Olivia Solon and Benoit Berthelot
Leonid Radvinsky, the reclusive billionaire owner of adult content platform OnlyFans, has died of cancer, the London-based company said on Monday (UK time). He was 43.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Leo Radvinsky. Leo passed away peacefully after a long battle with cancer,” the company said in an emailed statement. “His family have requested privacy at this difficult time.”
Radvinsky bought a majority stake in the platform in 2018 and turned it into a cultural phenomenon that reshaped the pornography industry by allowing creators to charge directly for their content. He owned the OnlyFans parent company, Fenix International, according to the company’s last filing in the UK.
His death comes at a time when Radvinsky was in talks to sell a majority stake in OnlyFans, a controversial user-generated platform that shot to prominence during COVID-era lockdowns. Founded in 2016 by British father and son Guy and Tim Stokely, OnlyFans hosted pornographic material forbidden on most social networks. During the pandemic, many adult film actors and sex workers turned to the platform for alternative sources of income.
Radvinsky was seeking to sell a 60 per cent stake that would give it an enterprise value of around $US5.5 billion. Architect Capital, a little-known investment firm based in San Francisco, held talks to lead an offer with equity and around $US2 billion in debt, according to a person familiar with the matter. As of February, the talks were still in their early stages, said the person who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
Radvinsky paid himself about $US1.8 billion in dividends from the platform since 2021. His net worth was valued at $US3.8 billion as of last May, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That was before OnlyFans disclosed a dividend payment of $US700 million to Radvinsky in August.
While the company has tried recruiting more mainstream posters, like celebrity chefs and athletes, it remains known for its adult content.
OnlyFans takes a 20 per cent fee on most subscriptions and content sold on the platform. In 2024, the company reported more than 4.6 million creator accounts and some 377 million fans, posting revenue of $US1.4 billion.
Born in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, Radvinsky’s family moved to Chicago when he was a child. He studied economics at Northwestern University.
He started running porn sites as a teenager, according to the Wall Street Journal. One of his websites, called MyFreeCams, was a pioneer in letting people pay for explicit content online.
Radvinsky lived most recently in Florida, according to his website. OnlyFans said Radvinsky, who has given few public interviews and statements, supported “several philanthropic projects globally.”
He has donated to charities including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, open source initiatives and the West Suburban Humane Society, according to his website.
OnlyFans said Radvinsky moved his ownership to a trust in 2024.
Bloomberg
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