Category: Hot Stories

Cupid.com Acquires #1 Speed Dating Company

Posted on November 23, 2004

NEW YORK, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ — Cupid.com, a leading online dating service, today announced its acquisition of PreDating, America's largest speed dating company. PreDating is the leading provider of speed dating events for single professionals in the U.S. and run local events in more than 70 cities around the country. "There's no turn downs and no pressure at these events. We searched for the perfect singles event and PreDating is it!," commented Mark Brooks, Cupid.com's VP Marketing & Business Development.

Mark Brooks: I joined Cupid to make this happen.  An industry first.  ;-)  No other online dating site has integrated singles events into their offerings like this.  Match dumped their events division recently.  It's far more efficient just to focus on one event format that plays into online dating.  Match actually used my club http://www.ace-club.com as part of their inspiration set.  Ooops.  ACE is very unwieldy.  Works fine as a little club.  It's a pig to scale.   

TRUE Secures Support of Michigan Legislature for Its Nationwide Campaign to Increase Online Dating Safety

Posted on October 23, 2004

DALLAS, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ — …Michigan becomes the first state to pass the bill in its House and the fifth state overall to embrace TRUE's proposed safety legislation. TRUE's proposed safety legislation requires that all online dating providers prominently disclose on their websites whether they perform criminal background checks on their members. Currently, TRUE is the only online relationship service that actively promotes the safety of its users by performing extensive criminal screening.

PlanetOut IPO

Posted on October 22, 2004

THE DEAL–PlanetOut trading sharply higher in its first day as a public company. San Francisco-based, sold 4.65 million shares at $9, raised $41.9 million; rose 15.6% in its debut, closing at $10.40. PlanetOut is a product of the 2001 merger between PlanetOut Corp. and Gay.com parent company OnlinePartners.com Inc. It serves 3.3 million members.

The full article was originally published at The Deal, but is no longer available.

$7 Million Funding to Fuel PerfectMatch

Posted on August 26, 2004

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 26, 2004– Series B round of funding for more than $7 million. Led by Ignition Partners with additional funding from Mellon Ventures. "The site combines decades of real, proven methods from a renowned relationship expert, resulting in DUET, a unique matching method that utilizes a Myers Briggs-type 'compatibility' indicator.

The full article was originally published at Hoovers, but is no longer available.

eBay Acquires Minority Interest in craigslist

Posted on August 13, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO & SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 13, 2004–eBay has acquired a preexisting minority ownership interest in craigslist of approximately 25%. The resulting relationship will allow eBay and craigslist to share expertise, resources, and creativity on behalf of online communities everywhere. With dedicated sites in 45 cities around the world, craigslist is an online meeting place for millions of people looking to share ideas, meet a friend, find a date, find a job, or locate an apartment.

True Responds to Subpoena From Rival Match

Posted on June 15, 2004

DALLAS, June 15 /PRNewswire/ — …True (formerly TrueBegininngs) responded to subpoenas served to six of its employees by former employer Match by taking out full-page ads in the WSJ and Dallas Morning News. The ads feature a letter written by Herb Vest, founder and CEO of the company, to Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO of IAC, parent company of Match. …Vest vows to defend his employees. …"True reviewed the employees' agreements, and we firmly believe that we have we have not broken any rules by hiring them." …claims by Match involve possible "breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of duty of loyalty, unfair competition, misappropriation, disclosure of trade secrets, and torturous interference with contact or prospective business relations."