SEEKING APLHA - Apr 25 - Spark Networks' management is finally changing its practices, as the largest stockholder just turned activist. JDate is highly profitable, but not growing. ChristianMingle is growing rapidly, but bleeding money. The largest stockholder is Osmium Partners, which is run by the activist investor, John Lewis. Osmium owns 14.1% of the company. Spark Networks' management's success is being debated publicly. CEO Gregory Liberman served as President from 2006 and as CEO since 2011. John Lewis complains about the excessive pay of executive officers. Mr Liberman made $1,471,737 in 2012 and $900,015 in 2011. The pay of $825,000 in 2012 in stock options is especially disturbing, given that he is overseeing a non-profitable small capitalization company. The proxy fight will reach its peak in the Annual Meeting of Stockholders scheduled on June 18, 2014. Whether Osmium wins or loses the board seats, the process serves to wake up the executive management and the board, mandating them to take actions for the benefit of shareholders.
by Tal Davidson
The full article was originally published at Seeking Alpha, but is no longer available.
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