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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Marc Simoncini has proved his worth as an idating industry pioneer in Europe. He's taken Meetic top rankings across the Europe.
Mark Brooks
OnlinePersonalsWatch
usa 212-444-1636 / uk 020-8133-1835
Posted by: Mark Brooks | Dec 10, 2010 at 09:09 AM