Business

OnlyFans owner paid over $700m before his death

BBC Business · 2026-08-25

AI SUMMARY

• What happened: Leonid Radvinsky, the owner of OnlyFans, passed away from cancer earlier this year, having received over $700 million in dividends from the platform prior to his death. • Why it matters: OnlyFans, which generated $714 million in profit last year, has transformed the adult content industry and faced scrutiny over its practices, particularly regarding the safety and treatment of its creators. • What to watch next: The company is now under the ownership of Radvinsky's widow, Yekaterina 'Katie' Chudnovsky, and it will be important to monitor how the leadership transition impacts OnlyFans' operations and regulatory challenges.

Image source, NurPhoto / Getty ImagesImage caption, OnlyFans made $700m in profit last yearByEmer MoreauBusiness reporterPublished5 minutes agoThe late owner of streaming platform OnlyFans was paid more than $700m (£513m) in dividends before his death from cancer earlier this year.Fenix International Ltd, the British company that owns OnlyFans, made $714m in profit before tax last year, it said in its annual report. This is an increase of 5% from 2024.The site hosts a range of subscription-based content from cooking to fitness videos, but it is best known for pornography and is credited with transforming online adult content by encouraging personal connection between sex workers and subscribers.Its owner Leonid Radvinsky, who died earlier this year aged 43, bought the site from its British founders in 2018.OnlyFans employs just 47 people. Companies with such high profits rarely have such small staff - for example, British retail giant Marks and Spencer, which employs over 65,000 people, made £671m in profit last year.Fenix International's company results show that it paid dividends of $535m for the year ending 30 November 2025, with further dividends payments totalling $174m between then and 26 March 2026. Radvinsky, who was born in Ukraine and raised in the US, died on 23 March. The company is now owned by his widow, Yekaterina 'Katie' Chudnovsky.OnlyFans surged in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, landing Radvinsky on Forbes' annual list of billionaires just three years later.The site is known for the way it encourages creators and fans to connect through livestreams, personalised messages, and direct requests for custom-made photos and videos.In return for hosting the material, OnlyFans takes a 20% share of all payments.The site had 132 million paying subscribers and 2.5 million active creators in 2025. The boom in size and popularity under Radvinsky's ownership also brought scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators over its adult content — a recent BBC Three documentary uncovered allegations of exploitation, coercion and violence committed against OnlyFans creators.In 2024, British regulators launched an investigation into whether children were accessing porn, an issue that the company at the time blamed on a technical issue.Ofcom ultimately dropped that probe, but it fined the firm about £1m, external for failing to respond accurately to its requests for information about the measures it had in place to check the age of its users, who in theory must be 18 or over.Creators have also debunked the narrative that making explicit videos on the site is a get-rich-quick scheme.Keily Blair, the chief executive of OnlyFans, said on Tuesday that the company had paid over $30bn to creators since launching a decade ago."OnlyFans provides real opportunities to real people by creating a safe, regulated space where people can monetise their content with a global fan base," she said."As a UK-based business we have also made a significant contribution to the UK economy, paying over £600 million in corporate taxes from 2016 to date."Related topicsOnlyFansPornographySex industryCompaniesMore on this storyOnlyFans 'agents' control and threaten creators while taking half their earnings, BBC findsPublished15 JuneOnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinsky dies at 43Published23 MarchKate Nash on using OnlyFans to fund touringPublished9 April 2025

Source: BBC Business
RELATED NEWS

More Stories

All News
Business

Burnham refuses to rule out tax rises in autumn Budget

• What happened: Prime Minister Andy Burnham has not ruled out tax increases in the upcoming autumn Budget, citing the challenging state of public finances and ...

Business

How Canada could hit back to hurt the US economy - and Trump

• What happened: Canada is preparing retaliatory measures against the US in response to escalating trade tensions, focusing on strategic countermeasures includi...

Business

'What you see is what you pay' - why some US restaurants are banning tips

• What happened: Some US restaurants, like La Cigale and Nightshade Noodle Bar, are adopting a tip-free model by raising menu prices to pay staff higher wages, ...

Business

New 10p coin enters circulation - will you spot one?

• What happened: A new 10p coin featuring King Charles and the capercaillie has entered circulation for the first time in four years, with 600,000 coins dated 2...

Business

70,000 social and affordable homes to be built across England as part of £39bn plan

• What happened: The UK government announced plans to build 70,000 social and affordable homes across England over the next decade, as part of a £39 billion ini...

Business

US-Canada trade war escalates as Trump threatens tariff hike on autos after Carney vows to retaliate

• What happened: President Donald Trump threatened to increase tariffs on Canadian automobiles and auto parts from 25% to 50% starting January 1, following the ...