CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Jul 12 – Yagan stepped down from running Match Group in December 2015 and joined the company's board as vice chairman. He replaces Scott Thompson, who for four years was CEO of ShopRunner. The company is headquartered near Philadelphia in Conshohocken, Penn., and has offices in San Mateo, Calif. They plan open a Chicago office, Yagan said. ShopRunner gives members free two-day shipping, free returns and special deals at partner shopping sites including Lord and Taylor and Drugstore.com. Annual memberships cost $79, while some American Express customers receive complimentary memberships.
Category: Match Group
Match Group Hires Jared Sine As General Counsel & Secretary
PRNEWSWIRE – July 7 – Sine joins Match Group from Expedia, Inc., where he served as Vice President, Associate General Counsel, overseeing all legal aspects of Expedia's mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic initiatives, as well as all post-acquisition legal and integration matters. Sine will lead the Match Group legal team working out of the Dallas office.
Matt David Joins Match Group To Lead Global Public Affairs
IAC CEO Levin Sees Huge Opportunities In Online Dating
BLOOMBERG – June 16 – Joey Levin, IAC's chief executive officer and Vimeo's interim chief executive officer, discusses the growth potential for online dating sites.
Sam Yagan Sells 200K Shares Of Match Group
by Bill Collins
The full article was originally published at The Market Digest, but is no longer available.
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Tinder Owner Launches Photoshop-free Flirting App Fresh
O GLOBO – June 2 – Match Group has launched the new dating app, available for iOS and Android, simultaneously in France and Brasil. Fresh only allows profile selfies without any filters or alterations that must be renewed at least once in 24 hours.
Joost Roelandts Is Twoo’s New CEO
TWOO – May 30 – The current COO of Twoo will be appointed CEO as of 1 July 2016. Twoo's founders Lorenz Bogaert and Toon Coppens have announced that they will fully devote themselves to their other projects.
Oyster Founder Joins Match Group As CEO Of OKCupid
OPW – May 26 – Match Group has named a new CEO of OkCupid – Elie Seidman. Mr. Seidman joins OKCupid team from BorrowersFirst.com where he served as Chief Revenue Officer for the last 9 months. Elie also co-founded Oyster, a hotel review site, in 2007. Oyster was acquired by TripAdvisor in late 2013.
Match Group Plans To Sell $400M Of Notes In Private Offering
INSIDERMONKEY – May 25 – Match Group has agreed to sell $400M in aggregate principal amount of 6.375% senior notes due 2024 in a private offering to qualified investors. The offering should close by the first of next month. Match plans to use the money raised to repay certain existing indebtedness.
See full article at InsiderMonkey
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Q&A With Head Of Mobile App Acquisition At MatchGroup
LIFTOFF – May 18 – James Peng is the Head of Mobile App Acquisition at the Match Group in San Francisco.
Q: How did you get into mobile marketing?
A: After 4 years of investment banking and private equity investing, I decided that I wanted to apply my skills in a completely different industry. Mobile marketing was the ideal mix of analysis, business development, and creative thinking for me.
Q: What do you like most about mobile marketing?
A: That it is in its infancy and evolving more rapidly than any other industry in the world.
Q: What is the biggest mistake you made as a mobile marketer?
A: It was early on when I spent my time testing as many channels as possible. I could have exchange notes with other industry professionals and focus on top channels.
Q: What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing?
A: The analytical horsepower to assess each user as an ROI opportunity and to dynamically optimize toward your goals. The ability to think creatively about marketing. CPIs are always increasing and that shouldn’t surprise you.
Q: What do you think is the biggest misconception about your profession?
A: That mobile marketing is made up of people with marketing experience and degrees. I more often see people with technical experience and business majors in our industry.
Q: What does a quality mobile user look like to you?
A: An engaged user.
Q: What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged users?
A: Bringing a user into your app isn’t the hardest part – you then have to engage and retain them to drive value. I recommend understanding what your CRM team is doing to boost user value through unpaid means such as optimizing push notifications and emails.
Q: How do you stay ahead of changes in technology?
A: By keeping a close network of industry peers.
Q: How important is diversifying user acquisition outside of Facebook?
A: Relying on FB only is risky. It takes upfront investment to succeed on other channels.
Q: What do you see as the next big thing in mobile marketing?
A: User-level targeting for traditional mobile ad network traffic.