PRESS RELEASE – Feb 11 – According to a new EliteSingles' study, users whose profiles mention veganism or vegetarianism receive 73% more messages than the average user. The study also revealed that, while the term vegan gives a significant message boost (50% above the average), it's vegetarian that is the big winner, boosting message rates to 108% above average. Veggie sits in the middle, coming with an 62% boost in messages received. EliteSingles is designed for successful single professionals seeking a long-term relationship. EliteSingles is part of Spark Networks SE.
Category: SparkNetworks
IDEA SUMMIT Europe, at Spark Networks
OPW – Dec 4 – IDEA SUMMIT Europe went very well today at Spark Networks HQ, with a veritable who's who of the dating and online matchmaking industry. (www.idea.gp)
OPW Podcast – The Top Dating Industry News for Nov 19th
OPW – Nov 19 – Spark's New CEO, rankings, S'More, and a new app from Momo.
For the top weekly dating industry news in ~2 minutes subscribe to OPW's Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) podcast on Breaker, Google podcasts, Spotify, Anchor or Stitcher.
Spark Networks Appoints Eric Eichmann as CEO
Yacktman Asset Management Takes $1.22M Position in Spark Networks
DARBY NEWS – Nov 11 – Yacktman Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Spark Networks in the Q3, according to its SEC filing. The institutional investor acquired 220K shares, valued at $1,2M. Yacktman Asset Management owned ~0.07% of Spark Networks at the end of the most recent quarter. Gabelli Funds also purchased shares of Spark Networks, valued at ~$55K. Renaissance Technologies purchased $454K worth of Spark shares. Finally, Canaan Partners purchased $22.6M worth of Spark shares.
See full article at Darby News
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IDEA SUMMIT in Berlin Fills Within 24 Hours
IDEA – Oct 10 – The Internet Dating Excellence Association (IDEA.gp) exists to help the dating industry grow, and to help dating executives learn and share and improve their services for the benefit of their users.
I started IDEA in 2007, and we spent the first 10 years bringing dating industry leaders together socially prior to Internet Dating Conferences. Then we formalized it a couple years ago, and started running distinct gatherings. The first small gathering was IDEA WOW in Malta in November 2018. It went well, but attendees wanted more so we ran an IDEA WOW + IDEA SUMMIT in Chennai India and I co-hosted the gathering with Murugavel Janakiraman, the CEO/Founder of Matrimony, at the Matrimony.com HQ. It was a wonderful experience.
Our first European IDEA SUMMIT event will happen December 4th at the Spark Networks HQ in Berlin. I'll be cohosting with Jeronimo Folgueira, the CEO of Spark Networks. The event was released this Monday, and was full less than 24 hours later! Another small IDEA SUMMIT gathering is in the works for East Coast USA for March in 2020.
Zoosk to Make Major Layoffs and Exit City
SF BUSINESS TIMES – Oct 1 – Zoosk is facing two massive rounds of layoffs this year and next, before its German-based parent company Spark Networks moves the operation out of San Francisco. Spark Networks acquired Zoosk earlier this year in a deal valued at $255M. The company wrote in a letter to shareholders that it plans to slash 66% of its workforce by the end of this year. It will then institute another round of layoffs to cut 80% of the workforce by April, with the company fully exiting San Francisco by the end of June as a cost-cutting move. It is not clear how many employees currently work for Zoosk. However, in 2017, Zoosk had 93 employees.
Open Letter to the Shareholders of Spark Networks
BUSINESS WIRE – Sep 30 – We have closed our largest acquisition (Zoosk) to date which has accelerated our expansion in North America. Shares of Spark have lost more than a third of their value thus far in 2019 and over 50% since the deal closed on July 1, 2019. The losses are largely the result of concentrated share sales by a minority of our shareholder base and not the result of financial or operational under-performance. Since the close of the Zoosk transaction, ~5M Spark shares have traded, representing 20% of our total shares outstanding. Spark Networks is active in the market of serious relationships. Through the acquisitions of Jdate, JSwipe, and Christian Mingle, Attractive World in France, and Zoosk, the company has quadrupled its revenue from €60M in 2015 to €250M on a pro forma basis in 2018.
Our strategy:
- Phase 1: Reach critical scale to unlock profitability potential
- Phase 2: Consolidate the serious dating segment and build a profitable core
- Phase 3: New Growth Initiatives
Spark Networks SE Reports First Half 2019 Results
PR NEWSWIRE – Aug 29 – Spark Networks, parent company of EliteSingles, eDarling, Jdate, Christian Mingle, JSwipe, SilverSingles, Attractive World, and Zoosk, reported its first half 2019 financial results. H1 2019 revenue was €49.2M, down 7.1% YOY. The YOY decrease was attributable to the 9% decrease in the number of Average Paying Subscribers. Net loss was €4.9M, an increase of €3.8M compared to €1.1M in the H1 2018. The YOY increase in net loss was primarily attributable to higher professional fees related to the merger with Zoosk that closed in the H2 2018, and an increase in income tax expense in the H1 2019.
Spark Networks Closes Its Deal to Acquire Zoosk
CHEDDAR – Aug 3 – Spark Networks SE became the second largest dating company in North America after closing its deal to acquire Zoosk. Jeronimo Folgueira, CEO of Spark Networks, said: “With the acquisition of Zoosk we became now almost three times bigger than we used to be. So, that unlocked all the potential being really large in this market.”