Tim Stokely
Timothy Stokely | |
|---|---|
| Born | (July 1983) Harlow, Essex |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Anglia Ruskin University |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder of OnlyFans |
| Title | Chief executive |
Timothy Christopher Stokely (born July 1983) is a British businessman and the founder and CEO of the internet site OnlyFans. He has been described by The Sunday Times as "the king of homemade porn".[1]
Early life[edit]
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, who is head of finance for OnlyFans.[4] His older brother Thomas Stokely is its chief operating officer.[4] He has a degree from Anglia Ruskin University.[5]
Career[edit]
Stokely's first businesses were the adult performance websites GlamGirls and Customs4U, and a site to connect customers to tradespeople.[4] He founded OnlyFans in 2016 with the help of a £10,000 loan from his father who told him "Tim, this is going to be the last one".[4] 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]
In 2018, Stokely sold a 75% stake in OnlyFans' parent company Fenix International to Leonid Radvinsky, a Ukrainian-American businessman and the owner of porn site MyFreeCams.[4][6] After this, OnlyFans became increasingly focused on not safe for work (NSFW) content and "gained a pop culture reputation for being a hive of pornography".[6]
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]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Das, Shanti (26 July 2020). "Meet the king of homemade porn — a banker's son making millions". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ a b c d Barrie, Thomas (16 March 2021). "OnlyFans CEO Tim Stokely's tips for success". GQ. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ Murphy, Margi (2 April 2021). "The Essex-born OnlyFans founder who built a porn empire". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Nilsson, Patricia (30 April 2021). "OnlyFans blurs boundaries as lockdown demand drives success". The Financial Times. Retrieved 25 May 2021. (subscription required)
- ^ "About". timstokely.com. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ a b Zitser, Joshua (24 December 2020). "'Being made homeless is a perpetual fear': What it's like to risk everything just for posting on OnlyFans". The Independent. Retrieved 25 May 2021.