DIE WELT – Aug 30 - Parship and ElitePartner, two German dating sites that were bought by Oakley Capital, won't be merged. "We will see later how the companies can work together. Our intention is to maintain both brands and to sharpen their profile," said Parship CEO Tim Schiffers.
by Birger Nicolai
See full article at Die Welt
AIM GROUP – Aug 24 – Avito.ru, Russia's largest general classifieds site, removed the dating button under its "Hobbies and Leisure" category, to avoid the potential risks associated with online prostitution rings in Russia. In the past few months, Russia has witnessed a government crackdown on online prostitution rackets, with several sites and publications associated with illegal escort services taken offline.
TELECOMPAPER – July 29 – French data protection agency CNIL has served notice to eight dating sites including Meetic, Attractive World, AdopteUnMec, Easyflirt, Rencontre and Mektoube after an investigation revealed a number of breaches of privacy. The sites did not ask for permission to collect sensitive data.
AIL – July 24 - One in eight adults – mostly women – have given up on finding love, a poll has found. The main reasons for women are:
PRESS RELEASE – July 24 – Parship has relaunched its social discovery app One2like as a chat, flirt and dating community. One2like app is for users who are looking for a date, life partner or just a new friend.
BBJ – July 23 – Dating app Happn has launched in Budapest. The app counts ~5M users around the world, in cities such as Paris, London, New York, Barcelona, Madrid, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Mexico and Sao Paulo.
by Christian Keszthelyi
See full article at Budapest Business Journal
STANDARD.CO.UK – July 9 – Coffee Meets Bagel, a dating site founded by three US-based, South Korean-born sisters, uses Facebook profile to recommend matches based on users’ friends of friends. Every day at noon, users receive their top match and have 24 hours to "like" or "pass". The app is already available in the US, Hong Kong, Sydney and Toronto.
by Jamie Nimmo
See full article at Standard.co.uk
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 4 - Ashley Madison revealed that it could abandon its London IPO, which was estimated to raise £135M ($200M) because it has potentially found a "better option." "We don't want to rush and make a mistake, but we are looking to commit to a decision around August," said Noel Biderman, CEO of Avid Life Media which owns Ashley Madison.
by Lianna Brinded
See full article at Business Insider
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – June 19 – Lulu, the controversial dating app that lets women rate men, has launched in the UK, following success in the US (it had ~ 200K users after two months, and a 60% retention rate). It allows women to comment on and rate the men they know and have dated.
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK – June 14 – There are currently ~6M people claiming benefits according to the DWP (Department for Work and Pension). A new dating site for those people, called BenefitsBritain.com, launched on Friday, with Benefits Street star White Dee approached to be the site's poster girl.
