Exclusive | Reclusive OnlyFans owner looks to cash – Business News
The billionaire owner of OnlyFans has quietly put the booming smut web site up for sale — however the London-based company is struggling to discover a purchaser as a result of of its X-rated business model, The Post has discovered.
Leonid Radvinsky, a 40-something laptop programmer who purchased OnlyFans in 2019, is reportedly wanting to unload the money-minting platform, three sources close to the state of affairs mentioned — regardless of income which have pushed his web price to $3.8 billion, in accordance to Forbes.
A US citizen who, as a baby, immigrated to Chicago from Odessa, Ukraine, Radvinsky studied economics at Northwestern University and now lives in a Miami penthouse along with his spouse, in accordance to a source. He reaped an eye-popping $472 million in dividends from OnlyFans during the fiscal 12 months ended November 2023, in accordance to public data.
OnlyFans’ billionaire Owner Leonid Radvinsky lives in Florida. Leonid Radvinsky/Facebook
That’s practically all of the $485 million in income generated that 12 months by the company, which is alleged to have about 40 staff. From 2021 to 2023, his complete payouts ballooned to more than $1 billion from OnlyFans’ holding company, Fenix International Ltd., in accordance to the last-available UK financial filings, first cited by Bloomberg. Radvinsky is the only real owner of Fenix.
An OnlyFans spokeswoman confirmed that the company is up for sale.
“OnlyFans is a revolutionary platform which continues to lead the creator economy. As with any business of this scale it is natural that we are open to discussions about how we continue to build on our success,” she informed The Post on Wednesday.
Despite their tantalizing income, the filth think about porn companies typically limits their price tags to a comparatively modest three to 5 occasions Ebitda — a intently watched investing metric, a source accustomed to the space mentioned.
That would peg OnlyFans at between $1.46 billion and $2.42 billion — a stiff premium within the porn sector that makes it difficult to discover a deep-pocketed purchaser, insiders mentioned.
“You’re looking to find billionaires and trying to sell it as not an adult content company but just a platform like X that allows adult content,” the source mentioned. “But I think most people right now view OnlyFans as an adult content company.”
OnlyFans Creator Laura Whyte is a Mom of two and retains 80% of the money people pay to see her content material. Katielee Arrowsmith / SWNS
OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair mentioned 59% of income comes from creators promoting add-on providers like pay per view messages and reside streams, whereas 41% come from subscriptions, in accordance to a video revealed by the Wall Street Journal final December.
The company takes a 20% cut from its 4 million creators, who make content material for 300 million subscribers. The web site isn’t on App shops so no income is shared with Apple or Google. Two-thirds of its income is generated from US clients, $863 million of $1.3 billion, in accordance to the UK submitting.
Other grownup content material websites bought lately have failed to arouse main investor curiosity. Pornhub — the nineteenth most visited web site on the earth, in accordance to SimilarWeb — was on the market for about three years earlier than lastly discovering a purchaser in 2023, the industry source mentioned.
A personal equity firm, Ethical Capital Partners, was shaped by buyers who wished to stay nameless earlier than finishing the deal. Neither Ethical Capital nor Pornhub’s former owner MindGeek revealed the ultimate price, however the industry source mentioned he knew it fell properly short of $1 billion.
CEO Keily Blair is one of solely 40 or so OnlyFans staff. Getty Images
Other personal equity companies weren’t considering Pornhub as a result of most raise money from state pensions and different buyers who are usually not allowed to own grownup content material corporations, and media companies didn’t need the porn taint, the source added.
Playboy went public in 2021 with listed clean examine company Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. Plby Group traded at $1.47 a share on Wednesday, a $138 million market cap. At its peak within the Seventies, the company based by Hugh Hefner was price $200 million, about $1.6 billion when adjusted for inflation.
Visa and Mastercard in 2021 and 2022 cut off funds to Pornhub due to allegations of unlawful content material like videos of baby intercourse abuse. Pornhub then shut down Pornub Premium and turned more to advertisements for its free web site.
Creator Alicia Davis used to be a jail guard. Jam Press/@aliciadavisxx
Credit card corporations charge more than a 10% price for grownup content material websites to course of transactions however up to now has charged much less to OnlyFans, the industry source mentioned.
Blair had informed the Journal that the company was working arduous to crack down on minors both being creators or clients.
“Absolutely there is risk associated with [our business] but there’s often the same risk associated with general social media platforms as there is with OnlyFans,” she mentioned.
Radvinsky purchased OnlyFans from Tim Stokely and his household, which launched the location in 2016 as an outlet for musicians and influencers. A 12 months later he lifted its ban on porn and the company took off.
Tim Stokely began OnlyFans in 2016 earlier than promoting it to Radvinsky.
OnlyFans exploded during the COVID pandemic. In 2021, Radvinsky briefly banned sexually express content material after getting strain from financial establishments who had been reluctant to course of credit card funds. He reversed course days later.
OnlyFans depends on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to defend itself legally from the content material generated by its 4 million creators claiming it’s not chargeable for videos it doesn’t produce.
“The key to success was plausible deniability,” the industry source mentioned.
But now the query is growing that OnlyFans not understanding what creators are doing is willful ignorance that might not be protected by law, the industry source mentioned.
“The pressure on the industry to monitor their sites is getting worse and worse,” the industry source mentioned.
