The paid subscription platform for adult content OnlyFans beat global big tech corporations such as Google, Meta, and Apple to take the top spot worldwide by revenue per employee. Run by 42 employees, the company is seen as proving the profitability of a platform business model by generating massive revenue with minimal staff.
According to financial analytics firm Barchart on the 28th, OnlyFans earned $37.6 million (about 54.1 billion won) per employee in the 2024 fiscal year. During the same period, Nvidia posted $3.6 million (about 5.2 billion won) per employee, Apple $2.4 million (about 3.5 billion won), Meta $2.2 million (about 3.2 billion won), Google $1.9 million (about 2.7 billion won), and Microsoft $1.1 million (about 1.6 billion won). With only dozens of staff, OnlyFans achieved efficiency more than 10 times higher than big tech firms with tens of thousands of employees.
Founded in London in 2016 by Tim Stokely, OnlyFans grew rapidly after Leonid Radvinsky acquired it in 2021 through Fenix International. During the COVID-19 pandemic, individual creators seeking alternative income flocked to the platform, causing user numbers to surge, and adult content now accounts for a significant share of its traffic and revenue.
OnlyFans' revenue structure is simple. The company manages only servers and payment infrastructure, while more than 4.6 million creators handle content production and user acquisition. Gross merchandise value in 2024 was $7.22 billion (about 10.38 trillion won), of which 20%, or $1.41 billion (about 2.03 trillion won), was recorded as company revenue. Creators take 80% of revenue and the platform takes only a 20% fee, leaving almost no burden for labor and operating costs.
This "user-led platform model" is fundamentally different from traditional big tech corporations that rely on product development, manufacturing, and research and development staff. OnlyFans is credited with maximizing user-generated content and network effects to push per-capita returns to the extreme.
OnlyFans posted $684 million (about 984 billion won) in pretax profit and $520 million (about 748 billion won) in net profit in the 2024 fiscal year. In the same year, major shareholder Radvinsky received $701 million (about 1.008 trillion won) in dividends. OnlyFans Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Keily Blair said at a recent London tech conference, "Cumulative revenue paid to creators since 2016 has reached $25 billion," adding, "OnlyFans is an example of a new digital ecosystem that shows individuals can stand as economic agents on their own."
OnlyFans is currently valued at about $8 billion (about 11.5 trillion won). Still, this structure has drawn criticism as a "platform that monetizes the body." Last month, Canadian teenage creator Lil Tay said she made $15 million (about 2.16 billion won) in two weeks through OnlyFans, stirring controversy with the remark that "working women are losers." The creator explained, "I wanted to gain financial freedom with my own content," but criticism that OnlyFans' structure monetizes individuals' bodies has continued.
Meanwhile, OnlyFans is pursuing a shift to a "premium subscription ecosystem" centered on non-adult content such as music, sports, and yoga, and is introducing systems that automate creator revenue analytics and fan community management by strengthening artificial intelligence (AI) features on the platform.