OnlyFans looks undervalued as the money keeps rolling in

Leonid Radvinsky, a publicity-shy businessman from Ukraine, bought the company in 2018 and reimagined it as a home for adult content. He is in discussions with a consortium led by an LA-based investment firm to sell a majority stake for more than $7bn.

This arguably underestimates the company’s worth. OnlyFans has a better operating margin than Alphabet, Microsoft or Meta, thanks in part to its low staff numbers.

Like many Silicon Valley firms that are shrinking even as pay packets grow, it directly employs just 46 people. The platform is also hugely popular: last year its total creator accounts increased by 13% to 4.6m, while its fan accounts grew by nearly a quarter to 377 million.

It is unlikely to be short of adult content in the future. Although few will reach the lucrative heights of established performers or celebrity streamers, creators keep 80% of fan payments.

OnlyFans may also benefit from the UK’s new online safety rules.

These put the platform, which already runs strict checks on the age of viewers and creators, on a more level playing field with free adult streaming sites, which have historically been more lax.

Changing attitudes to pornography could explain the site’s relatively low valuation.

That payment processors can withdraw services leaves it somewhat at the whim of political pressure and the public mood.

This is perhaps why OnlyFans has been developing non-adult content, from fitness to cooking, and welcomed softcore creators such as US actor Bella Thorne and British singer Kate Nash.

Photograph by River Callaway/WWD via Getty