Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-born entrepreneur who owned OnlyFans, has died at 43 after a long battle with cancer, the company confirmed. Growing up in Chicago, Radvinsky bought OnlyFans in 2018 from its UK founders, and under his ownership, the platform exploded in popularity—especially during the Covid-19 pandemic—earning him a spot on Forbes’ billionaire list within three years.
OnlyFans, founded in 2016, lets creators share content—ranging from cooking and fitness videos to adult material—and earn money from subscribers. Radvinsky’s site took a 20% cut of all payments. By 2024, the company reported $1.4bn in revenue from over $7bn in transactions, with 377 million subscribers and 4.6 million creators active on the platform.
The site’s rapid growth drew scrutiny. British regulators probed whether minors were accessing adult content, and Ofcom fined OnlyFans about £1m for incomplete information on age verification. Earlier, the platform faced criticism for failing to remove illegal material, including child sexual abuse content. In 2021, OnlyFans briefly announced it would ban sexual content, but reversed course after backlash from users and performers.
Radvinsky, a Northwestern University economics graduate, lived in Florida and had an estimated net worth of $4.7bn. Beyond OnlyFans, he invested in tech through his venture firm Leo.com and donated to causes including the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He had also explored selling OnlyFans last year.
