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
Category: Outlets – Reuters
$60 Million Initial Offering For Avid Life Media Delayed
REUTERS – Feb 2 - A planned $60M IPO for Avid Life Media, which runs adult dating websites including one that facilitates extramarital affairs, has been delayed. Avid Life, which was being advised by GMP Capital, had planned to use the funds raised from the offering to acquire another company.
The full article was originally published at Financial Post, but is no longer available.
FriendFinder Sets IPO Terms
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
Birth Control Pill Could Put Women Off Macho Men?
REUTERS – Oct 8 - Researchers said that women whose hormones are chemically controlled are less likely to seek out muscular, rugged men. Whereas ovulating women not on the pill are particularly attracted to men showing dominance and male-male competitiveness and prefer partners who are genetically dissimilar to themselves. The birth control pill could also throw a spanner in the works of the laws of natural attraction as it prevents women giving off monthly fertility signals believed to be subtly alluring to men.
The full article was originally published at Yahoo News, but is no longer available.
Mobile Entertainment Seeking Players And Payment
REUTERS — July 8 — Online entertainment has increasingly moved to the mobile handset. According to the trade association Mobile Entertainment Forum, the global mobile entertainment industry is now worth $32 billion. The industry also remains confident that it can continue to grow strongly despite the current economic challenges, predicting average revenue growth of 28 % for 2010. CCS Insight analyst Paolo Pescatore believes the most popular sites such as Facebook might struggle to charge on mobile as users would still expect the service to be free. Other services that could prove to be successful will be those which offer a core aspect for free and then charge a small fee for premium content. One online and mobile service that has followed this route is Flirtomatic, a fun dating social network that allows users to post their profiles and rank each other from "freak" to "off the radar." Over 1m profiles have been posted so far. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
Zoosk Raises $6 Million
REUTERS — June 12 – Online dating network Zoosk has raised $6m in a third round. The company raised $4m in a second round last June.
The full article was originally published at Reuters, but is no longer available.
Match.com Sued For Deception
REUTERS — June 9 – Sean McGinn, of Brooklyn sued Match.com for misleading members by posting profiles of prospective dates who are unable to respond to any interest in them because they do not have a paid subscription. McGinn accused Match.com of causing "humiliation and disappointment" for some members who feel rejected when their attempt to contact a prospective date gets no reply. Match.com is still reviewing the complaint, but said "we believe this lawsuit is without merit and we will defend it vigorously." FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS. Also read in DALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL (June 10th), CONSUMER AFFAIRS (June 10th), NY DAILY NEWS, BROOKLYN EAGLE (June 10th), NY MAGAZINE (June 10th), ATTORNEY AT LAW (June 10th), UPI (June 10th), MY STATELINE (June 9th), DFW (June 11th), LAWYERS AND SETTLEMENTS (June 17th), OPPOSING VIEWS (June 17th), KSTP (June 19th)
Mark Brooks: This is a super-important case. We'll watch it closely.
Economic Blues Helps Cupid Find Online Targets
REUTERS — Feb 13 – Unlike other companies where revenues are slumping and layoffs are climbing, online dating sites seem to be resistant to the recession. "In a tough economy, you want someone to appreciate you for who you are and not because of your jobs or material possessions," said eHarmony CEO Greg Waldorf. "When times are tough people want to get together to share the rent and buy groceries together to save costs," said Markus Frind, CEO of PlentyofFish.com. Use of free dating sites has been skyrocketing, according to Matt Tatham, a spokesman for Hitwise.com, which tracks Internet usage. "People are anxious right now," Match general manager Mandy Ginsberg said. "They want to find someone with whom to weather the financial storm." FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
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FriendFinder Files For $460 million IPO
REUTERS — Dec 23 — FriendFinder Networks Inc, an operator of
social-networking websites and publisher of the adult men's magazine
Penthouse, filed on Tuesday for a $460m initial public offering.
FriendFinder plans to use the proceeds of its IPO primarily to pay
off debt, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
Falling Stock Markets Spur Searches For Love Online
REUTERS — Dec 8 — As stock markets across the globe have plummeted, more people have opted to try their luck looking for love online as a distraction from financial woes — and to save themselves money, according to dating Web sites. Match.com had experienced its largest membership growth over the last seven years in November. Perfectmatch.com reported a 47% jump in the number of members in the three months to November compared to the previous quarter. A poll conducted on behalf of eHarmony, found that 57% of Americans said the credit crunch made them worry about their love lives with married men the most stressed group with 63% of them concerned. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
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