LINKEDIN – ParshipMeet Group has appointed Justin Zinck as CFO. Zinck brings extensive experience in finance leadership and operational scaling, having spent the past six years at HelloFresh in senior finance roles, most recently as Senior Director Finance for the DACH region, where he focused on improving profitability, scaling finance operations, and supporting strategic transformation.
REUTERS – MFE-MediaForEurope, owned by Italy’s Berlusconi family, has taken tighter control of the German TV group ProSiebenSat.1 after buying more than 75% of its shares in a €1.8B deal. MFE has now made Marco Giordani, a longtime top executive and close aide to Pier Silvio Berlusconi, the new CEO of ProSiebenSat.1. He will also keep his job as CFO at MFE for now. The goal is to turn the company around by focusing on its main TV business and selling off side ventures, such as e-commerce and dating platforms, to reduce debt. The current CEO Bert Habets, CFO Martin Mildner, and COO Markus Breitenecker are all leaving, and Bob Rajan will temporarily take over as CFO. MFE wants to build a strong European TV group that can better compete with big streaming services like Netflix and YouTube.
RETAIL NEWS – ProSiebenSat.1 is buying back full control of NuCom and ParshipMeet Group from investor General Atlantic in a deal that includes: €10M in cash, 5.9 M of its own shares (worth ~€38M) and a €50M payout due if ParshipMeet is sold later. The deal excludes beauty platform flaconi, where General Atlantic will keep a 28.4% stake, and ProSiebenSat.1 holds the rest. One condition for completing the deal is the sale of comparison site Verivox. This move gives ProSiebenSat.1 full control over its dating and e-commerce businesses and more flexibility for future sales or investments.
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REUTERS – ProSiebenSat.1 shares dropped sharply after the company announced it's in talks to buy back General Atlantic's minority stake in NuCom Group, which owns several digital businesses, including ParshipMeet Group. This would give ProSieben full ownership of ParshipMeet and other NuCom assets while Verivox (a price comparison site) and Flaconi (a perfume retailer) are still being prepared for sale. Investors reacted negatively because they expected ProSieben to sell off non-TV businesses and not buy more of them. This follows pressure from its biggest shareholders, Italy's MFE-MediaForEurope and Czech group PPF, to focus only on its core broadcasting business.
by Isabel Demetz & Klaus Lauer
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NEW WORK – Henning Rönneberg has been appointed CFO & COO of New Work SE, starting March 10, 2025. Previously Group CFO & COO at ParshipMeet Group, Rönneberg brings over 25 years of management experience, including 15 years at ParshipMeet, where he helped grow it into a top global online dating group. New Work SE is a Germany-based company focused on digital platforms and services that support modern working environments, professional networking, and job recruitment. The company owns and operates several career and networking platforms, with its flagship product being XING, a professional networking platform popular in German-speaking countries.
LINKEDIN – Marc Schachtel, CEO of ParshipMeet Group, will be stepping down on March 3rd, 2025, after more than a decade with the company. He expressed gratitude to his colleagues, partners, and the board for their support and reflected on the journey of leading innovation in online dating. Marc is stepping away to focus on his family but looks forward to future entrepreneurial opportunities. With Matthew Gain appointed as his successor, he leaves knowing the company is in great hands and remains open to staying connected.
LINKEDIN – Last week, ParshipMeet Group achieved a major milestone by migrating the Skout app to the LOVOO platform. This technical transition allows both apps to share the same infrastructure while remaining independent. The project involved months of work by teams in Germany and the U.S., ensuring the app remained functional during the migration. The successful cutover was celebrated as a significant achievement, paving the way for future improvements and similar transitions planned for 2025.
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PRESS RELEASE – ProSiebenSat.1 reported a solid 5% year-over-year revenue growth for Q2, reaching EUR 907M. The company is a significant player in European media, operating a variety of TV channels and digital platforms. Its Dating & Video segment, ParshipMeet Group, includes well-known dating platforms Parship, ElitePartner, eHarmony, and MeetMe. Despite the overall strong performance, this segment encountered some challenges, with revenues slightly declining by 9% to EUR 98M in Q2, including a 13% decrease in the Dating business and a 4% drop in Video revenues, largely due to a competitive market environment.
OPW – The ParshipMeet Group reports a 9% decrease in revenues for the Dating & Video segment, totaling EUR 107M, down from EUR 117M in the Q1 2023. Specifically, revenues in the Dating unit fell by 12%, influenced by intense market competition and the ongoing impact of Germany's Fair Consumer Contracts Act, which significantly affects the subscription models of Parship and ElitePartner. Additionally, revenues in the Video unit decreased by 4%, also due to a highly competitive environment.
PRESS RELEASE – Henning Rönneberg is departing from his role as CFO and COO of ParshipMeet Group on April 8th, after over 15 years, to pursue new endeavors, leaving on amicable terms. During his tenure, Rönneberg significantly contributed to the company's growth, international expansion, and successful acquisitions, transforming it into a leading online dating provider. David Lorbacher will assume CFO duties temporarily. ParshipMeet Group, boasting brands like Parship, ElitePartner, and LOVOO, generated €434M in revenue in 2023, with a team of 535 employees. The company is part of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, which owns a 52% stake.
