MERGER MARTKET – Oct 6 – PlentyOfFish.com has set aside $15M to acquire companies in dating, mobile and the daily deals space. POF revenue is estimated at $20-$30M. Markus said POF is not for sell at the moment. Noel Biderman, president of Avid Life Media, parent company of Ashley Madison, said Avid would absolutely acquire POF.
Frind compared POF's valuation to Badoo, which he said is £2 Billion. Cupid also could consider buying POF. Cupid has 34M members in 39 countries, and generated revenues of $25M in the six months. An IPO is also a possibility for POF. Frind maintained that POF is focused on buys and so far has made several acquisitions and investments this year, launching offeron.com, its new daily deals business.
A lot of off-base assumptions and unfounded statements here.
What acquisitions and investments has POF done this year?
An IPO in this economy for a dating site? I don’t think so. eHarmony will go first, but thats not going to be for a long time.
Look at how poorly Badoo’s traffic has performed in recent months. Its unsustainable for them to continue as they have. Their current dream price is being hyped by investors and the media. Its a solid revenue generator though.
Badoo is not a $2B company. Not based on their current revenue and the quality of the profiles and other more specific metrics. Anyone who’s spent a week on the site knows this.
Daily deals is a distraction from POF’s core focus, but hey maybe they are making some money at it. Short window for that opportunity as well.
On the plus side of all of this, investors are looking more closely at the dating industry. But they are *very* picky and majority of companies aren’t what they are looking for.
A lot of off-base assumptions and unfounded statements here.
What acquisitions and investments has POF done this year?
An IPO in this economy for a dating site? I don’t think so. eHarmony will go first, but thats not going to be for a long time.
Look at how poorly Badoo’s traffic has performed in recent months. Its unsustainable for them to continue as they have. Their current dream price is being hyped by investors and the media. Its a solid revenue generator though.
Badoo is not a $2B company. Not based on their current revenue and the quality of the profiles and other more specific metrics. Anyone who’s spent a week on the site knows this.
Daily deals is a distraction from POF’s core focus, but hey maybe they are making some money at it. Short window for that opportunity as well.
On the plus side of all of this, investors are looking more closely at the dating industry. But they are *very* picky and majority of companies aren’t what they are looking for.
A lot of off-base assumptions and unfounded statements here.
MB…Pray tell?
What acquisitions and investments has POF done this year?
MB…None disclosable. 😉
An IPO in this economy for a dating site? I don’t think so. eHarmony will go first, but thats not going to be for a long time.
MB…An IPO is possible. No timeline given. eHarmony’s would indeed set the necessary precedent. Only Cupid is showing positive inclination on stock growth.
Look at how poorly Badoo’s traffic has performed in recent months. Its unsustainable for them to continue as they have. Their current dream price is being hyped by investors and the media. Its a solid revenue generator though.
MB…It is indeed a solid revenue generator and has shown considerable growth, hence the valuation.
Badoo is not a $2B company. Not based on their current revenue and the quality of the profiles and other more specific metrics. Anyone who’s spent a week on the site knows this.
MB…Correct, Markus said 2B GBP.
Daily deals is a distraction from POF’s core focus, but hey maybe they are making some money at it. Short window for that opportunity as well.
MB…Daily Deals makes sense for POF.
On the plus side of all of this, investors are looking more closely at the dating industry. But they are *very* picky and majority of companies aren’t what they are looking for.
MB…Of course.
A lot of off-base assumptions and unfounded statements here.
MB…Pray tell?
What acquisitions and investments has POF done this year?
MB…None disclosable. 😉
An IPO in this economy for a dating site? I don’t think so. eHarmony will go first, but thats not going to be for a long time.
MB…An IPO is possible. No timeline given. eHarmony’s would indeed set the necessary precedent. Only Cupid is showing positive inclination on stock growth.
