NEW YORK —OnlyFans owner Fenix International Ltd. is in exclusive negotiations to sell a nearly 60% stake to investment firm Architect Capital, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters Friday, Jan. 30. The potential OnlyFans sale highlights investor appetite for subscription-based creator businesses even as the platform’s adult-content reputation keeps mainstream banks and payment partners cautious, Jan. 31, 2026.
OnlyFans sale terms: a nearly 60% stake and a $5.5 billion headline value
People familiar with the discussions told Reuters the buyer and seller are negotiating exclusively and that the headline value includes debt. Excluding debt, Reuters said, the talks imply a valuation of nearly $3.5 billion, and the deal is not final.
TechCrunch reported the proposed structure includes about $3.5 billion in equity and about $2 billion in debt — a split that would underpin the $5.5 billion figure. TechCrunch also said the exclusivity period would prevent OnlyFans from negotiating with other potential buyers for a set time.
Why the OnlyFans sale is drawing attention
The platform’s profitability is the simple answer. OnlyFans takes a 20% cut of creator earnings, and Reuters said the business brings in almost $1.6 billion in annual net revenue. Axios, citing financial reporting, said OnlyFans generated $7.22 billion in gross revenue and $684 million in pretax profit in fiscal 2024.
Reuters said OnlyFans’ sole shareholder is Ukrainian-American businessman Leonid Radvinsky, who bought the company in 2018. Architect, a San Francisco-based investment firm, has pitched investors on building financial infrastructure to pay “under-banked” creators, Reuters reported, and has told backers it sees a path to a potential initial public offering in 2028.
A familiar obstacle: banking and payments
OnlyFans’ adult-content roots have repeatedly complicated its access to traditional finance. In 2021, the company briefly said it would ban “sexually explicit” content before reversing course; Time reported that then-CEO Tim Stokely summed up the pressure bluntly: “The short answer is banks.” The episode still colors how investors, lenders and payment partners assess risk — and why the details of any OnlyFans sale matter.
There is also recent precedent for a higher price tag. Reuters reported in May 2025 that Fenix was discussing a sale at around an $8 billion valuation with an investor group led by Forest Road. If the current OnlyFans sale negotiations proceed near $5.5 billion including debt, the discount could reflect a smaller buyer pool for an adult-content-heavy platform, higher financing costs and the leverage implied by a deal that includes about $2 billion in debt.
For now, the OnlyFans sale remains a negotiation. Reuters said Fenix and Architect did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and sources cautioned the talks could still collapse. Still, the exclusive discussions suggest one of the internet’s most profitable creator businesses is again testing how much Wall Street will pay — and what restrictions and safeguards it will demand in return.
