If you are to believe sources, OnlyFans is in negotiations to sell a majority stake to investment firm Architect Capital, in a deal that would value the adult content subscription platform at approximately $5.5 billion including debt, according to a person who claims to be familiar with the matter.

The talks, first reported by Reuters, center on Architect acquiring close to a 60 percent stake in OnlyFans. Excluding debt, the transaction would value the company at roughly $3.5 billion.

This number is down significantly from the original $8 billion valuation, but still rather impressive.

Architect, which is based in San Francisco, is said to be in exclusive discussions with OnlyFans’ parent company, Fenix International Ltd. Neither Architect nor Fenix International immediately responded to requests for comment.

Architect Capital emerged around 2020 as an “opportunistic credit platform,” targeting situations where technology companies generate valuable but nontraditional assets that are hard to finance through conventional banks or venture lenders. Examples include revenue streams from fintech platforms, e-commerce merchants, SaaS contracts, and other recurring or data-rich cash flows.

The firm markets itself as a provider of innovative liquidity solutions, explicitly emphasizing its willingness to accept technology-enabled or esoteric assets as collateral. That positions it between traditional lenders and venture capital, offering non-dilutive funding to founders while giving investors exposure to structured credit tied to emerging digital business models.

According to a presentation sent to Architect investors and reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, the firm believes OnlyFans has significant potential to expand its financial infrastructure, particularly to support payouts to “under-banked” creators. The presentation reportedly outlines a long-term growth strategy that could position the company for an initial public offering as early as 2028.

OnlyFans generates nearly $1.6 billion in annual net revenue, according to the Journal report. The platform earns its income by taking a 20 percent commission on creator earnings, primarily from subscriptions and pay-per-view content.

The company rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as a subscription-based social media platform that allows creators, many of whom produce adult content, to monetize directly from fans. While it has attempted to broaden its brand beyond adult entertainment, explicit content remains central to its business model.

Fenix International previously explored selling OnlyFans to an investor group at a valuation of about $8 billion, Reuters reported last year, indicating that ownership changes have been under consideration for some time.

OnlyFans is wholly owned by Leonid Radvinsky, a Ukrainian American entrepreneur who acquired the platform in 2018.

Since then, the company has distributed tens of billions of dollars to creators and become one of the most profitable platforms in the creator economy.

Will the new buyer make any major changes to the platform? Only time will tell.

I will keep you updated as more information becomes available.