The owner of OnlyFans was paid $701m (£523m) in dividends last year as the subscription service best known for offering adult content positions itself for a potential multibillion-dollar sale.

The payment to Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American entrepreneur behind the streaming platform, adds to the more than $1bn in dividends he has already received from the business as he profits from connecting porn stars and celebrities more directly with their audiences.

OnlyFans accounts show it paid $497m in dividends to its parent, Fenix International, which is owned by Radvinsky, in 2024, up from $472m in its 2023 financial year. The business paid a further $204m to its owner in five tranches over the course of December to April.

The UK-based company reported revenue of $1.4bn in its 2024 financial year, up 9% compared with the year before, the accounts filed at Companies House on Friday show. Pre-tax profit rose 4% to $683.6m.

It comes after reports in May that Fenix had held talks to sell the business for $8bn to a consortium of investors led by the Forest Road Company, a US investment firm.

More people than ever are using the platform, with the total number of creator accounts – which split their proceeds 80:20 with the business – up by 13% to 4.6m. The total number of fan accounts grew by 24% to 377.5m.

Overall, OnlyFans took in $7.2bn from its subscribers in 2024, up from $6.6bn the previous year.

The company said “significant growth and profitability” had been driven by an increase in platform users and higher earnings for existing creators.

The platform’s chief executive, Keily Blair, a former privacy lawyer who joined the business three years ago, said OnlyFans had “expanded in new verticals, demonstrating the strength and potential of the platform across a wide range of genres” in the year.

The platform was founded in 2016 by the British entrepreneur Tim Stokely, then 33 years old. It was sold to Radvinsky, a previous owner of adult websites, for an undisclosed sum in 2018.

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While its largest market is in the US, OnlyFans remains headquartered in London. The business has millions of creators on its platform, but employs just 46 people directly.

Radvinsky has a low public profile, although his personal website states that he holds a degree in economics from Northwestern University in the US and lives in Florida. He describes himself as a venture capital investor. Before acquiring OnlyFans he owned an adult webcam business.

OnlyFans also noted in its accounts that it continued to invest in its trust and safety measures, amid tighter online safety rules in the UK. While the platform offers a variety of different content genres outside pornography, including sports and lifestyle, it has a strict 18+ age limit.