Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

Meetic: 2011 Annual Results

4TRADERS - Feb 2 - Meetic's 2011 consolidated annual revenue was 178.3M Eur, down 4.2% YOY. Q4 2011 revenue was 42.1M Eur. The Group had 762,099 subscribers on 31st December 2011, compared to 858,197 subscribers on 31st December 2010. Monthly ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) was 17.2 Eur in 2011 (18.9M Eur in 2010).

See full article at 4Traders

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Match.com Reports Q3 Results

PR NEWSWIRE - Nov 4 - Core revenue increased 15% to $102.5M driven by increases in subscribers. Developing revenue increased 8% to $18.7M primarily due to revenue from OkCupid. Core and Developing revenue collectively increased by 14% to $121.2M. Meetic had revenue of $11.1M which was negatively impacted by the write-off of $9.6M of deferred revenue in connection with its acquisition.

Match Core consists of Match.com in the US, Chemistry.com and People Media.
Match Developing consists of OkCupid, Singlesnet, mobile-only products and non-Meetic international operations.

See full article at Marketwatch

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Meetic Q3 2011 Results

PRESS RELEASE - Nov 3 - The Meetic Group's consolidated revenue for the first 9 months of the year is 136.2M Eur, 1.1% decrease YOY. The Group has a total of 797,093 subscribers, compared to 844,435 at 30th June 2011.

See full article at 4-Traders

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Gregory Blatt appointed Chairman, Philippe Chainieux CEO of Meetic

4TRADERS - Sep 30 - Meetic today announces changes in the composition of its Board of Directors. Gregory R. Blatt, CEO of the IAC group, Meetic's majority shareholder, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors, thus replacing Marc Simoncini, who remains a member of the Board. At the same time, Philippe Chainieux was promoted to CEO of Meetic and becomes a member of the Board.

See full article at 4Traders

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An Interview with Director of Meetic France

01AMOUR - September 6 - Pierric Duthoit is the Director of Meetic France. He co-founded and directed the Womanjournal.ru site, a Women's Web Portal in Russia.

Q: What do you think about the acquisition of Meetic by Match ?
A: It is good news for us and for the Americans, with the pooling of expertise in a market with many players. 

Q: In which international markets does Meetic operate?
A: Meetic is active in 16 countries in Europe and available in 13 different languages. 

Q: Can you talk about Meetic Affinity compared to the older Meetic?
A: Members of Meetic Affinity complete a questionnaire that will help them understand themselves better and to get to know other members. 

Q: What about competition with SmartDate, Badoo, Facebook, Zoosk?
A:  Badoo speaks of "network meeting".  Facebook is not in the category of"dating". Zoosk and Smartdate tend to expand the category, which is more beneficial for us as the leader in this market.

Q: Will Meetic search to consolidate its position in other markets?
A: We always want to consolidate and improve our positions.

Q: How do you see the market of dating and matchmaking in 10 years?
A: Dating will be even more mobile.

See full article at 01Amour (in French)

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IAC Wins Control of Meetic

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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Meetic First Half 2011 Results

PRESS  RELEASE - July 27 - Revenue for the first half of 2011 totalled Eur92.4M, up +1.1% compared to the same period of 2010. The total amount of money invested in advertising over the Q2 was thus Eur21.7M, compared to Eur36.5M the previous quarter. The client acquisition cost was thus Eur86.35 versus Eur72.10 over the same period of 2010. Subscriber numbers: a total of 844,435 subscribers at 30th June 2011, versus 872,047 subscribers at 31st March 2011. This decrease in the number of subscribers is due to the reduction in marketing spendings over the Q2 2011.

See full article at 4-Traders

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IAC Offers to Buy Out Remainder of Meetic for 15 Euros/Share

REUTERS - May 30 - InterActiveCorp's Match.com unit offered to buy all of the outstanding shares of Meetic for 15 euros a share. Match.com already owns 27% of the French online dating service. Meetic is valued at 347 million euros, or $497 million. The offer is 7.3 times EV/EBITDA, with a PE ration of 13.9. Match has no plans to delist Meetic.

by Christian Plumb
See full article at Reuters

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Meetic Has Posted Q1 2011 Financial Results

BUSINESSWIRE - May 11 - European dating site, Meetic, has announced its earnings for Q1 2011. The company saw total revenues increase 6.5% from Q1 2010, from 43.4 million euros to 46.2 million euros. Internet revenues accounted for 97% of Meetic's revenue, posting a 7% gain from Q1 2010, while mobile revenues accounted for only 2% of revenues, posting a 14.8% decline in the same period.

