Category: Outlets – Reuters

More Ashley Madison Data Leaked Online

Posted on August 21, 2015

Ashleymadison securityREUTERS – Aug 20 – Ashley Madison's hackers released more data that also include email messages linked to Noel Biderman, the site's founder & CEO. The additional release will likely ratchet up the pressure on the company, which has been quiet about exactly how much and what sort of data was stolen in a breach in July. The recent 20-gigabyte data dump is roughly double the size of the earlier one. Despite the negative publicity surrounding the cyber attack, demand for Ashley Madison's services has been steady since the data breach first announced in July, said Mark Brooks, CEO of Internet dating consultancy Courtland Brooks. "I would have thought this would be a death knell for that company because their entire business basis is privacy," Brooks said. "It just goes to say that all press is good press…The awareness of the brand is through the roof."

by Alastair Sharp & Josephine Mason
See full article at Reuters

Also read at Newsweek, CNBC and Die Welt.

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

China To Go After Fraud On Dating Sites

Posted on February 13, 2015

Online dating profile chinaREUTERS – Feb 12 – China's Internet regulator will target fraud on dating sites. Dating websites must enforce online real-name registration and accounts failing to register with real names must be closed.

by Ben Blanchard
See full article at Reuters

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Double Sends Users On A Double Date With Facebook Friends

Posted on February 10, 2015

Double logoREUTERS – Feb 10 – UK dating site Double pairs up two Facebook friends to go on a joint date with two other friends they meet through the website's local network. Starting in London, Double plans to expand in cities across Britain, before looking to the US and worldwide.

See full article at DailyMail.co.uk

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

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

OkCupid Urges Boycott Of Mozilla

Posted on April 2, 2014

Okcupid mozilla logosREUTERS – Mar 31 - OkCupid.com called for a boycott of Mozilla Firefox to protest the world's No. 2 Web browser naming a gay marriage opponent as CEO. OkCupid visitors who accessed the site through Firefox on Monday were tol to use other browsers. "Mozilla's new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples," the message said. "We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid."

by Gerry Shih
See full article at Reuters

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Savers Are Sexy

Posted on August 19, 2013

Money saversREUTERS – Aug 16 – "You would think that spending would be more attractive," says Jenny Olson, a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and co-author of the working paper, "A Penny Saved is a Partner Earned: The Romantic Appeal of Savers". "Those things can also be perceived as wasteful and lacking in self-control," says Olson. "And self-control is a very desirable quality in a potential mate." New York Times money columnist Ron Lieber once asked eHarmony to dig through its 30M matches made in July 2010, and found that users who labeled themselves as savers rather than spenders were contacted 25% more by potential mates.

by Chris Taylor
See full article at Reuters

Mark Brooks: 'savers rather than spenders were contacted 25% more by
potential mates.'  I love these kinds of stats. The internet dating
industry can shine a light on all manner of human traits and foibles. They're fascinating! OKCupid proved this with the OKtrends blog. Why
don't we do this more often?

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Cupid Rejects Claims It Used Fake Profiles

Posted on March 26, 2013

Cupidplc logo new dec 12REUTERS – Mar 25 – Cupid rejected as "misrepresentation and ill-informed speculation" media allegations about its methods to encourage people to buy subscriptions, sending its shares up as much as 79%. The shares fell 60% on Friday in response to the statement. Up to Friday's close, the stock had fallen 64% since the BBC report on Feb. 24. Ukraine newspaper Kyiv Post published an article on March 15 that said Cupid had hired "motivation managers" to encourage people to buy full subscriptions. Cupid said that the managers' job was to monitor and interrogate its websites to detect technical or product issues and to moderate chat rooms and forums. They do not communicate with free members, it said.

by Richa Naidu
See full article at Reuters

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Cupid Plc’s Profits Rise

Posted on March 5, 2013

Cupidplc logo new dec 12REUTERS – Mar 5 – Cupid Plc's profits rose 31%. Cupid Plc reported pretax profit of 9.2M pounds ($13.9M), compared to 7M in 2011. Cupid said it wooed 1.78M new subscribers to its websites last year, with particularly strong growth in France and the U.S. Revenues for 2012 increased by 51% to 80.9M pounds. Cupid's share price slid ~28% in February, the biggest monthly fall since the company was floated on London's junior AIM market in June 2010. Last month, the BBC published a report featuring claims from members who said that they suspected that fake communications had been used to encourage them to buy subscriptions. Cupid denied the claims and said that it only acted "in a legal and appropriate manner".

by Alice Baghdjian
See full article at Reuters

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Redemption Clock for eHarmony Is Ticking

Posted on August 23, 2011

Eharmony-logo REUTERS – Aug 23 - Two of eHarmony's main backers stand to gain extra leverage over the company when redemption rights from its last financing round kick in — an unusual development in the venture capital business. The rights come into play after November 5 for Technology Crossover Ventures and Sequoia Capital, which invested when eHarmony raised $110M in 2004. The firms will have the right to require eHarmony to buy back their preferred shares in four quarterly installments.

by Alistair Barr
See full article at Reuters

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IAC Wins Control of Meetic

Posted on August 19, 2011

Meetic matchcom loga REUTERS – Aug 19 – IAC/InterActiveCorp has won control of French dating site Meetic, boosting its stake to 77.6%, after most shareholders agreed to IAC's 15 euros per share offer price. IAC, through two arms of its Match.com unit, had gained 73.7% of voting shares and 77.6% of Meetic's capital. Match.com has said it did not plan to delist Meetic after completion of the offer, which expired on Tuesday and valued the French company at 347M euros ($489M).

by Christian Plumb
See full article at Reuters

Mark Brooks: If you can't beat 'em join 'em.  Match's European business was folded under Meetic's wing in June 2009 when Meetic swapped 27% of its share's and 5 million Euro for Match Europe.  That was the first step in Match acquiring Meetic. 

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