Look at how poorly Badoo’s traffic has performed in recent months. Its unsustainable for them to continue as they have. Their current dream price is being hyped by investors and the media. Its a solid revenue generator though.
MB…It is indeed a solid revenue generator and has shown considerable growth, hence the valuation.
Badoo is not a $2B company. Not based on their current revenue and the quality of the profiles and other more specific metrics. Anyone who’s spent a week on the site knows this.
MB…Correct, Markus said 2B GBP.
Daily deals is a distraction from POF’s core focus, but hey maybe they are making some money at it. Short window for that opportunity as well.
MB…Daily Deals makes sense for POF.
On the plus side of all of this, investors are looking more closely at the dating industry. But they are *very* picky and majority of companies aren’t what they are looking for.
MB…Of course.
This POF IPO chatter has been going on for years, mostly from your mouth 😉
I advise institutional investors on dating site investment, M&A, accelerator capitals, etc, all the time. POF is a sale, not an IPO candidate. POF is seeking acquisitions to bolster revenue and Markus probably wants to get out.
Badoo is a completely different beast. $100M run rate and killer monetization strategy vs. $25 million from traditional banner advertising. Investors are cooling off to it as well, despite the hype.
POF doesn’t actually do daily deals it’s a separate site, I think there are ads for it on POF but I’m not seeing them.
I’m waiting to see how the industry moves from copying HowAboutWe too Badoo’s monetization strategy.
It would be great to see more public dating companies, but with that comes responsibility, transparency and a lot of changes to a corporate structure, not to mention a lot of new hires. Talking about IPO’s is fun, but the reality is that the demand for public dating sites is low at this time. There are far too many less-risky opportunities out there.
This POF IPO chatter has been going on for years, mostly from your mouth 😉
I advise institutional investors on dating site investment, M&A, accelerator capitals, etc, all the time. POF is a sale, not an IPO candidate. POF is seeking acquisitions to bolster revenue and Markus probably wants to get out.
Badoo is a completely different beast. $100M run rate and killer monetization strategy vs. $25 million from traditional banner advertising. Investors are cooling off to it as well, despite the hype.
POF doesn’t actually do daily deals it’s a separate site, I think there are ads for it on POF but I’m not seeing them.
I’m waiting to see how the industry moves from copying HowAboutWe too Badoo’s monetization strategy.
It would be great to see more public dating companies, but with that comes responsibility, transparency and a lot of changes to a corporate structure, not to mention a lot of new hires. Talking about IPO’s is fun, but the reality is that the demand for public dating sites is low at this time. There are far too many less-risky opportunities out there.
there is no IPO. Why would I ?
What is printed in the press and what is reality are 2 very different things.
there is no IPO. Why would I ?
What is printed in the press and what is reality are 2 very different things.
As someone who contributed to this article I can confirm there’s a lot of rumours going around – however few really make sense.
Now would not be the right time for PoF or Avid to combine and IPO, I think Badoo may face similar challenges.
It’s very easy to artificially grow revenues and profits – the real test is sustainability is combining yield (revenue per member) now compared with yield the previous year – eg. can the business demonstrate it can grow revenues and grow members at the same time? And grow bottom-line profits faster than both?
Ross
As someone who contributed to this article I can confirm there’s a lot of rumours going around – however few really make sense.
Now would not be the right time for PoF or Avid to combine and IPO, I think Badoo may face similar challenges.
It’s very easy to artificially grow revenues and profits – the real test is sustainability is combining yield (revenue per member) now compared with yield the previous year – eg. can the business demonstrate it can grow revenues and grow members at the same time? And grow bottom-line profits faster than both?
Ross
Most of it is wishfull thinking.
I’ve got around 15M i’m willing to spend on buying other sites… anything under 8x multipul would be very intersting for us and there is a lot going in that range these days.
Most of it is wishfull thinking.
I’ve got around 15M i’m willing to spend on buying other sites… anything under 8x multipul would be very intersting for us and there is a lot going in that range these days.