PR NEWSWIRE – July 30 – Bert Althaus is joining Spark Networks as CFO, effective September 16th, 2019. Bert currently serves as Senior VP Finance for Berlin-based home24 SE, the home and living e-commerce platform in continental Europe and Brazil. Prior to joining home24, he spent over eight years at Ernst & Young. Bert will replace Rob O'Hare, who has resigned to pursue a senior financial executive role at another company based in San Francisco.
Category: SparkNetworks
Dating Industry Executives Discuss Best Practices in Safety
The webinar, "Online Safety in the Dating and Social Entertainment Market", was hosted by Northland Capital Markets. Participating from the dating industry were Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group, Casey Burton, Director and Senior Counsel at Match Group, and Jeronimo Folgueira, CEO of Spark Networks.
Representing the panel from various safety and online standards organizations were Larry Magid, CEO of Connect Safely, Stephen Balkam, CEO and Founder of the Family Online and Safety Institute, and George Kidd, CEO of the Online Dating Association.
"We put safety at the core of everything we do," said Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group. "Our users are here to interact and connect – and we think the goal of a safety operation is to promote a safe environment free of bullying, hate speech, and abuse to encourage making meaningful connections."
Topics covered during the discussion included: the current state of online safety, content moderation and law enforcement, working with the app store partners, how technology can help users feel safer, and strategies for building a safer online community.
While safety will always be a major focus in the dating industry, Larry Magid, CEO of Connect Safely, wanted to set the record straight in two specific areas.
"One observation is that between the early 1990s and the mid-2010s, while Internet usage was on a steep rise, violence, both against children and sexual violence in general, has gone down," said Magid. "So anybody who wants to correlate online dating with increased sexual violence is actually looking at the numbers in exactly the wrong way. So while I can't claim data that shows that online dating has made things safer, I can say that during the period that online dating has risen, violence has gone down."
"The other thing to understand is that nobody can guarantee 100% safety on anything, whether it's food safety or transportation safety, or safety using tools," he added. "Nobody can ever say with absolute certainty that nothing bad is going to happen. What we can do is have best practices in an industry (like online dating) – and we can have consumer education."
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Spark Networks Closes Its $258M Acquisition of Zoosk
TECH CRUNCH – July 2 – Berlin-based Spark Networks, the owner of Christian Mingle, Jdate, LDSsingles, Silver Singles, JSwipe and others, has acquired Zoosk for a combination of cash and stock. The deal values Zoosk at ~$258M. Spark says it will issue 12,980,000 American Depositary Shares (ADS) to former Zoosk shareholders valued at $153M based on the closing price of Spark ADS of $11.78 on June 28, 2019. Zoosk has for a long time struggled to compete against Tinder. A few years ago, the company laid off a third of its staff and even had to call off its IPO. According to data from Sensor Tower, Zoosk has generated worldwide in-app revenue of $250M and has seen 38M downloads since January 2014. In Q1 2019, Zoosk revenue was flat at $13M, the firm also says. Tinder revenue, by comparison, grew 43%. Zoosk's current CEO Steven McArthur is departing Zoosk following the deal, but will join Spark's board of directors.
Spark Nearing Zoosk Close, Sets EBITDA Target
SEEKING ALPHA – June 19 – Spark Networks targets adjusted EBITDA of $50M in 2020. The company says the California Department of Business Oversight granted a permit allowing Spark to issue securities in exchange for the outstanding Zoosk securities. The permit followed a hearing that was the last major milestone in the Zoosk purchase. The acquisition is expected to close on July 1. Spark shares are up 2% to $10.80.
Spark Networks SE Shareholders Approved Increase in Share Capital
PR NEWSWIRE – June 5 – An Extraordinary General Meeting of Spark Networks SE was held on June 3 in Berlin, Germany. Resolutions were passed with 99.9% of the present votes in favor – a resounding endorsement of the acquisition of Zoosk, which upon closing is expected to make Spark the second largest dating company in North America. For the purpose of acquiring Zoosk, the Meeting resolved to issue new shares to Zoosk shareholders in exchange for their Zoosk shares.
Spark Networks Full Year 2018 Results
PR NEWSWIRE – Apr 29 – Revenue for the second half of 2018 was €51.5M, up 18.4% from €43.5M in H2 of 2017. Revenue for 2018 was €104.6M, up 22.2% from €85.6M in 2017. The increase was primarily attributable to the Affinitas / Spark Merger, which closed in Nov 2017. Net Loss was €2M in the second half of 2018, compared to €3.9M in the second half of 2017, a reduction of €1.9M. Net Loss for 2018 was €3.1M, compared to €5.6M in 2017. Average Paying Subscribers grew 21.3% to 478K.
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Asian Internet Dating and Matchmaking Conferences
OPW – Apr 18 – Want to get your head around Asia? There's a couple conferences we'd like to put on your radar. But best book soon, as they're coming up fast. They're in Singapore at the amazing Marina Sands Hotel. I'm speaking at both of them.
The 1st is the GDI Singapore Dating Conference on May 13-14th, and is 250 GBP. Leaders from Paktor, Pairs, The Meet Group, Matrimony and Spark Networks will be speaking.
The 2nd is the Global Love Conference on May 15-16th, is $295, and will be more matchmaking focused. Leaders from Viola.ai / Lunch Actually, 2 Red Beans, Paktor, and the Matchmaking Institute will be speaking. (Here's a feel good $50 discount code 50OFFSG)
I hope to see you there. – Mark Brooks
Dating Startups Aim For Disruption, But Good Ideas Can’t Buy Them Love From Investors
by Savannah Dowling
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U.S. Orders Chinese Firm to Sell Dating App Grindr Over Blackmail Risk
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Mar 27 – U.S. national-security officials have ordered a Chinese company to sell gay-dating app Grindr, citing the risk that the personal data it collects could be exploited by Beijing to blackmail individuals with security clearances, according to people familiar with the situation. Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd., which acquired a majority stake in Grindr in 2016, would have no choice but to share information on Grindr users if demanded by the Chinese government, U.S. officials believe. That triggered the recent order from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., known as Cfius. National-security experts said a Chinese company would never be allowed to buy a company like Facebook Inc., for example.
"If Cfius only applies to companies China acquires from the U.S., and not companies China builds, what can it possibly solve?" said Geoffrey Cook, CEO of The Meet Group.
Potential buyers for Grindr could include Match. Mark Brooks, a consultant in the dating industry, said Spark Networks and The Meet Group could be among other potential contenders.
by Georgia Wells & Kate O'Keeffe
See full article at Wall Street Journal
Spark Networks to Acquire Zoosk
PR NEWSWIRE – Mar 22 – Spark Networks today announced its entry into a definitive agreement to acquire Zoosk. With the addition of Zoosk, Spark will more than double in size and the combined business will be considerably more valuable than the two stand-alone entities. In 2020, Spark expects Adjusted EBITDA to exceed $50M. Approximately two-thirds of the combined company's revenue will be generated in North America. Spark will acquire 100% of Zoosk's shares with a combination of cash and stock valuing the company at ~$255M based on the closing price of Spark Networks stock on March 20, 2019. The transaction is expected to close early in Q3 2019.
See full article at PR Newswire
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