he owner of British adult content subscription service OnlyFans has collected almost half a billion dollars after the firm’s revenues topped $1 billion for the first time in 2022.
US-based Ukrainian Leonid Radvinsky, who bought the company in 2018, has collected some $485 million in dividends since the start of last year, accounts filed with Companies House today show amid a surge in demand for the site’s services, which are predominantly focused on pornographic material.
In its accounts the company said it had invested some of its capital into the cryptocurrency Ethereum.
Over 50 million new users signed up to the site in the 12 months to November 2022, the firm said, while over 1 million new content creators joined its platform. Users spent a combined $5.5 billion on the site.
Sales for the year rose 17% to $1.1 billion, while pre-tax profits rocketed 21% to $525 million during the period.
The firm has come under fire over its safety standards after a BBC News investigation last year found that children had sold and appeared in videos on the site, which had claimed to block access to the platform to under-18s.
In its accounts OnlyFans said it “goes above and beyond the legal requirements, and our peers, to provide a safe platform for creator and fans while maximising the freedom of creators and fans to control and monetize the lawful content they produce and view.”
OnlyFans collects around £1 for every £4 made by content creators on its platform. Some of its adult content creators have made millions on the site, including one creator who told the Standard she made over £4 million on the platform and used some of the proceeds to invest in a competitor.
OnlyFans star Eliza Rose Watson recently courted controversy after it she put up posters of a model in a bra top at billboards in Harrow, Tottenham, Lambeth and Edgware, which some residents complained was inappropriate for children to view. But But the UK advertising regulator yesterday ruled the picture was not overtly sexual and did not objectify women.