THEDEAL.COM - Feb 12 - Lavalife is being shopped by its owner, online marketer Vertrue. Vertrue paid C$152.5M ($113.9M) to acquire Lavalife in 2004. Vertrue was itself bought out by management, private equity firms One Equity Partners and Brencourt Investors and venture capital firm Rho Ventures for $855M in 2007. Lavalife's Web properties have been on the block for about four months. Lavalife Voice, a phone-based dating service, is not being shopped. Some say the auction has been going on for longer than that. "They've wanted to sell for a while," Noel Biederman, CEO of Avid Life Media, said of Lavalife. "Lavalife is not of great strategic value, and its business is in decline," said Mark Brooks, an industry consultant with Courtland Brooks. The company has not disclosed revenues since it was taken private in 2007. That year it brought in ~$90M. Although online dating giants Avid Life and FriendFinder Networks canceled initial public offerings this month, the space is still ripe for M&A deals, according to Brooks.
92 posts categorized "Lavalife"
Lavalife Is Being Shopped
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Finding Love On All The Right Websites
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR - Feb 13 - Weirdos, misfits, perverts and losers. That's who was out there in the early years of Internet dating, or so it was commonly believed. But in the 15 years since Match.com came out with the first major dating site, the stigma has slowly disappeared. It's a $3-billion US industry, says Mark Brooks of Courtland Brooks, a U.S. consulting firm for Internet dating and social networking companies. In August 2009 alone, there were 113M hits on Internet dating sites worldwide. Meetic.com, Europe's largest online dating company, saw its revenues increase by 23% last year and membership grow to ~1M. Plentyoffish.com claims its members will go on more than 18M dates this year. Lavalife welcomes 15,000 new members every week. FULL ARTICLE @ THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
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Twitter's Now A Dating Tool
STRAIGHT - Feb 4 - Meeting a romantic partner on-line isn’t a new phenomenon, as dating sites like Lavalife and eHarmony have been around for years. However, social-media services like Twitter and Facebook are opening up new avenues through which people can make on-line connections. While profiles on dating sites may offer only select details, social media can enable people to gain more insight into other people’s personalities. The rise of social-media services doesn’t worry Kate Bilenki, the operations manager for PlentyOfFish. Bilenki told the Straight her company is confident that its service remains the best way for people to make a romantic connection on-line. Bilenki asserted that, for the purpose of looking for love, Twitter is inefficient, as it connects users with a vast number of people, of which only a small percentage are possible romantic partners. “A lot of people on social-networking sites are married, they’re in relationships, and they’re not looking to date,” Bilenki said. “On our site, they’re looking for a relationship.” FULL ARTICLE @ STRAIGHT.COM
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Older Singles Click Online
FREE PRESS - Nov 9 - eHarmony.com, Match.com and Lavalife.com have seen significant growth in the number of users age 50+ in recent years. Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine, says that "the 50-plus segment in the online dating world is the fastest growing." eHarmony saw a 20% growth in users ages 60+ during Q1 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.
The full article was originally published at Free Press, but is no longer available.
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Lavalife.com Tests Online Speed Dating
OPW -- June 22 -- Speeddate and Woome are leading the industry when it comes to online speed dating. Match launched online speed dating in 2004 and gave it a shot and later pulled it. Lavalife is giving online speed dating a shot in Toronto. It's on one of the main tabs as soon as you log into Lavalife. It's temporarily free but will eventually cost money/tokens. The online speed dating events run 8pm each night.
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Lavalife Moves To Skype
THE GLOBE AND MAIL -- Apr 5 -- Lavalife has introduced Lavalife World Chat available through Skype. The service will allow singles to connect with other singles by creating profiles from personal voice recordings, listen to other profiles, exchange voice messages and join the Lavalife World Chat room. After downloading Skype, users can dial +9907LAVALIFE to find and talk to other singles around the globe.
The full article was originally published at Globe and Mail, but is no longer available.
