THE NEXT WEB – Aug 31 – IAC today announced its acquisition of DateHookup.com, a free dating site that claims 1M unique visitors per month. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. DateHookup was founded by CEO Dustin Weirich in 2002 and has grown to become the 6th most-trafficked free online dating website in the US.
by Robin Wauters
See full article at The Next Web
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
BLOOMBERG – Aug 30 – FriendFinder Networks, that has $511M of debt, was given three months by its bondholders to turn around a business that has never reported a profit. Bondholders have given the company until Nov. 14 to raise cash. Andrew Conru is the company’s biggest creditor, with ~$243M of bonds. Asked whether he would consider converting some of his second-lien notes to equity to lessen the company’s debt burden, Conru said he is “currently investigating all options.” AdultFriendFinder.com accounts for ~65% of the company’s revenue. The firm lost $31.1M last year and reported interest expense of $86M.
UPDATE: FriendFinder has released their response to Bloomberg article. "FriendFinder has received no such demand or notice from its bondholders. FriendFinder was either in compliance or had waivers for all of its debt covenants as of June 30, 2012."
by Zeke Faux
The full article was originally published at Bloomberg, but is no longer available.
BUSINESS INSIDER – Aug 31 – Brandon Wade runs an online dating empire including whatsyourprice.com, in which singles "bid" on first dates, and SeekingArrangement.com aimed at "sugar daddies." He recently sued PayPal, claiming it got rid of him because it deemed these businesses too "sexual" and even implied his websites promoted prostitution. Paypal is handling payments for Ashley Madison, a much more lucrative customer. So far, Wade has won a small victory in his case against PayPal. The judge in charge of the case rejected a motion to dismiss the suit before a trial.
by Erin Fuchs
See full article at Business Insider
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BUENOS AIRES HERALD – Aug 30 – In Argentina there are currently ~7K active users logging in to Grindr on a regular basis and the country ranks third in terms of users in the region after Chile and Brazil. Since its creation in 2009, Grindr has grown exponentially, boasting ~4M users worldwide.
by Adrian Bono
See full article at Buenos Aires Herald
WEBWIRE – Aug 30 – I will provide a presentation entitled the “State of the European Dating Business” at the iDate European Dating Conference. The event takes place on September 10-11, 2012 at the NH Koln Mediapark Hotel in Cologne, Germany. You can register here.
PR WEB – Aug 28 – FriendFinder announced on August 15 that they will shed 5,000 co-branded dating sites. As a result of this decision, Dating Factory, Europe’s leading white label dating provider, has decided to offer ex-FriendFinder co-brands range of benefits for joining their platform including 100% of the revenues from initial conversions and 50% of revenue from advertising.
PR WEB – Aug 29 – Great Expectations was the first to introduce video-dating to the matchmaking process, offer events, activities and travel to their clients, integrate offline dating online, conduct background checks on clients, and they are now offering an all-inclusive concierge service. The concierge will allow clients to request everything for their dating needs, including dinner reservations, event tickets, limos and flowers.
GAYDAR BLOG – Aug 28 – Here are the winning vouchers collected from Gaydar during the Manchester Pride.
To claim your prize, scan or take a photo of your voucher and email to craig.mccormack@qsoft.co.uk along with your contact.
The full article was originally published at Gaydar Blog, but is no longer available.
MASHABLE – Aug 28 – Snap Interactive is re-launching its dating site AreYouInterested.com as a social discovery site. AreYouInterested (both the site and the app) lets you sync your Facebook information to your profile and meet other people with similar interests. "Now you can meet people who share your interests, whether you’re looking for friendship or dating", commented Clifford Lerner, CEO of Snap Interactive. The site will operate on a freemium model. You can sync your Facebook account to the site and see what users you have things in common with for free. You can send one free message, but for any more you’ll need to subscribe. MeetMe and Tagged are two other similar sites that use social discovery to virtually introduce people.
by Kate Freeman
See full article at Mashable
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CISIONWIRE – Aug 28 – Austria singles spend ~ €16.9M on online dating sites, according to the latest analysis of the industry observer Single-Boersen Vergleich. The top 4 dating sites (eDarling, Elite Partner, Friendscout24 and Parship) are collectively taking 60% of the online dating market share in Austria.