BUSINESS WEEK — Feb 20 — EHarmony is now celebrating its sixth year. Traffic rose 8% in December, to 1.3 million visitors, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Subscribers pay up to $59 a month for the service, which Warren claims resulted in 16,000 marriages last year. eHarmony's has an $80 million annual advertising budget. The half-a-billion-dollar-a-year online dating industry has slowed to 6% annual growth from 70% a few years ago. On Feb 6, he introduced a new online service designed to help married couples stay that way. EHarmony's "marriage wellness program" has a 310-question quiz designed to determine the relationship's strengths and weaknesses and 20-minute follow-up exercises, for $239 per couple. Plans include an IPO to provide funds for international expansion and the launch of new products such as counseling for parents. Warren is not a big believer in the idea that opposites attract (even if they do, he argues, they won't last). No one under 21 can join, because marriages between younger people are twice as likely to fail, he says. Nor will he allow people on his site who have been divorced more than three times. Warren won't match taller women with shorter men, because he believes that's a difference difficult to overcome in a relationship. And he won't fix up same-sex couples.
The full article was originally published at Business Week, but is no longer available.
As the full article says eHarmony is managed as “a family business”
“Plans include an IPO”???
Investors could ask:
What could happen if Dr. Neil Clark Warren (71_year_old founder and chairman) suddenly dies?
Will eHarmony be able to survive him?
If they plan to reach the IPO, they should substantiate the matching algorithm == Scientific Papers Available (“…development and validation of online compatibility testing and disclosing those findings for public and academic scrutiny without divulging proprietary information….” )
Also Public Dot Com Companies have to comply/agree/fulfil Sarbanes Oxley Act (aka SOX NORMS)
“International expansion”???
eHarmony works only in English for the United States AND for “Catholic and religious persons”. Uses a proprietary test AND proprietary comparison method between prospective mates (matching algorithm, seems they include an adapted DISC model) invented by Dr. Neil Clark Warren (Psychologist). A person needs to be matched (with other) on 29 dimensions of compatibility.
eHarmony, as many actual online dating sites that use proprietary tests and models, CANNOT change nor ADJUST its compatibility matching algorithm in its huge database. (i.e. cannot add more precision nor more reliability than they actually have.)
eHarmony’s compatibility test CANNOT be simply translated to German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc.
Kindest Regards,
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina. ardenghifer@gmail.com
As the full article says eHarmony is managed as “a family business”
“Plans include an IPO”???
Investors could ask:
What could happen if Dr. Neil Clark Warren (71_year_old founder and chairman) suddenly dies?
Will eHarmony be able to survive him?
If they plan to reach the IPO, they should substantiate the matching algorithm == Scientific Papers Available (“…development and validation of online compatibility testing and disclosing those findings for public and academic scrutiny without divulging proprietary information….” )
Also Public Dot Com Companies have to comply/agree/fulfil Sarbanes Oxley Act (aka SOX NORMS)
“International expansion”???
eHarmony works only in English for the United States AND for “Catholic and religious persons”. Uses a proprietary test AND proprietary comparison method between prospective mates (matching algorithm, seems they include an adapted DISC model) invented by Dr. Neil Clark Warren (Psychologist). A person needs to be matched (with other) on 29 dimensions of compatibility.
eHarmony, as many actual online dating sites that use proprietary tests and models, CANNOT change nor ADJUST its compatibility matching algorithm in its huge database. (i.e. cannot add more precision nor more reliability than they actually have.)
eHarmony’s compatibility test CANNOT be simply translated to German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc.
Kindest Regards,
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
ardenghifer@gmail.com