OnlyFans owner in talks to sell to investor group at about $10 billion value: Sources
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OnlyFans' parent company is also considering a listing, while fielding interests from other suitors, sources said.
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Washington - OnlyFans owner Fenix International is in talks to sell the porn-driven company to an investor group at a valuation of around US$8 billion (S$10.3 billion), three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The group is led by the Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment company, the sources said. Reuters could not identify the investors in the group.
OnlyFans, which exploded in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, is best known as an online platform that enables porn creators to charge subscribers for content. The platform takes 20 per cent of creators’ earnings.
Its rapid growth has attracted investor interest. In the year ended November 2023, OnlyFans’ net revenue rose 20 per cent to US$1.3 billion. It generated a profit of US$485.5 million, also up 20 per cent from the previous year. The platform’s total number of creators rose 29 per cent to 4.1 million and users rose 28 per cent to 305 million.
OnlyFans and Forest Road declined to comment.
Founded in 2017, Forest Road is an investment firm interested in media, renewable energy and digital assets, according to its website. Its ventures have included a Formula E racing team, and it in 2024 expanded its advisory business by acquiring a majority stake in ACF Investment Bank.
Some executives at Forest Road were part of a special purpose acquisition company that was in talks to take OnlyFans public in 2022, according to sources and filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
One of the three sources and another source familiar with sale discussions said Fenix International is also in talks with other potential suitors.
The London-based company has drawn interest from several suitors in recent months.
Talks have been held at least since March, the people said. Three sources said a deal could be reached in the next week or two. The sources also cautioned that there was no certainty a deal will be struck and requested anonymity ahead of an official announcement.
An initial public offering is also being considered, three of the sources said.
Fenix International’s sole shareholder is Mr Leonid Radvinsky, a Ukrainian-American whose location could not be confirmed. He bought a majority stake in OnlyFans in 2018 from its British father-and-son founders Guy and Tim Stokely, who founded the site in 2016. Mr Radvinsky has paid himself at least US$1 billion in dividends over the past three years, British filings showed.
In 2024, Reuters published a series of investigative stories on OnlyFans that documented complaints in US police and court records that child sexual abuse material and nonconsensual pornography has appeared on the site since 2019. The series also identified cases of sex traffickers using the platform to abuse and exploit women.
Porn makes OnlyFans untouchable for many big banks and investors, sources have told Reuters, because due diligence might find illegal content such as child sexual abuse material, trafficking victims and nonconsensual porn. REUTERS
