Timothy Stokely | |
---|---|
Born | July 1983 (age 40–41)
Harlow, United Kingdom |
Education | Anglia Ruskin University |
Occupation | Businessman |
Known for | Founder of OnlyFans and CEO until 2021 |
Timothy Christopher Stokely (born July 1983) is a British businessman and the founder and former CEO of the internet site OnlyFans. He has been described by The Sunday Times as "the king of homemade porn". [1] He officially stepped down in December 2021.
Tim Stokely was born in Harlow, [2] Essex, [3] in July 1983, the youngest of four children of Guy Stokely, a retired ex- Barclays investment banker. He has a degree from Anglia Ruskin University. [4]
Stokely's first businesses were the adult performance websites GlamWorship and Customs4U, and a site to connect customers to tradespeople. [5] He founded OnlyFans in 2016 alongside his older brother, Thomas Stokely and with the help of a £10,000 loan from his father, Guy, [6] who told him, "Tim, this is going to be the last one". [5] His brother is the company's chief operating officer and his father is head of finance. [5] [7] He sought to avoid the mistakes of his earlier sites by building in a referral system that gave third parties an incentive to recruit new content creators to the site. [2]
He has been described by The Sunday Times as "the king of homemade porn" as the majority of OnlyFans' content is pornographic. [1] Stokely cites the investor Warren Buffett and his book Warren Buffett on Business as one of his influences. [2]
Stokely sold a 75 percent stake in OnlyFans' parent company Fenix International to Leonid Radvinsky in 2018. [5] [8] On 23 December 2021, Tim Stokely stepped down as CEO of OnlyFans, and was succeeded by Indian-American businesswoman Amrapali Gan. [9] Keily Blair replaced Gan in July 2023. [10]
Stokely lives in a "gated mansion with a cinema and sauna" in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. [1] He subscribes to two OnlyFans content creators, James Haskell and Chris Robshaw, which reflects his interest in rugby. [2]