See full article at 4-Traders

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Location Based Dating: Concerns Over Privacy

BLOOMBERG - May 4 - Meetic is joining start-ups including MeetMoi in offering location-based dating services. Meetic will introduce features this year that let handset users find out real-time who’s around them and interested in meeting, and match potential soulmates who, for example, frequent the same gym, Managing Director Philippe Chainieux said in an interview.The number of European Web users visiting a dating site “almost every day” through their mobile rose 49% between February 2010 and 2011 to 2.8M, according to comScore. The number doing so at least once a week climbed 44%. Convenient mobile services will give dating sites a chance to boost their “conversion rate". Location-based iPhone and Android app FlirtMaps topped 500K downloads last month, with that figure expected to double by the end of the year. Grindr, an app for gays boasts 62K users in London alone. Still, safety concerns may slow the adoption of location- based dating. To ease some of those concerns, FlirtMaps limits geo- localization to a one-kilometer radius. Meetic is considering making only men visible on its pending real-time “flirting” service, keeping women’s locations at a given moment mostly off the map.

by Matthew Campbell
See full article at Bloomberg

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Founder Of Meetic Hooks Up With Glasses Startup

BUSINESS INSIDER - Mar 29 - Marc Simoncini, Founder and CEO of Meetic, the biggest dating site in Europe worth ~$500M on the Paris stock market, is investing $10+ million into Sensee.com and taking over as CEO. Sensee.com sells eyewear and has an ambitious goal to cut in half the average bill in the category. Simoncini has been looking for an exit from Meetic, a thriving success but by now a fairly mature business, which must be boring for the restless entrepreneur. He put the site up for sale last year but could not find a buyer at the price he sought. He also set up a venture capital firm, Jaina Capital, with 100M euros of his own money.

by Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry
See full article at Business Insider

Mark Brooks: I know the perfect buyer for Meetic.  M***h.com.  Can you guess?

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Meetic 2010 Annual Results

OPW - Mar 22 - Meetic's 2010 consolidated annual revenue came to €186M, up +17.8% compared to 2009. The Group had a total of 858,197 subscribers at 31st Dec '10. Meetic manages two services in Europe: online dating and matchmaking, mainly under the meetic and meetic affinity brands. By acquiring the European activities of Match.com in June 2009, Meetic Group has strengthened its first place on the continent. The Group is currently established in 16 European countries and is available in 13 languages.

Download Meetic 2010 Financial Results PDF

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Meetic To Launch iPhone App

WSJ - Feb 14 - Marc Simoncini, Meetic's founder, aims to extend his European online-dating empire to smartphones—and get more users to pay. Marc worries that only one in 10 people who sign up to his sites pays to meet someone. Dating sites don't lock customers in for long periods of time, so it's important to keep them coming back for more, says Patrick Jousseaume, an analyst at French bank Société Générale. Faced with competition from the likes of eHarmony and free dating sites such Badoo.com, Meetic wants to buck the trend. At present, subscribers spend two hours a day on the site. "With a smartphone this could go up to five hours a day," says Simoncini. In March, Meetic plans to launch its iPhone app, and it hopes to dominate the smartphone dating market within the next three years. FULL ARTICLE @ WSJ

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Meetic 2010 Annual Revenue

OPW - Feb 11 - Meetic's 2010 consolidated annual revenue came to €186M, an increase of +17.8% YOY. Annual subscription sales were €183.6M, up +19.8% on 2009. Revenue for the Q4 of 2010 came to €48.3M, an increase of +6.1% compared to Q4 2009. This quarter, like the previous one, saw dynamic sequential growth, notably doped by the increase in Matchmaking. Over 2010, the Group thus acquired 40K additional subscribers on the Matchmaking segment, giving a total of 140K clients at the end of 2010. Matchmaking contributed ~€34M to the Group’s total revenue in 2010, an increase of +34% compared to 2009. Download the full press release HERE.

