Month: November 2012
Cupid Shares Up As French Sites Dispute Resolved
HERALD SCOTLAND – Nov 23 – Shares of Cupid soared 5.6% after the company predicted strong growth in 2013 and said its financial performance was a year ahead of where it expected to be when it floated in 2010. Meanwhile, Cupid, which operates Cupidon.com in France, has reached an agreement with the owner of the Cupidon.fr and Cupidon.net websites with whom it had been in dispute.
Computerized Dating Dates To The 1960s
CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Nov 22 – Online dating has a relatively short history characterized by explosive growth in recent years, experts say. Most consider Match.com, launched in 1995, to be the first Internet dating site. The company was a pioneer, but using computers to connect eligible singles predates Match.com by decades. In the mid-1960s two Harvard undergraduates came up with "Operation Match," a computer program that paired men and woman based on a series of questions. Online dating also has become big business. According to IBISWorld, ~3,700 dating service companies generate ~$2 billion in annual revenue.
by Erin Meyer
The full article was originally published at Chicago Tribune, but is no longer available.
Meetic Celebrates 10th Birthday
01AMOUR – Nov 22 – Meetic was founded by Marc Simoncini in 2001 and the official launch followed in 2002. In the same year Meetic expanded into several European countries including Germany, Italy, Spain and UK. See Meetic’s timeline.
Markus Frind Puts Focus On POF’s Growth
SPROUTER – Nov 22 – Plenty of Fish, abbreviated as POF, was started by Frind at his home in Vancouver in 2003. “When I reached 15M users and peaked at two billion page views, I knew I needed customer service to effectively support POF’s exploding user base. In 2008 we moved into our first office, and we recently added a third to support our growth.” “The site recently reached ~3M active daily users, and POF members have now hosted ~20K singles events. Frind believes they key to success is simple. “Keep costs as low as possible, and follow a lean startup model.” Not raising outside funding hasn’t hampered POF’s success, as the company was featured on BusinessInsider’s Digital 100, which lists the world’s most valuable technology companies. Frind believes you should always “focus on something that plays to your strengths, and understand growth – growth drives everything in this world.“
CrossDating.com, German White Label Dating Platform, Merges With Dating Factory
PRESS RELEASE – Nov 21 – As part of the ongoing internationalization Dating Factory has acquired German White Label Dating platform – CrossDating. The CrossDating.com acquisition will ensure DatingFactory.com's continued strong growth in the DACH markets, said Tanya Fathers, CEO of Dating Factory. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Both co-founders Lutz Obermann and Marcel Knass will remain with the company as Country Manager DACH and Product Manager, respectively.
See full article at Pressebox.de
See all posts on DatingFactory
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Cupid Profits Substantially Up On Last Year
STOCKMARKETWIRE – Nov 22 – Cupid expects revenues and profits for 2012 to be substantially ahead of last time and in line with market forecasts. Cupid expects to end the year with a robust, bank debt free balance sheet and ~£11M of cash. In the period since 30 June 2012, Cupid has acquired AGL in France and Uniform Dating in the UK. International growth plans are in place for both these businesses for early 2013.
Jiayuan Announces Third Quarter 2012 Financial Results
PR NEWSWIRE – Nov 20 – Net revenues for Q3 were $18.1M, a YOY increase of 24.8%. Net income was $2.5M, down 35.9%. "During the quarter, we were encouraged to see our efforts begin to pay off as Jiayuan's Android and iOS apps helped drive incremental revenue from mobile users," said Mr. Linguang Wu, co-CEO of Jiayuan. "Our segmentation strategy is another step forward in improving user experience by catering to the specific needs." Jiayuan has launched izhenxin.com, a new dating site for marriage-minded singles.
The full article was originally published at SacBee, but is no longer available.
InterActiveCorp Takes Shine To Cupid
THISISMONEY – Nov21 – Investors fell out of love with Cupid months ago. Shares have generally been cold- shouldered since founders Bill Dobbie and Max Polyakor in March each trousered £10.8M selling a total of 12M shares, or 14.8% of the equity, at 180p a pop. Buyers, however, yesterday took a sudden shine to Cupid, amid revived industry gossip that IAC could be ready to pounce.
by Geoff Foster
See full article at ThisIsMoney
GPS Apps Being Used By Singles To Find Dates
NEWS4JAX – Nov 20 – "Singles Around Me" says ~20K singles are installing the app each week. "OKCupid" says one million of its 3M users use the GPS features. And "How About We" estimates that about one in four of its online daters are now incorporating location-based dating into their search for a soul mate. "One of the biggest problems with GPS dating is the immediacy of it," said Alan Rosenthal, author of the book "Safer Online Dating." In regular online dating, you have time to exchange emails or talk on the phone before you actually meet. But with GPS, he says you could be face to face in minutes.
See all posts on SinglesAroundMe
See all posts on OkCupid
See all posts on HowAboutWe