Category: Match Group

Match Group’s IPO Could Be A Success Story

Posted on June 26, 2015

Iac logoWSJ – June 25 – IAC/InterActiveCorp has followed through on a long-expected plan to pursue an IPO of Match Group. Mr. Diller, IAC’s chairman, isn’t breaking up with Match Group entirely. The company is planning to sell a stake of less than 20% in the division, which includes fitness and educational businesses. Investors cheered the move, sending IAC’s shares up $3.93, or 5.1%, to $81.19. Match Group is IAC’s strongest growth engine, bringing in 29% of overall revenue in 2014. For all the buzz around dating sites, there hasn’t yet been a significant win for VCs in terms of an IPO, said Mark Brooks, CEO of Courtland Brooks, an adviser to dating companies. That’s been a challenge for entrepreneurs. "We need a success story, and I think the Match Group could be a success story," he said. If the IPO doesn’t go over well with investors, "we can kiss the opportunity of future funding goodbye."

by Georgia Wells & Lukas I. Alpert
See full article at Wall Street Journal

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Match Group To IPO This Year

Posted on June 25, 2015

Match group logosPR NEWSWIRE – June 25 – IAC's Board of Directors has approved the pursuit of an IPO of Match Group. Joey Levin, formerly CEO of its Search & Apps business, has been named CEO of IAC and joined its Board of Directors. Greg Blatt will remain Chairman, and Sam Yagan CEO of The Match Group. IAC expects The Match Group to issue less than 20% of its common stock in the IPO, with IAC's remaining stake in The Match Group represented by both high- and low-vote common shares. The IPO is expected to be completed during Q4 of this year.

See full article at IAC website

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Japan’s Eureka, Developer Of Dating And Couple Apps, Acquired By Match Group

Posted on May 28, 2015

Pairs couples screenshotsTHE BRIDGE – May 27 – Since its launch in 2008, Tokyo-based startup Eureka has developed Pairs and Couples, mobile apps for dating and couples. The company has been wholly acquired by The Match Group. Details of the acquisition price has not been disclosed. Pairs is a Facebook-based dating and marriage hunting app launched in 2012 and has acquired ~1.5M users in Japan and 800K users in Taiwan to date. Couples is a memory-sharing and messaging app for couples, and has acquired ~2.2M users.

by Masaru Ikeda
See full article at The Bridge

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

IAC Q1 Results: Dating Revenue Up 2%

Posted on April 30, 2015

Iac logoIAC – Apr 29 – The Match Group Q1 revenue increased 13% YOY to $239.2M. Dating revenue increased 2% YOY to $201M. The number of paid subscribers in the dating sector increased 16% YOY from 3.6M to ~4.7M globally. Greg Blatt, Chairman of the Match Group, did not disclose Tinder’s paid subscribers and MAU on the IAC earning call but says Tinder's MAU growth continues to be solid. The Match Group operating income decreased 36% YOY ($25.9M) driven by increased marketing spend.

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

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Match Group’s Sam Yagan On Investment

Posted on February 23, 2015

Match sam yagan feb 15CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Feb 19 – Sam Yagan co-founded OkCupid in 2003 and sold it to IAC in 2011 for $90M. He is now CEO of IAC’s online dating division, Match Group. Yagan also co-founded startup accelerator Excelerate Labs, which became Techstars Chicago. He explains what he looks for as an executive, mentor and investor.

Q: With the influx of dating apps, would you acquire any of them?
A: Until you have a massive amount of usage, it’s just not that interesting to us.

Q: You co-launched a venture fund in 2014 called Corazon Capital. What are your investment criteria?
A: The product, business and market have to make sense. But our No. 1 criteria, by far, is great entrepreneurs.

Q: What have you learned as an investor that you wish you’d known as a founder?
A: I think overestimating the market size is near the top of the list of the things entrepreneurs most get wrong.

Q: What are you doing to help women in tech?
A: A quarter of the founders that have gone through Excelerate and Techstars are women, including Sue Khim at Brilliant, Diane Melville (formerly) at ScholarPro, and Melissa Moline at InRentive. Those are all companies that I’m on the boards of.

by Kate MacArthur
See full article at Chicago Tribune

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IAC Hit By Slowing Growth In Match Group

Posted on February 5, 2015

Iac logoREUTERS – Feb 3 – Match Group reported the slowest growth (4%) in the number of subscribers in several quarters, sending IAC's shares down as much as 6%. Match Group Q4 2014 revenue was $241.5M, up 15% YOY, operating income is down 5% to $73.5M.

by Sai Sachin Ravikumar
See full article at Reuters

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

58% Of IAC’s Value Is Locked In The Match Group

Posted on November 25, 2014

SEEKING ALPHA – Nov 24 – Match Group’s growth slowed to 9.5% in Q2, and many fear growth will continue to fall. Berkeley Investment Group sees a strong long-term prospects for Match Group over time due to subscriber growth and operating leverage.

See full article at Seeking Alpha

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Unlocking Tinder Could Lead To $5 Billion Spinoff For IAC’s Dating Biz

Posted on November 20, 2014

Tinder logoTHE STREET – Nov 18 - Tinder success is fueling speculation that IAC will spin-off Match Group. Match Group may be worth as much as $5.3B. A spin-off would unlock a much higher valuation for IAC's dating websites and apps than the rest of IAC. Tinder alone could be worth $1.1B by the end of 2015.

by Antonia Massa
See full article at The Street

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Match Group Dating Revenue Up 5%

Posted on October 29, 2014

Match groupWSJ – Oct 29 – IAC’s Match Group reported revenue of $230.2M, an YOY increase of 12%. Dating revenue grew 5% due to 6% growth in North America and 3% growth in International. The growth in Dating revenue was driven by increased paid subscribers (up 9%). Adjusted EBITDA decreased 11%.

by Michael Calia
See full article at WSJ

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Q&A With Sam Yagan, CEO Of Match Group

Posted on October 13, 2014

Match sam yaganTHE ATLANTIC – Oct 13 – Last week, IAC launched Delightful, a dating site aimed at people who seek love and relationships, rather than just hookups. It will be headed in part by the comedian Steve Harvey, who will serve as the brand’s “Chief Love Officer.” “This is our first brand focused on the L word as opposed to other brands that focus on dates,” said Sam Yagan, the Match.com CEO who will run Delightful with Harvey.

Q: What is your role at Match?
A: We sold OkCupid to Match in Jan '11. In Sep '12, I became CEO of all of Match. We haven't slowed OkCupid down. I run all the brands like cousins. You want your cousins to do well, but you want to do better.

Q: Why did you decide to pursue dating?
A: Before we launched SparkNotes, everybody used CliffsNotes, which was sort of the Match of study guides. What really made it work is that SparkNotes was a better product than CliffsNotes, and it was free. We decided for online dating because it was one of the things people pay for, and we wanted to make it free.

by Olga Khazan
See full article at The Atlantic

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