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Interview With Marc Simoncini

LES ECHOS - Dec 14 - Marc Simoncini, the CEO/Founder of Meetic explains why he is going to retain his shares in Meetic and unveils his plans for the next three years. 
 
Q: What made you change your mind about the sale?
A: We talked with four potential buyers and no offer reflected the development potential of Meetic. It wasn't the right time. 

Q: What are the main axes of development?
A: First we will continue to develop Meetic Affinity, a site that has made 5M Eur in revenue in 2008 and 25M in 2009. Also at the end of the Q1 we will release a Meetic app on the iPhone, Android, Nokia, and Windows 7 phone. 
 
Q: What are your goals in terms of membership numbers?
A: Today, Meetic has ~1M users. To achieve the revenue goals we have to increase the number of users 40%.  

Q: What resources do you have for future acquisitions?
A: We had 28M Eur in cash as of Sept. 30, at the end of the year we should have ~40M, no debts. Potentially, we may redeem any of our European competitors.
 
Q: Even in Germany?
A: Germany is highly competitive market where we're still number two. We are waiting for opportunities. It is interesting to see that dating sites in Germany spent 100M Eur in TV advertising this year. Meetic spends ~100M across Europe.
 
Q: What is your position now in Meetic?
A: I remain the CEO.
FULL ARTICLE @ LES ECHOS

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Face Value: Marc Simoncini

ECONOMIST - Dec 9 - Marc Simoncini is the founder of Meetic, Europe’s biggest dating site. Mr Simoncini comes from upwardly mobile stock. His grandfather was a poor farmer. His father worked his way up the ranks of France Telecom. In 1986 his father lent him $3,000 to start his own business. After a false start he founded Opsion, an IT-services firm. It took him 14 years to repay his debt to his father. In 1998 he created iFrance, an internet portal which was sold for €182M (then $165M). Mr Simoncini had the idea for Meetic during dinner with three friends who had all recently divorced or separated. When he lost his fortune, Meetic became his job. In 2008 he launched Meetic Affinity, a matchmaking site, which is more expensive. He says he has done what he can for Meetic and is looking to sell his 23% stake, which is valued at ~€100M, by the end of the year. Apart from Meetic, he has invested in Winamax, a poker website. FULL ARTICLE @ ECONOMIST

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Meetic's Q3 2010 Results: Down 2.2%

OPW - Nov 9 - Meetic, the European online dating leader, released its results for the Q3 '10. The revenue was €46.3M down 2.2% compared to Q3 '09. Meetic had 869,000 subscribers at the end of Sep compared to 858,000 at the end of June, an increase of 11,000 subscribers over the prior quarter. Marketing investments totalled €23.3M in Q3 which represents 50.3% of revenues. Total marketing investments since the start of the year stand at €79.3M, or 58% of revenues over that period. Meetic has been penalised in its growth by competitive pressure from new competitors on the Matchmaking segment in Germany who have massively invested on their main market. Meetic will reassess its German market strategy. For more details, download Meetic Financials PDF or visit the link on the side bar under 'FINANCIALS'.

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Marc Simoncini To Leave Meetic Before The End Of The Year

LEXPANSION - Nov 8 - Meetic's founder and CEO, Marc Simoncini, has confirmed that he would leave Meetic before the end of the year whether the company is sold or not. Simoncini still holds 22.98% stake in Meetic. FULL ARTICLE @ LEXPANSION

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Online Dating In Spain

TERRA NOTICIAS - Oct 28 - According to the National Statistics Institute, there are ~10M singles in Spain. Half of them are using dating sites and this figure increases by 7% each year. Meetic has more than 6.5M registered users in Spain. FULL ARTICLE @ TERRA NOTICIAS

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Meetic Partners With Microsoft

PRESS RELEASE - Oct 25 - Meetic has signed a major pan-European mobile partnership with Microsoft and the simultaneous launch of an app for Windows Phone 7. Meetic and Microsoft are deploying a mobile offer on a pan-European scale (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy). This app was developed in 3 months and will be ready for the worldwide launch on 11th October in New York.

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