FT – Feb 13 – Internet dating companies are expecting a boost in business in the run-up to Valentine’s day as increasing numbers of people log online for love. "We start to see an increase in activity from the end of Dec and that builds up to Valentine’s day,” said Karl Gregory, managing director of Match.com in the UK and Ireland. The UK market, with an estimated £120M a year in revenue, has more than 800 dating websites. Edinburgh-based Cupid, which trades under names including benaughty.com and girlsdateforfree.com, is the sector’s only London-quoted company. The company projects achieving £100M in revenue by 2014, a fourfold increase on 2010. It has spent more than £10M on acquisitions to raise client volumes, expanding operations to 16 countries using 10 different websites. Unlike Match.com, which builds up strong single brands, Cupid focuses on a lot of niche markets such as expat Indian dating and single parents.
by Christopher Thompson and Jennifer Thompson
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THIS IS MONEY – July 12 – Cupid, which has built a base of 56M users in 58 countries, is said to be attracting the attention of IAC. It is rumoured IAC wants to expand into the UK and sees Cupid as the perfect bolt-on. A cash bid of around £290M or 350p a share would first have to get the agreement of major shareholders, including CEO Bill Dobbie (17%) and former director Max Polyakov (15.5%).
