REUTERS – June 20 – Cupid said it has been approached by multiple parties for its casual dating sites and added that it expects core earnings for the first half to be hit by higher marketing costs. Cupid was in talks to sell its casual dating business that operates benaughty.com and flirt.com. EBIDTA for the six months ending June 30 is estimated to be ~2.5M pounds ($3.9M).
Category: All UK & Europe
Top Dating Sites In UK
METRO.CO.UK – June 18 -
- MySingleFriend
– £13.17 a month - Plenty Of Fish
– Free - Guardian Soulmates
– £16 a month - Lovestruck
– £16 a month - Doing Something
– £10 a month - eHarmony
– £9.95 a month
Paul Shurey – CEO & Founder Of Illicitencounters.com
GUARDIAN.CO.UK – June 15 – Paul Shurey (aged 54) died after a fall in India this April. He was one of the key movers and shakers in the rave scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. He began running unofficial parties from 1989. He decided to launch Tribal Gathering with several different stages and DJs. Later he moved into digital marketing and went back to university to study television production. He founded IllicitEncounters.com, a dating site for married people who wanted to have affairs. Shurey was still running the site when, in March this year, he travelled to India. He was there when he suffered a fall, hitting his head and suffering injuries from which he never recovered.
Paul Shurey, born December 24, 1958, died April 24, 2013.
Wamba: Social Discovery Brand from Mamba
PR INSIDE – May 30 – Mamba is launching online social discovery brand Wamba. This new project will be a key project for the company in the international market. Through international partnerships and projects such as Mamboo, Mamba has attracted a significant international audience for its services and expanding user base. Wamba is available in multiple languages, and all premium services are adapted for use in any part of the world.
The full article was originally published at PR Inside, but is no longer available.
AdopteUnMec.com Reports 16 Million Eur In Revenue
01AMOUR – May 26 – Dating site AdopteUnMec.com, the French version of CheckHimOut.com where women are in full control, generated revenue of Eur 16M according to its director of marketing Thomas Pawlowski. The site has 5.7M registered users and 650K active members every month. AdopteUnMec.com is free for women and the male/female ratio is 50/50.
The 20 Most Useful Dating Websites
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – May 10 - Online dating is now one of the most popular ways to meet a new partner and there are ~1400 sites in the UK alone.
- Match.com
- MySingleFriend
- eHarmony
- Friend Finder
- JDate
- Gay.com
- Christian Connection – the largest, and longest established subscriber based UK Christian dating site.
- Muddy Matches – For Single Farmers, Rural Singles, Equestrian Singles and Country Friends could be the place for you.
- Zoosk
- Telegraph Dating
- Lovestruck.com – for dates in your lunch hour.
- Parship
- Shaadi.com
- Saga Connections – for people over 50.
- Dating Vegetarian
- Dating Direct
- Flirtbox
- Love Arts – for singles who love arts
- Dating For Parents
- Green Singles
Cupid’s Shares Fall Close To 2010 Level
HERALD SCOTLAND – May 16 – Shares of Cupid have retreated towards the 60p price they listed on the stock exchange three years ago after the Edinburgh-based group came under renewed attack from short sellers. They are now down 16.3% since the start of May. Cupid's pre-tax profit rose 31% to £9.2M in 2012.
by Tim Sharp
See full article at Herald Scotland
eDarling Managing Director Steps Down
VENTURE VILLAGE – May 13 – German dating site eDarling, which last week bought back its shares from US partner eHarmony, has lost its Managing Director, Christian Vollmann. Vollmann will, however, remain on as an investor in the company and also likely as an advisor. The investors in eDarling all contributed to buying back the company from eHarmony, including founders David Khailil and Lukas Brosseder along with Rocket Internet and Holtzbrinck Ventures. The exact reasons behind the buy-back remain unclear.
The full article was originally published at Venture Village, but is no longer available.
4,000 Irish Students Seek ‘Sugar Daddies’
INDEPENDENT – May 10 – ~4,000 Irish students have signed up to a SeekingArrangement.com to pay their way through college. 80% of all relationships conducted through the service involved sex. 4 of the top 10 colleges using the service are based in Dublin. Overall, membership from Ireland is the seventh-largest in the world, behind the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, France and Germany.
eDarling Buys Itself Back From eHarmony
VENTURE VILLAGE – May 8 – A two-year affair between eDarling and eHarmony is over. eHarmony purchased a 30% stake in eDarling with an option to buy the rest if all went well. Now that offer is off the table and eDarling has bought back its shares from eHarmony. Rumours put the cost of the buyback at $30M with talk it will be followed by an eDarling launch in the UK. The company behind eDarling, Affinitas, reported a €9.2M loss for 2011, an improvement on the €13.6M loss it reported for 2010. In May last year, it said it expected slightly positive EBITDA on a boosted €50M turnover for 2012. It’s unclear who led the break-up – but it seems both firms were more than ready for a refresh in strategy.
The full article was originally published at Venture Village, but is no longer available.
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