak of COVID-19, the company’s revenue surged 553% in 2020. From the end of that year up until September 2020, Radvinsky made a fortune out of dividend payouts worth $517 million, Bloomberg reported.
With his fresh boost in income, Radvinsky’s net worth is now estimated at $2.1 billion, according to Forbes.
Eyes on OnlyFans
Even though the company has the pandemic to credit for its meteoric rise, interest in its services has continued. Annual gross profit was up over 20% year over year for the period ended Nov. 30, 2022, according to Fenix’s earnings report released Thursday, while its revenue surpassed the $1 billion mark.
OnlyFans has also seen the number of creators on the platform increase to 3.2 million, up 47% from a year earlier, while users (or “fans”) hit about 240 million at the same time.
"OnlyFans recorded sustained growth and profitability," Fenix said in the filing. "This reflects both the platform growth, in terms of number of content creators and fans, as well as growth in existing content creators' earnings."
The company makes money by taking a 20% cut from what its creators receive through the site. The rest of the money goes straight to the creators, who set their own subscription fees that users pay to access their content. OnlyFans’ business model aims to leave creators with more money in their hands than many other platforms that monetize creator content.
Recently, the company has seen three key leadership changes in under three years. When Ami Gan, OnlyFans’ CEO from December 2021 until June, stepped down from her role, Keily Blair took over.
“OnlyFans’ success is inextricably linked to the opportunities creators have to monetize their content and connect with their fans on our platform,” Blair said in a statement, adding that the strong earnings ultimately reflected the position OnlyFans holds in the creator economy.
The company also faces challenges around the type of content it offers as it tries to balance investor interests and creators’ needs in the adult entertainment space.
It tried moving away from making "sexually explicit" content two years ago but reversed that decision days later. It continues to earn a bulk of its revenue from adult content, although it's home to creators in different niches, from food to fitness and art.
OnlyFans briefly floated the idea of an IPO a few years ago, which could help it further grow its business, although no definite plans have been announced.
Either way, OnlyFans’ popularity seems here to stay.
