The owner of OnlyFans is in talks to sell the user-generated pornography platform for about $8 billion.
Fenix International, which has owned OnlyFans since 2018, is exploring a sale of the business to Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm.
The company has grown rapidly. In the year ended November 2023, OnlyFans generated $6.6 billion in revenue, up from $375 million in 2020.
It was founded in 2016 by Tim Stokely, a British entrepreneur, and his father, Guy. It enables creators to make content on their phones and sell it directly to fans. The company takes a 20 per cent cut of the fees generated by those selling videos on its platform.
OnlyFans was bought by Leonid Radvinsky, a Ukrainian-American businessman, in 2018 and Stokely left the business in 2021. Radvinsky is the sole shareholder of Fenix International and he has paid himself at least $1 billion in dividends over the past three years, according to filings.
Fenix International is in discussions with other potential suitors in addition to Forest Road, which has interests in media and entertainment, life sciences and renewable energy. A stock market flotation is also being considered.
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OnlyFans has been mired in controversy. Last year Reuters revealed that there were complaints logged in US police and court records that child abuse material and non-consensual pornography has appeared on the site since 2019. Its reports also identified cases of sex traffickers using the platform to abuse and exploit women.
In March Ofcom, the media and telecommunications regulator, ordered OnlyFans to pay just over a £1 million fine over failures to correctly disclose information related to measures to check age.
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The watchdog said that Fenix International had failed to provide accurate information about how it was implementing age checks.
OnlyFans and Forest Road Company were approached for comment.
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