THEVERGE - Feb 19 - Facebook is facing a lawsuit from the US Internal Revenue Service, which claims the social network owes $9B in unpaid taxes. The lawsuit went to trial in a San Francisco court on Tuesday, and the crux of the case is a 2010 deal between Facebook and an Irish subsidiary it uses to shuffle money around internationally. The IRS alleges Facebook undervalued the intellectual property it sold to the subsidiary, thereby dodging billions in taxes. In 2016, the EU ordered Apple to pay $15.4B in back taxes to Ireland after ruling that Apple had received illegal tax benefits from the country.
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Facebook Sued by the IRS for $9B in Unpaid Taxes
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Plenty of Fish Announces Industry's First Member Advisory Council
PR NEWSWIRE - Feb 20 - Dating app Plenty of Fish is launching an advisory council comprised of real users. The Plenty of Fish team is for U.S. members who are passionate about sharing ideas and providing their insights on dating and the online dating experience. Members will receive early access to new products and features to test and inform product updates and will attend planning meetings with fellow members and POF executives.
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OkCupid India: We Facilitate 25K Coffee Dates Per Week
EXCHANGE4MEDIA - Feb 20 - "In India, OkCupid has over a million users and we facilitate 25K coffee dates per week," said Shruti Gupta, Brand Manager. Asked how important is India market in the global scenario, she said, "Unlike the markets in the west where dating is a norm, the concept is still in its nascent stages in India. However, social acceptability around dating is definitely increasing. India has one of the youngest populations in the world with over a third of its population (400M is born after 1982)".
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Hinge CEO Justin McLeod: "5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a CEO"
THRIVE GLOBAL - Feb 20 - Justin grew up in Louisville, KY. After a few years in consulting, he attended Harvard Business School, then founded Hinge in 2011.
- It's not the idea that counts. It's the people and the market. What really drove our success was the group of smart, creative, loyal, gritty people I recruited, and the fact we were in an undervalued market.
- Be a coach, not a commander. I had to learn to stop directing people, and start coaching them, setting clear objectives, then asking how I can help them get there and show I believe they can!
- Focus on the customer, not the competition.
- Spend less time debating, more time experimenting. Survey, prototype, test.
- Routines and rules are the key to sanity. Daily yoga, meditation, and journaling (to zoom out and get perspective), and a weekly date with myself (usually ecstatic dance) and a date with my wife. Kate and I have a deal where neither of us spend time on our computers or devices from 8pm to 8am - every day!
My vision is for Hinge to not just be a dating platform, but a trusted expert that guides our members through the process of connecting with the person best for them. Hinge Labs is launching at the beginning of 2020 to address this.
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Snopes Retort to OPW Pulling Post About Firefly/Noosphere/Cupid
OPW - Feb 20 - Yesterday we received a take-down request for our sharing of this The Verge article (which quoted this Snopes article) with the threat of a lawsuit. Inaccurate! stated the take-down request. A few hours later I got this email from the investigative journalist and former NASA employee Alex Kasprak, author of the original Snopes article. - Mark Brooks
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I noticed you published Noosphere Ventures' lackluster response to my detailed two year investigation regarding Max Polyakov's apparent current involvement in online dating. For the record, the claims made in their "statement" that you have republished refute absolutely nothing in my reporting, including these crucial facts:
- Together Networks maintains the website (and many others) we specifically caught using photos without their owner's consent to get people to signup for subscription packages. Together Networks USA's current company director, according to the State of California, is the Head of HR for Noosphere Ventures and personal assistant to Max Polyakov and/or Mark Watt.
- Together Networks USA has the same corporate address as Noosphere Ventures.
- Both principle partners of Noosphere Ventures - Max Polyakov and Mark Watt - were once if not currently shareholders in the BVI-registered shell company Phoenix Holdings Limited, which owns the bulk of the past Cupid plc catalog.
- The fact that Max Polyakov resigned his directorship of Cupid plc in 2012 is wholly irrelevant to the issue at hand since it is public knowledge he purchased many if not most of these websites back through his firm Grendall Investments Limited in 2014.
- The company "which may or may not have a similar previous name" to "Firefly Aerospace" was "Firefly Aerospace UK." The director of that company (now Arosky Services Limited), Laura Edison, served as the legal counsel for the former Cupid and current Polyakov-associated website named Uniform Dating in a recent legal dispute. Edison was a contracted general counsel to Noosphere Ventures - according to her own Linkedin profile - until we asked her about it. That item was removed from her profile following our request for comment.
