OnlyFans is reportedly in talks to sell a minority stake in a deal that values the porn empire at roughly $3 billion – a discount to the $3.5 billion valuation the company had sought before its reclusive owner died last month.
San Francisco-based Architect Capital would buy less than 20% of the business in a deal closing as soon as next month, the report said. That’s far less than the 60% stake Architect had discussed acquiring earlier this year — and the key reason for the discount, according to the Financial Times report.
The sale talks are coming to a head after OnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinsky died last month at 43 following a secret battle with cancer. Radvinsky’s widow Katie has been overseeing the sale talks and controls the trust which holds her late husband’s shares.
As exclusively reported by The Post, OnlyFans tapped Moelis & Co., the investment bank founded by Wall Street legend Ken Moelis — to help it find a buyer after at least one other bank shied away from representing OnlyFans.
The Post reported last month that Architect has been struggling to find backers for its bid to acquire OnlyFans, with mainstream funds and institutions concerned about reputational risk and regulatory scrutiny.
OnlyFans takes a 20% cut from its roughly 4.6 million creators, per the filings and the site is not on App stores so no revenue is shared with Apple or Google.
Despite being a money minting machine, OnlyFans has faced legal problems for years.
Architect — whose investments include e-cigarette maker Juul Labs — aims to fund the proposed transaction by pooling capital from external investors through a special purpose vehicle. OnlyFans is operated by UK-based Fenix International Ltd.
As part of the deal, Architect would work with OnlyFans to develop new financial services and products to offer the platform’s creators, according to the FT report. Last month, insiders told The Post that OnlyFans had been considering buying or partnering with a financial technology company to help address its long-running banking woes.
Last year, Visa began enforcing stricter chargeback and fraud standards that slammed OnlyFans. X-rated sites also face higher transaction fees – often 5% to 10% versus 2% to 3% for traditional e-commerce, according to a report this year by payments processor Myntpay.
OnlyFans, Architect and Moelis didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Founded in 2016, Radvinsky bought a majority stake in the platform in 2018 and turned it into a financial juggernaut by allowing creators to charge directly for their content.
OnlyFans earned $666 million in operating profit on $1.4 billion in revenue in the year ended Nov. 30 2024, according to UK corporate filings. The company logged $449 million of sales costs and $197 million of administrative expenses. OnlyFans had only 46 employees, the filings show. About 64% of its revenue is generated in the US.
