PRESSE PORTAL — Dec 5 — Great Hills Partners, a Boston-based equity management firm with $1.2 Billion under management, purchased 6,000,000 shares of Spark Networks representing a 19.8% stake in the company.
The full article was originally published at Presse Portal, but is no longer available.
UNION LEADER — Oct 24– DateMyPet.com is one of hundreds now available for people trying to find mates with whom they share a common interest. For daters new to the online world, niche dating offers hundreds of alternatives to the more commonly used dating sites. There are dating sites for Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Italians, Greeks, Indians, and Latinos, among other groups. Vegetarians, cyclists, recovering addicts, fitness fanatics, and disabled singles have their own sites, too. SquareDating.com helps connect single alumni from top colleges and universities. NoLongerLonely.com allows singles suffering a mental illness to seek each other out. LittlePeopleMeet.com is one of several sites exclusively for singles with dwarfism. And MilitaryDate.com hooks up servicemen and women across the country. GreenSingles.com is celebrating its 10th year online shortly. "When people begin to get serious about looking for long-term relationships or marriage, they're more likely to want to meet people of a similar background, race, or religion," said Gail Laguna, VP for Spark Networks. Spark recently acquired MingleMatch which oversees 21 affinity-focused online personals sites, including DeafSinglesConnection, Interracial Singles Connection, Single Parents Mingle, and Prime Singles Connection – for online daters more than 40 years old.
BUSINESS WIRE — Sept 12 — Berman Health and Media announced today that the Showtime network picked up its reality television series "Sexual Healing" starring Dr. Laura Berman anticipated to premier in Spring of 2006. Berman also announced an agreement with Spark Network to create a co-branded electronic dating website with American Singles called datingsmart.com sharing revenue 50/50.
The full article was originally published at BusinessWire, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Smart move. I think we'll see more of these kinds of cobranding deals.
BUSINESS WIRE — Sept 12 — Berman Health and Media announced today that the Showtime network picked up its reality television series "Sexual Healing" starring Dr. Laura Berman anticipated to premier in Spring of 2006. Berman also announced an agreement with Spark Network to create a co-branded electronic dating website with American Singles called datingsmart.com sharing revenue 50/50.
The full article was originally published at BusinessWire, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Smart move. I think we'll see more of these kinds of cobranding deals.
PR NEWSWIRE — Aug 30 — JDate revenue increased 9%. Also among the highlights of the company's quarter was the acquisition of MingleMatch, which added ChristianMingle, BlackSingles Connection and LDS Mingle, among others. EBITDA for Q2 2005 was $368,000, compared to an EBITDA loss of $3.1 million in the same period last year. Revenue was $15.5 million, a decrease of 2%, compared to $15.8 million for Q2 last year. The company reported a Q2 net loss of $859,000, compared to a Q2 net loss of $4.1 million last year. Q2 2005 revenue for AmericanSingles was $7.3 million, a decrease of 16%. Average paying subscribers for the company totaled approximately 215,600, a decrease of 6%. (Jdate 68,100, a decrease of 3% / AmericanSingles 109,000, a decrease of 18%). Direct subscriber acquisition cost was $31.11, a decrease of 23%. (JDate $13.82, an increase of 90% / AmericanSingles $41.30, a decrease of 23%).
Mark Brooks: It's good to see the acquisition costs diminishing. Looks like American Singles is finding it's balancing point between growth and profitability.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE — June 12 — The Money Talks PR stunt of the week goes to…the Society of Single Professionals for a speech by dating expert Rich Gosse, the Marin PR guy who you may remember ran for governor on the singles platform. Gosse is headlining the "Singles Extravaganza" at the Marriott Hotel and says, despite San Francisco's reputation as a gay mecca, Baghdad by the Bay is a "straight singles' paradise." In his winning press release, Gosse says it is not true that all San Francisco men are married, gay or dead. "Even after you subtract the 24% of single men in San Francisco who are gay, there are still more heterosexual bachelors to meet, per capita, than in most large cities in America. If San Francisco women think it's tough to meet a man, they should try New York City, where there is a surplus of over 700,000 single women over single men!" FULL ARTICLE @ SF GATE
Mark Brooks: Rich has been running singles events for years. He started American Singles and sold it to Matchnet (now Spark). He still runs the 'Society of American Singles,' as a non-profit, and runs events and flirting conventions in the Bay Area and as far afield as Australia.
LA DAILY NEWS — June 4 — While general online personals and dating sites have been around for years, a new online dating niche has emerged and is seeing surging growth in the LA area: Sites catering to ethnic groups. With an estimated 600,000 Iranians and 400,000 Armenians in LA — the largest populations outside those countries — the sheer size of the communities is fueling much of the growth. "I found this to be a great way to try to find Armenians. It brings the whole community together," ," a business owner said. That's the philosophy of Said Amin, CEO and founder of World Singles which runs IranianPersonals.com (120,000 members, 1/3 in LA), HyeSingles.com (16,000 members, 2/3 LA), and ArabLounge.com. JDate accounted for nearly 25% of Spark Networks' $65.1 million in revenues in 2004, and its online dating service has grown so large that it is rolling out premiere offerings to try to continue to attract and retain customers. In early May, it launched Joe's Club in LA in which provides personalized matchmaking at dinner tables of eight people, for an annual fee.
Mark Brooks: Culturally specific niche sites are some of the strongest. World Singles will also have an incredible word of mouth ad base in LA. Would be a good acquisition target. www.qiran.com is another site that was brought to my attention.
SEATTLE TIMES — June 4 — Al Farrar, at age 74, was a bored and lonely widower when his daughter urged him to go online and look for a lady friend. That's how Farrar, a retired postal-service supervisor, apprehensively came to sign up for "Cupid Junction," a computer dating service. "Two years ago, the percentage of age 50-plus online daters was very, very small. Now on a daily basis that percentage is growing by leaps and bounds," says Duane Dahl, president of PerfectMatch.com. AARP counsels beware when dating online but touts the strategy as a good way for older people to meet. In April, more than 1.6 million age 65-plus visited online personals sites, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. "The most important thing to do is make sure the site you choose has a large enough database of people you're interested in and who are interested in you," advises Ron Geraci, a special-projects editor for AARP.
The full article was originally published at Seattle Times, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Older singles discovery of online personals has been one of the big stories of the year.
PRNEWSWIRE — June 1 — JDate is hosting a summer penthouse party, in Beverly Hills, Tuesday, June 21. All proceeds from the event will benefit ORT (work for the advancement of Jewish people through training and education). "As part of our mission to strengthen the Jewish community, we utilize the strength of JDate's 600,000 members to support non-profit organizations," stated Joe Shapira, JDate co-founder and Chairman.
PRNEWSWIRE — May 23 — Spark Networks announced that it has completed the acquisition of MingleMatch. MingleMatch's brands will join Spark Networks online personals communities led by AmericanSingles® and JDate®.
Mark Brooks: MingleMatch runs 21 dating sites: Adventist Singles Connection, Asian Singles Connection, BBW Personals Plus, Black Singles Connection, Canadian Personals, Catholic Mingle, Christian Mingle, Deaf Singles Connection, Greek Singles Connection, Indian Matrimonial Network, Interracial Singles, Iranian Singles Connection, Italian Singles Connection, Jewish Mingle, Latin Singles Connection, LDS Mingle, Military Singles Connection, Muslim Matrimonials Network, Prime Singles, Single Parents Mingle, UK Singles Connection