Mr. Polyakov and Mr. Watt may have an intimidating legal team and PR staff, but that does not mean they can pay for their own version of reality.
Alex Kasprak
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Match.com Lets Users Alert Friends When Their Date Goes Bad
TOM'S GUIDE - Feb 19 - The Date Check-in feature is the latest safety measure for Match Group's dating apps. With the Date Check-In on Match.com, users are able to let people know they're on a date and to send them an SOS if they're feeling unsafe during the date. Tinder added a similar safety feature last month. In the case of Tinder, the safety features tie into a separate Noonlight app that also provides a panic button for alerting people when they feel unsafe.
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Podcast With Mark Brooks About Biggest Ongoing Online Dating Stories
GDI - Feb 19 - Mark Brooks is one of the online dating industry's leading experts with almost two decades of experience under his belt. He's worked with companies like POF and Social Discovery Ventures in the past, and created his own consultancy business in 2005. Mark joined GDI's Dom Whitlock to talk about some of the biggest ongoing stories, including Match Group's separation from IAC, Facebook Dating and romance fraud. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and SoundCloud.
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How Tantan Leveraged Valentine's Day to Gain Female User Base
FINANCIAL EXPRESS - Feb 19 - Dating app Tantan claims to have recorded a reach of ~2.5M through a strategic and focused influencer marketing campaign #VDayonTantan. The idea behind the campaign was to increase awareness regarding the app amongst women. ~45 influencers on Instagram and TikTok came together for the umbrella campaign #VDayOnTantan, #MyManOnTantan by the female influencers and #YourManOnTantan by the male influencers.
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OkCupid Adds Climate Change Questions
DIGITAL TRENDS - Feb 19 - OkCupid has rolled out a new set of questions that allow users to match only with people who share their beliefs about climate change. The app already had questions on topics like gun control, marriage equality, political leanings, incarceration, and voting, as well as geographically relevant ones on issues like Brexit.
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The Top Reason to Be Bullish on Match, According to Trader
CNBC - Feb 19 - Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, was into Match this Valentine's Day. "I am a bull on Match because a long on Match is really a long on Tinder, and Tinder is the de facto standard in online dating." Tinder generates 47% of Match's total revenue. Shares are down nearly 15% in the past month. But, Schlossberg said you need to look broadly at what the company can do to recognize its full potential. Match has 50% revenue exposure in the U.S., but its overseas presence delivers the most growth. In Germany, revenue is growing 12% YOY, the U.K. has 7% sales growth and the Netherlands is up 13%. Emerging markets currently make up just 3% of revenue.
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Growlr Suspended Many Accounts Without Explanation
QUEERTY - Feb 19 - Social media has erupted with a massive growl of anger following mass account suspensions on gay dating app Growlr. The mass suspensions appear to have begun February 17. Growlr was sold to The Meet Group for ~$11M last year.
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Cisco Report: India to Have 900M Internet Users by 2023
NEWSGRAM - Feb 19 - India will have ~907M Internet users by 2023, accounting for 64% of the country's population, a Cisco report said. There will be 966M total mobile users by 2023, up from 763M or 56% of the population in 2018. The report added that 66% of the global population (5.3B people) will be Internet users by 2023.
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Here's How Much Americans Spend on Dating
CNBC - Feb 19 - In 2019, Americans spent an average of $697 to go on dates, according to a 2020 survey by LendingTree, which polled 1,281 U.S. adults.
Here's the breakdown by age:
- Gen Z (ages 18 to 23): $366
- Millennials (24 to 39): $696
- Gen X (40 to 54): $903
- Baby boomers (55 to 74): $632
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The Top Dating Industry News for Feb 18th
OPW - Feb 18 - Gay dating app Chappy shutting down, Facebook Dating Launch in Europe Postponed, Tinder's New Social Features, GDI & Global Love Conference.
For the top weekly dating industry news in ~2 minutes subscribe to OPW's Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) podcast on Breaker , Google Podcasts
, Spotify
, Anchor
, Overcast
, Radio Public
or Apple Podcasts
. Listen to the trailer for the channel.
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Top Grossing Dating Apps Worldwide for January 2020
SENSORTOWER - Feb 18 - The top grossing dating app worldwide for January 2020 was Tinder with $86M in user spending. 40% percent of Tinder's revenue was from the United States, followed by 7% from UK and 5% from Brazil. Bumble was #2 with $20M in gross revenue, which represented 27% YOY growth.
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