Match Bought POF, And Cements Its Position As Market Leader

MARKETWATCH - July 15 - The Match Group announced that it will buy PlentyofFish for $575M in cash before going public. "In this industry, size really matters," says Mark Brooks, a dating-industry analyst and the editor of Online Personals Watch. "The Match Group gains very sizable key strategic assets and very effectively cements its position as market leader." The US online dating industry is dominated by IAC, with 21.8% market share. While each site has its own secret set of algorithms, the industry is consolidating and becoming more efficient from a business perspective.

"Making ideal matches is a virgin science," Brooks says. "We don't really know when we've been successful, so we don't really know when the algorithm has actually worked." That will soon change with the popularity of location-based apps and mobile technology, he says. "We'll be able to survey singles before and after dates." "Dating algorithms do exactly what they're designed to do, which is to match to sets for data,"” says Amy Webb, author of "Data, a Love Story: How I Gamed Dating to Meet My Match." Some dating sites beg to differ: "eHarmony has only a divorce rate of 3.86%, well below the national average of 40% to 50%."

by Quentin Fottrell
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[Marc Lesnick]

I knew a former VP at General Electric (GE), he brought his division from $700 mil to $920 Mil in revenue in one year. Jack Welsh wanted $1 Billion for the division. He told me for him to do it through sales it was impossible, but he did it by acquiring a $100 million company. Then he had $1 Bil in sales.

One thing that is possible is that IAC may have expectations of Match to show exponential growth. IAC wants to spin off Match. Sales have been flat. Tinder monetization is in the air. POF is profitable and would look good for the IPO.

[DatingScripts]

Wow. I didn't think he'd ever sale. Wonder what Markus will do now.