OnlyFans owner received $990 million windfall before his death

OnlyFans, the platform known for adult content, paid its billionaire owner $US709 million ($990 million) in dividends over several months prior to his death from cancer in March.

Leonid Radvinsky, 43, received $US535 million in the fiscal year that ended in November and a further $US174 million in tranches through the first three months of 2026, according to the company’s UK accounts.

The company said its director doesn’t recommend paying a further dividend for the period. It will pay future dividends to a trust set up by Radvinsky and run by his widow Katie Chudnovsky, to hold shares in OnlyFans’ parent company, according to a spokesperson. Payments will also go to investment firm Architect Capital, which took a 16 per cent stake in the company earlier this year.

In all, Radvinsky received more than $US2 billion in dividends from the platform since purchasing it in 2018.

OnlyFans, operated by UK-based Fenix International, became a cultural phenomenon after allowing porn creators to charge users directly for their content. Its popularity exploded during the pandemic, when adult film actors and sex workers turned to the platform for alternative sources of income.

The company was founded in 2016 by British father and son Guy and Tim Stokely. Radvinsky purchased a majority stake in 2018. The platform has diversified the content on its platform to include music, cooking and sports, but remains best known for explicit material.

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.

At the time of his death, OnlyFans said the reclusive Radvinsky, who has given few public interviews and statements, supported “several philanthropic projects globally.” He has donated to charities including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, open source initiatives and the West Suburban Humane Society, according to his website.

Weeks after Radvinsky died, OnlyFans agreed to sell a minority stake to San Francisco-based Architect Capital in a deal that valued the company at about $US3.15 billion. Architect said it would work with the company to develop new financial services and products to offer the platform’s creators.

The company reported $US1.55 billion in revenue for the 12 months to November 30, 2025, up 10 per cent from a year earlier.

The number of creators on its platform increased to 5 million, with half of them active. The number of fan accounts rose to 437 million, with about 132 million considered active.