MARKET WATCH – Jun 15 - Quepasa Corporation, owner of Quepasa.com, an online social network targeting the Latino community, completed its implementation of the Zoosk dating service within the social network. The objective of the partnership is to extend the Zoosk community across the countries of Latin America by promoting and monetizing the Zoosk offering to the users of Quepasa.com.
The full article was originally published at Market Watch, but is no longer available.
PR NEWSWIRE – May 24 – Match.com will become the exclusive online dating site on Yahoo!. Yahoo! Personals users will have the opportunity to move to a new co-branded Match.com experience, "Match.com on Yahoo!" where they will combine with the Match.com community. The Match.com on Yahoo! service is available starting today.
The full article was originally published at Match Media Room, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: The writing was on the wall for Yahoo Personals USA when Yahoo Personals UK partnered with Match.com to power the UK service in June 2006. IAC's Barry Diller showed interest in Yahoo in April 2009. Then sold Match Europe to Meetic for a 27% stake in Meetic. IAC will likely buy Meetic, in time. We surmised Match would either be buying Singlesnet or Yahoo Personals back in February. They bought Singlesnet. Here's a link to the transition options for existing Yahoo Personals users. Users can transition their profile and membership over, or cancel and get a prorated refund, or continue using the service through July 21st when Y! Personals officially shuts down. Users will still be able to move their profiles over to Match through Jan 19th, 2011.
PRESS RELEASE – Apr 5 - EasyDate has acquired Allegran's online dating business, one of the UK's largest online dating groups, from Associated Northcliffe Digital. The acquisition increases EasyDate's current portfolio of dating sites from seven to twelve. EasyDate has purchased GirlsdateForFree.com, Loopylove.com, Quickflirt.com as well as the successful niche dating sites DatingForParents.com and MatureDating.co.uk.
The full article was originally published at Easydate website, but is no longer available.
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PR NEWSWIRE – Feb 25 – Match.com has signed an agreement to acquire Singlesnet. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed. Greg Blatt, CEO of Match.com said, “While Singlesnet’s traffic is currently in decline, we believe we can reverse that trend, increase the site’s profitability and improve the overall user experience. This is more of a value acquisition than a strategic one, and Singlesnet will predominantly be run as a standalone business. Nonetheless, the addition of the site’s considerable traffic to our existing aggregation of traffic in this single category should open new monetization opportunities for Match.com’s collective portfolio of domestic online dating brands.”
Adrian Ong, who joined Match from Soulmates Technology, a company acquired by Match.com in 2002, will assume responsibility for Singlesnet. Mr Ong has held various leadership roles within Match.com's International business, primarily in the areas of product and technology, and most recently has led Match.com’s effort to transition its European business to Meetic in connection with its sale last year. Quinn Lipin , Singlesnet's founder, will continue to work for the company in an executive capacity. FULL PRESS RELEASE @ PR NEWSWIRE
Mark Brooks: Traffic is down from over 7 million uniques a month in January 2009 to 4.5 million a month in January 2010 according to Compete. Singlesnet has been rogue-ish in its marketing tactics in the past so its good its coming under Match.com's wing. They can polish the site up and make it less of an embarrassment to the experience that should be 'internet dating,' and then put it to bed.
REUTERS – Feb 5 - FriendFinder Networks Inc indefinitely shelved its planned $220M initial public offering on Friday. The company did not say when it might again try to price the IPO, but said in a statement it would not proceed "until market conditions improve." FriendFinder intended to sell 20M shares for between $10 and $20 each and use the proceeds largely to pay down debt. FriendFinder first filed for the IPO in Dec 2008, and initially sought to raise as much as $460M. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
REUTERS – Jan 10 - FriendFinder set the terms of its initial public offering on Friday, cutting its size by more than half. FriendFinder's properties range from AdultFriendFinder.com to BigChurch.com and SeniorFriendFinder.com. It also publishes pictures and video, and the magazine Penthouse. FriendFinder plans to sell 20M shares for $10 to $12, each. At the midpoint that would raise $220M. The company filed for an IPO in December 2008 of up to $460M, but did not disclose details. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
PR NEWSWIRE – Dec 3 – Zoosk, the social dating community, has closed a $30M Series D round of funding. The round was led by new investor Bessemer Venture Partners, the oldest venture capital firm in the United States. Existing investors Canaan Partners and ATA Ventures also participated. Since its launch in December 2007, Zoosk has attracted~40M singles. Singles can join Zoosk via their social network by adding the Zoosk application on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, and Friendster.
The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.
DALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL – Nov 21 – Match.com has managed to get an East Coast class-action suit moved to the local area. Originally filed in New York, the litigation alleges that the “vast majority of Match.com members are canceled subscribers, or have never subscribed at all,” court documents say. The suit also charges that if a Match.com subscriber writes to someone on the site, the company won’t inform the subscriber in the event that the person they’re writing can’t read or respond to the e-mail. Match.com said that the lawsuit “is without merit, and we will defend it vigorously. FULL ARTICLE @ DALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL
OPW – Oct 23 – DownToEarth, a free dating site run by Match.com's parent company IAC Interactive, announced exclusively to Online Personals Watch today that the site has relaunched as Stir.com. The new brand will focus on offering young adults ideas for where to go on dates.
“We’re thrilled to announce that Stir.com is going live today to give 18 to 25 year olds suggestions about the best places to go, and people to go with, based on their interests,” said Jacob Solotaroff, General Manager of Stir. “We learned a lot from our trial with DownToEarth.com and know that we have a unique way to help college-aged people interact with one another. Stir.com will help them mix up their nights.”
All of DowntoEarth.com's members have been rolled over to Stir.com. Older members will be incentivised to try Match.com. The site was always meant to be an experiment. They learned that younger generation members weren't over the bar scene, and wanted a more casual environment to 'hang out' in.
Stir has teamed up with fellow IAC directory site Citysearch.com to provide daters with personalized restaurant, bar and activity recommendations. Members will also eventually be able to post their own event suggestions. Social networking features include photo sharing, as Stir members will be able to upload pictures from their excursions. Stir will eventually allow users to buy tickets directly on the site. Tickets to some New York City Halloween parties are already available for users.
The monetization plan for Stir is still in the development stages, according to Solotaroff.
Stir is part of Match’s new plan to target specific dating verticals. In July, Match acquired People Media and its 27 niche dating sites that cater to specifics communities, from singles parents to various religious affiliations.
"Match.com has been increasing its portfolio of vertical dating sites like BlackSinglesMeet and JPeopleMeet,” said Tom Smithyman, Senior Director of Success Marketing at Match.com. “These sites cater to people of certain demographics or with certain interests. Stir.com is adding people 18-25 to that mix, and we're confident it will have a big impact on Match.com's overall business."
Solotaroff says the name Stir was chosen, because the title encourages users to be social and try new activities.
XBIZ – Oct 13 – FriendFinder Networks intends to complete its IPO process by the end of the year. “The primary purpose of this offering is to repay some of our outstanding debt, including certain debt held by our affiliates, which we expect will decrease our interest expense and increase our flexibility with respect to our operations and growth strategy,” the company said in the filing. As of June 30, the company had ~$81M in debt at the parent level. It also had ~$442.1M in debt in connection with its acquisition of Various, which was the preceding parent operator of its FriendFinder websites.
The full article was originally published at XBIZ Newswire, but is no longer available.