Bye, Tim
OnlyFans founder hands the reins to marketing head after turbulent year
Ami Gan, who joined the company just last year, is CEO effective immediately.
Tim Stokely, the (less-sketchy) founder of amateur sex work platform OnlyFans, is stepping down as CEO effective immediately. Marketing chief Amrapali “Ami” Gan will take over as the company’s new CEO. She’ll be left with the monumental task of steering OnlyFans through the increasingly turbulent waters of the internet sex industry.
Gan hasn’t been with OnlyFans all that long — she only joined up in 2020 to direct the platform’s marketing and communications department — but then again OnlyFans has only existed for just over five years. She and Stokely have reportedly worked together in very close proximity since she joined the company, through what’s been the company’s most growth-heavy and scandal-heavy period of its life.
“Ami has a deep passion for OnlyFans’ business and I’m passing the baton to a friend and colleague who has the vision and drive to help the organization reach its tremendous potential,” Stokely said in a statement. He says he chose Gan for the role himself.
New year, new CEO — Gan is new to OnlyFans but not new to the world of high-profile business. She led quite a few comms teams before finding her place at OnlyFans, including a cannabis company, Red Bull’s media arm, and Quest Nutrition.
Gan says she’s proud to take the helm at OnlyFans. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with our creator community to help them maximize control over, and monetize, their content,” she said in a statement.
Gan has said that she plans to continue expanding and promoting OFTV, the OnlyFans streaming app that filters out any NSFW content.
Internet sex is under attack — The future of internet sex work is murky at best. This year has been the roughest yet for porn sites, many of whom have been forced to discontinue monetization because of pressure from banks and payment processors. This is why OnlyFans briefly planned to ban explicit pornography from its platform, too.
Stokely has not made public the reasons for his leaving the CEO role, though the whiplash from this year’s porn ban would be enough to send anyone packing. Despite later backtracking on that plan, plenty of creators have left OnlyFans this year, citing concerns about suddenly losing their income and tight-knit communities.
Gan’s new job will not be easy. She’s said her number-one priority moving forward is making OnlyFans the “safest” social media platform in the world — but protecting creators will continue to pose thorny problems of its own. She’ll have to stare down regulators and big banks to do so. If nothing else, the site still shows plenty of promise as a cash cow; OnlyFans is on track to generate $2.5 billion in sales this year alone.
