SHINE.CN – Jiayuan.com has faced backlash after a customer reported paying nearly 180K yuan ($25K) for matchmaking services over five years without success. The client claims the service provided unqualified matches, failed to honor promises, and refused refunds despite additional payments. Previously fined for misleading practices, Jiayuan.com has been accused of exploiting users’ anxieties with false promotions and high fees.
by Hu Min
See full article at Shine.cn
SCMP – Fosun International said executives at its Chinese online-dating subsidiary have been arrested for alleged financial embezzlement. Baihe Jiayuan is a merger of two Chinese online dating platforms called Baihe.com and Jiayuan.com, leading to the privatisation of Nasdaq-listed Jiayuan in 2016. Fosun bought ~70% of the merged entity in 2018 for 4B yuan ($593M). The arrests came after rumors surfaced on Chinese social media platform Weibo about the disappearance of Baihe Jiayuan's management team, including its CEO, COO and CFO.
CHINA DAILY – Apr 17 – Industry experts said the "cloud matchmaking" method, which includes livestreaming and short videos, is gaining traction among singles. According to Tantan, the average time people spent on the app in early- and mid-February increased by ~30%. The number of users surged 60% during the peak hour which often runs from midnight to 1am. During the outbreak, those born after the period around 1995 and after 2000 have become the top users of Tantan. They recorded a 20% increase in messages sent and daily matches. Zhenai.com said its active users reached 10M during the Chinese New Year holiday on Jan 24 to Feb 2, an increase of 39% compared with the same period of last year. ~10K people found highly compatible matches on the app. Baihe Jiayuan Network Group's CEO Wu Linguang said video and livestreaming dating services have been launched to lure customers during the epidemic. The time users spend on video dating rose 30% during the Spring Festival holiday YOY.
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GIZMODO – Apr 26 – Dating platforms in China are starting to experiment with livestream. China's biggest Internet dating site Jiayuan first started offering video streaming in January. First, a user would start a streaming session with a set topic, then wait for a second user to join. Then if someone wanted to talk to that host, they would request to join. If the request was accepted, then the two could video chat. That conversation would then broadcast live for other users to watch and comment. There were a lot of empty rooms. So the company added third party emcees to serve as matchmaker hosts. It also created a karaoke feature. Since then, two other major dating platforms – Baihehunlian and Zhenai – also added livestream features. Americans have been swiping left and right for more than five years now and are collectively ready for a different online dating experience.
by Jennings Brown
See full article at Gizmondo
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SIXTH TONE – Feb 26 – Chinese dating site Jiayuan.com is suing a user who lied in her profile to attract suitors and extort them for expensive gifts. According to Jiayuan, ~190M users are registered on the platform. In September 2017, the company faced intense scrutiny following the high-profile death of a former customer – a tech entrepreneur who wrote in his suicide note that his ex-wife, whom he'd met through Jiayuan, had driven him to despair. The same month, the Communist Youth League, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the National Health and Family Planning Commission issued a joint directive requiring real-name registration on dating sites. Jiayuan said that it is working with a third party to establish a social credit system for its users, and that in the meantime it had assembled a team specifically tasked with reviewing and verifying personal information.
by Fu Danni
See full article at Sixth Tone
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SCMP – July 11 – AI will be a key focus for Tantan this year, said CEO Yu Wang. The technology will be used to help the company accurately identify new users, boost the accuracy of advertising, as well as contributing to growth in terms of user numbers and revenues, he said. Mobile dating is a popular trend in China where the number of smartphones outstripped the country's 1.4B population. Even WeChat, the country's most popular messaging app owned by Tencent, whose active monthly users have topped nearly 1B, offers apps such as Shake and Drifting Bottle that give its users more opportunities to get in touch with potential dates. Momo, another popular location-based hook-up app in China, acquired Tantan in February for $760M. Unlike Momo and Tantan, which are mostly favoured by younger users who are more inclined to have casual dates, a number of Chinese apps, such as Jiayuan and Baihe, specifically target those looking for a life-long partner. Revenue generated by China's online dating industry reached 4B yuan ($603M) in 2017, according to iResearch.
DEAL STREET ASIA – July 5 – Fosun International Ltd said it would buy 69% of match-making and dating service provider Baihe Jiayuan Network Group from Chairman Guo Guangchang for 4B yuan ($603.4M) cash. Baihe Jiayuan has ~310M registered users and ~200 offline service centres covering 75 Chinese cities. In May, Fosun's tourism arm said it was hunting for more overseas deals to grow its leisure vacation business.
by Donny Kwok
See full article at Deal Street Asia
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THE STAR – June 29 – ~200M Chinese, or 14% of China's population, are single, representing a huge market for online dating apps and matchmaking services. Baihe and its sister company Jiayuan face stiff competition from apps such as Zhenai. Together, the three apps boast market shares of ~65%. They became market leaders through innovation. They enable young singles to connect via live streaming, games, anonymous telephone chats and instant messaging widgets. White-collar professionals in first- and second-tier cities make up ~90% of dating app consumers, according to a latest report by iResearch. An industry report predicted that the total market revenue of online dating services will exceed RM28B ($4.2B) by 2025.
by Cheng Yu
See full article at The Star
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TECHNODE – May 4 – Fosun International chairman and business magnate Guo Guangchang plans to purchase a majority stake in marriage and dating site Baihe.com for just under RMB 4B ($630M). Baihe.com's shareholders entered into an agreement with Yuanhong Investment to sell 869M shares at a price of RMB 4.6 ($0.72) per share. Guo controls 100% of Yuanhong, which will make him a controlling shareholder of Baihe.com when the deal goes through. There has been no indication as to when the purchase will be concluded. In Dec 2015 Baihe acquired rival dating and marriage platform Jiayuan for $250M. The company then reorganized to become the Baihe Jiayaun Network Group in September 2017.
by Christopher Udemans
See full article at Technode
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