WSJ – July 30 – IAC reported higher sales due to the contribution of About Group, as well as an increase in revenue from Match.com. IAC reported a profit of $58.3M, up from $43.3M a year earlier. Total revenue jumped 17% to $799.4M. Match posted a 9% increase in sales (194.3M Q2 Revenue).
by John Kell
The full article was originally published at WSJ, but is no longer available.
MEMEBURN – July 30 – Bang With Friends, the Facebook app that aids in casual sex hookups, was banned from the Apple App Store in May and now Zynga is taking it on for trademark infringement. Zynga has filed a complaint suggesting that Bang With Friends selected its name with “Zynga’s game trademarks fully in mind,” and that its name contravenes the company’s trademark, covering titles including “Words With Friends” and “Chess With Friends. Bang With Friends has yet to respond to the allegations, but we can’t imagine that it will back down quickly. Its fortunes, with upwards of 1.1M users, also appear to still be on the up, while Zynga’s are going very much the other way. In June, Zynga was forced to slash 18% of its staff as it continues to battle to adapt to mobile gaming.
BUSINESS WIRE – July 30 – H1 Revenue increased 2% to Eur 83.6M. Subscribers increased by 8% YOY to 811,065. Marketing expenses were Eur 41.2M, corresponding to 49% of revenue, compared with Eur 39M or 48% of revenue. EBITDA was Eur 16.8M compared with Eur 19.1M for the prior year period. Meetic net profit was Eur 10.9M, compared to Eur 11.9M for prior year period.
The full article was originally published at WSJ, but is no longer available.
PR WEB – July 31 – Dating Factory, the international white label dating platform, is adding Hungarian language and suport to their system. DatingFactory.com now operates in 22 languages.
US NEWS – July 31 – A class action suit against Successful Match alleges that the company broke the law and its promises of confidentiality to customers on PositiveSingles.com by sharing their HIV and STD statuses on "thousands" of spinoff sites, including HIVGayMen.com, STDHookup.com and Blackpoz.com. Meanwhile ChristianMingle.com, a datingsite for Christian singles, is also embroiled in a class action suit, for not offering its dating services to same-sex couples. Christian Mingle is being sued for a violation of human rights law in California, where same-sex marriage is legal.
by Elizabeth Flock
The full article was originally published at US News, but is no longer available.
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ENTREPRENEUR – July 30 – OkCupid uncovered a puzzling problem. The site's internal ad-impression numbers weren't jibing with those of an advertiser, which were lower. Users were using ad blockers, free web-browser extensions that prevent ads from appearing. In August 2012 OkCupid published a special notice that was inserted behind every ad position on the site. When users of ad blockers visited the site, instead of seeing white space where ads would typically appear, they saw an OkCupid banner that read, "So normally there would be an ad in this spot. But you're using an ad blocker like a boss … Here's a solution: You donate $5 to us once, and we remove all ads from the site forever." Yagan would not disclose specific financial results from the program but claims that the banner spurred a significant share of donations. People were willing to support the site directly with cash.
by Jeff Kauflin
See full article at Entrepreneur
EMERCE – July 30 – Ashley Madison, the infidelity dating services, has officially launched in Netherlands. The site has recently launched in Japan and India and announced it had crossed 20M member milestone.
FOX NEWS – July 26 – Seventeen Magazine, which targets females ages 12 to19, published an article “17 dating blogger: would you do online dating?” Some critics were shocked that online dating was being promoted to such a young demographic, especially because the potential dangers of meeting mystery men or women online, and the fact that Match.com states users must be 18 years of age to register.
OPW – July 31 – Online Personals Watch is a service of Courtland Brooks. We've been running OPW since June 2004. Courtland Brooks does
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Over the years we've recruited great people from the
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not the fancy offices.
