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OnlyFans, the British online streaming platform for sex workers, sports stars and celebrities, is in talks with multiple investment groups to sell in a deal that could value the business at about $8bn.
Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American entrepreneur behind OnlyFans owner Fenix International, has been working with advisers to assess options around selling out of the business, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The online streaming platform, which generates sales by giving its 305mn registered users access to exclusive content from creators for a fee, has drawn interest from Los Angeles-based investment group Forest Road Company, among several other suitors, the person said.
The business could command a valuation of about $8bn if a sale were to materialise, but there are no guarantees that Forest Road will emerge as the preferred bidder or that the sale process will result in a takeover, the person added.
OnlyFans declined to comment on the sale process, which was first reported by Reuters. Forest Road, whose previous investments include a Formula E racing team and a majority stake in merchant bank ACF Investment Bank, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In accounts filed at Companies House in September last year, UK-based Fenix International said revenues grew a fifth to more than $1.3bn.
The company paid $6.6bn to content creators who use its platform as a means of reaching “fans” in 2023, an increase of about $1bn from the previous year. Many of those who use the platform are sex workers and porn stars, although OnlyFans rejects the notion that it is a pornography site.
OnlyFans, which takes a cut of a fifth from the payments made on its platform, posted pre-tax profits of $657mn in accounts filed last year, up from $525mn, with $472mn going to Radvinsky in dividends in 2023.
Radvinsky bought a 75 per cent stake in OnlyFans from its UK-based founders Tim and Guy Stokely in 2018 for an undisclosed price. Despite the company’s huge user base and profitability, a sale may prove difficult to push through because financial companies and their lending banks have long considered services associated with sex work as high risk when it comes to compliance, despite such content being legal.
Some porn sites have previously struggled to use credit card processing companies such as Visa and Mastercard — and OnlyFans does not have a presence on app stores, run by Apple and Google. The last major porn site to sell was Pornhub owner MindGeek, which was bought by Canadian private equity group Ethical Capital Partners in 2023.
This article has been amended since publication to reflect that only some porn sites have had issues with credit card processing companies
