All Acquisitions – Page 7 – Online Personals Watch

U.S. Pushes Chinese Owner of Grindr to Divest the Dating App

Posted on March 27, 2019

REUTERS – Mar 26 – Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd is seeking to sell Grindr, the gay dating app it has owned since 2016, after a U.S. government national security panel raised concerns about its ownership. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has informed Kunlun that its ownership of Grindr constitutes a national security risk. Kunlun had said last August it was preparing for an IPO of Grindr. As a result of CFIUS' intervention, Kunlun has now shifted its focus to an auction process to sell Grindr outright. Grindr has hired investment bank Cowen Inc to handle the sale process, and is soliciting acquisition interest from U.S. investment firms, as well as Grindr's competitors. Kunlun acquired a majority stake in Grindr in 2016 for $93M. It bought out the remainder of the company in 2018.

by Carl O'Donnell, Liana B. Baker & Echo Wang
See full article at Reuters

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Spark Networks to Acquire Zoosk

Posted on March 22, 2019

PR NEWSWIRE – Mar 22 – Spark Networks today announced its entry into a definitive agreement to acquire Zoosk. With the addition of Zoosk, Spark will more than double in size and the combined business will be considerably more valuable than the two stand-alone entities. In 2020, Spark expects Adjusted EBITDA to exceed $50M. Approximately two-thirds of the combined company's revenue will be generated in North America. Spark will acquire 100% of Zoosk's shares with a combination of cash and stock valuing the company at ~$255M based on the closing price of Spark Networks stock on March 20, 2019. The transaction is expected to close early in Q3 2019.

See full article at PR Newswire

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Why The Meet Group Bought Gay Dating App Growlr

Posted on March 8, 2019

PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL – Mar 8 – The Meet Group acquired gay dating app Growlr for $11.8M this week. Growlr will join Meet's existing portfolio of MeetMe, Skout, Tagged and Lovoo. Meet announced the Growlr acquisition ahead of its Q4 and full year 2018 earnings call, when it saw $178.6M in total revenue, a 44% jump from 2017. Meet's been in talks with Growlr for more than a year, and Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group, said the acquisition is part of its goal to expand into different audiences it doesn't already serve. The app, which counts ~200K global daily active users, came at a good value, he added, and once Meet integrates its live video features into Growlr, he believes it will be the first gay dating app in the country to do so and growth should follow. Growlr has just two employees who will join Meet.

by Michelle Caffrey
See full article at Philadelphia Business Journal

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The Meet Group Q4 Results, Acquires Gay App Growlr for $11.8M

Posted on March 6, 2019

BUSINESSWIRE – Mar 6 – For Q4 2018 revenue was $52.5M, up 31% YOY. GAAP net income was $4.3M, compared to a net loss of $68.1M the prior year Q4. The prior year Q4 included a non-cash asset impairment charge of $56.4M and a deferred tax charge of $7.7M. Adjusted EBITDA was $10.6M, compared to $10.5M in the prior Q4. In 2018 revenue was $178.6M, up from $123.8M in 2017. "In addition to reporting a strong quarter, I'm excited to announce the acquisition of Growlr, which provides a meaningful step into the large same-sex dating market and expands the base of users to whom we can deliver our live video product," said Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group. "Video transformed our business in 2018," continued Cook. "Our goal is to build the best place to meet new people through video. We increased the average monetization per daily active video user to 18c, up from 14c in the Q3, 2018." The Meet Group acquired Growlr for $11.8M, using $4.8M in cash and $7M from its existing line of credit, plus an earnout of $2M to be paid in annual $1M installments over the next two years if certain revenue metrics are achieved in each year. The Growlr app has ~200K global DAU, who exchange millions of messages each day.

See full article at The Meet Group website

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Match Group Fully Acquires Hinge

Posted on February 7, 2019

TECH CRUNCH – Feb 7 – Last year, Match Group acquired a 51% stake in Hinge. The company has now confirmed that it fully bought out Hinge in the past quarter, and today owns 100%. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Match believes Hinge can offer an alternative to those who aren't interested in using casual apps, like Tinder. As Match explained in November, it plans to double-down on marketing that focuses on Tinder's more casual nature and use by young singles, while positioning Hinge as the alternative for those looking for serious relationships. The company said it would also increase its investment in Hinge going forward, in order to grow its user base. "Hinge downloads are now 2.5 times more than the next largest app, and 40% of Bumble downloads," said Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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PeerStream Is Selling Its Dating Assets to Focus on LiveStreaming and Blockchain Initiatives

Posted on February 4, 2019

GLOBE NEWSWIRE – Feb 4 – PeerStream has completed a sale of its non-core dating assets to The Dating Company LLC, a private U.S.-based company. The dating assets consist principally of the FirstMet dating service, which was founded in 2007. Alex Harrington, CEO of PeerStream, commented: "as we shifted our corporate strategy it became clear that the dating assets were non-core and suffered from lack of management attention, resulting in underperformance in 2018, including a significant revenue decline and negative cash flow."

See full article at Globe Newswire

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SC Holdings Acquires 5% of UK Dating Company NowDating

Posted on January 24, 2019

GLOBE NEWSWIRE – Jan 23 – SC Holdings Corp., based in Hong Kong, has acquired 5% of NowDating Ltd., a UK company which developed a dating app "Now" Dating. Tan Yuen, SC Holding's CEO, received confidence votes internally to make acquisitions of companies with high growth potential irrespective of industry.

See full article at Nasdaq

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Japan’s Rakuten Sells Matchmaking Unit O-net to Polaris Capital

Posted on December 3, 2018

DEAL STREET ASIA – Nov 30 – Japan's e-commerce giant Rakuten has offloaded its entire stake in O-net, one of the country's largest matchmaking services, to Japanese private equity firm Polaris Capital for an undisclosed amount. O-net was founded in 1980 as OMMG and acquired by the e-commerce giant in 2007. The sale involves 280K shares, or 100% interest, in O-net, with the acquisition expected to be completed by the end of this year. O-net, which currently employs ~500 people, is engaged in marriage matchmaking services, event planning and management, publishing, and other businesses related to marriage service. As of last year, it had 46K members.

by Mars Woo
See full article at Deal Street Asia

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Shareholders Increase Stake in Spark Networks

Posted on November 5, 2018

FAIRFIELD CURRENT – Nov 4 – First Manhattan Co. boosted its holdings in Spark Networks by 197.3% during the Q3. The firm owned 225,170 shares. First Manhattan owned 6.99% of Spark Networks worth $2.6M at the end of the most recent quarter. Separately, PEAK6 Investments increased its position in Spark Networks by 7.4% in the Q2. PEAK6 Investments now owns 478,119 shares valued at $5.1M.

by Darrell McKinsey
See full article at Fairfield Current

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Wake-up Call, eHarmony Sold For A Song

Posted on October 30, 2018

OPW – Oct 30 – ProSiebenSat.1 bought eHarmony for $85 million. A real deal. They'll run on a common platform in the future. eHarmony will do roughly $90m revenues, and $0 profit in 2018. Customer lifetime value for eHarmony is $200, whereas Parship is at $570. More info here. Brand recognition for eHarmony stands above Tinder and on par with the likes of Instagram and American Airlines.