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Canadians In The Business Of Love
IVEY INTOUCH MAGAZINE -- Apr 3 -- “Tele-personals,” known today as Lavalife, is one of the world’s oldest online dating services. The founding partners started out dabbling in the business of celebrity voice tapes for answering machines. They developed “Tele-classifieds" and soon found that personal advertisements had the most potential. Today, Lavalife offers its voice, Web and mobile services in more than 60 markets across the U.S., Canada and Australia. Sam Moorcroft discovered online dating services when he found himself single and unemployed in Toronto in the late 90s. He created ChristianCafe.com. The key to the success of ChristianCafe.com was filling a niche in the market. ChristianCafe.com has grown into a multi-million dollar operation, and is now celebrating its tenth anniversary online.
The full article was originally published at Ivey InTouch Magazine, but is no longer available.
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Marina Glogovac Steps Down As Lavalife CEO
OPW -- Apr 1 -- Marina Glogovac has worked with Lavalife since 2004, first as the Chief Revenue Officer and and then as CEO since 2006. She has stepped down as CEO of Lavalife. Ron Duke, whos was the CFO, is taking over as the CEO.
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It's Raining Romantic Men Online
SMH -- Feb 14 -- Figures obtained from internet dating services show that in some age groups there are far more men than women searching for a partner online. RSVP reports that women are outnumbered by men 1.5 to 1 in their late 20s to mid 30s. On Lavalife, women remain in high demand even after they turn 50, when almost three times more men in that age group are logging on. FULL ARTICLE @ SMH
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The Morning Show With Mike And Juliet
FOX NEWS -- Feb 3 -- There a plenty of fish in the sea, and nearly as many online dating sites. M&J investigate which services will help you find that perfect catch. M&J spoke to Dr. Gian Gonzaga from eHarmony, CEO of Lavalife Marina Glogovac and Mark Brooks from PlentyofFish.com.
Juliet: Dr Gian what are the components to making a successfully compatible relationship?
Dr. Gian Gonzaga: One thing relationship science has shown for the last 40 years is that people who are similar to each other on some important core personality traits, attitudes, values and interests are going to get along better.
Juliet: We’re going to move from E-Harmony to Lavalife.
Mike: Marina, I’ve heard this site called sort of the Sex and the City website.
Marina Glogovac: Yeah, we have 3 distinct communities- a dating community, a relationship community and an intimate community and that’s for people who are more open minded about exploring intimacy. The point is if you’re single you can quickly be surrounded by likeminded people who share your relationship goals.
Juliet: Next we’re going to look at PlentyofFish.com. What set’s PlentyofFish apart from all the other sites?
Mark Brooks: Well we heard a lot of talk about Plenty of Fish being free, free, free, but the real difference these days is it’s big, big, big. We have 900,000 people logging in every day. And we know now that 800,000 people a year are meeting and are in successful relationships because of PlentyofFish.com.
Juliet: Is there a science behind why you hook up so many people together?
Mark Brooks: The fellow who started the site is actually a math wizard and he’s observed the real world and he’s bottled the best of matchmaking. We have a chemistry test but there is a lot going on behind the scenes to match compatible people.
Stephanie: I’m a huge fan of PlentyofFish. Because it’s free and with the economy being down like it is, why not try a free site for 3, 4, and 5 months and then if it doesn’t work you can always pay later. And then take your saved money and go on a date.
Watch the show @ Mandjshow.com
PART 1
PART 2
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www.cheapdate.com
GLOBE & MAIL -- Jan 29 -- Lavalife, PlentyofFish, Match and PerfectMatch have seen their memberships soar after the stock-market plunge. Lavalife registrations are up 11% from last month, PlentyofFish enjoyed 77% growth in visits from Dec '07 through Dec '08. "Unlike the real world, dating sites offer the lovelorn a "completely refined, focused community", says Mark Brooks. Dating sites take care of the formalities. "If somebody wants to wander around and meet somebody, that's not a good idea on two counts: No. 1, it'll take them a long while and No. 2, they've got to get all the difficult questions out of the way." A survey by Florida-based Avalanche LLC - which operates international sites date.com, matchmaker.com and amor.com - found that 48 per cent of respondents were spending more time online or on the phone with a potential date before spending cash on a face-to-face meeting. Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine, agrees that bad economic times force people to "reprioritize their goals in life." Paul A. Falzone, CEO of LoveAccess.com agrees. "People, when they're confronted with any type of dilemma in their lives, tend to want to migrate back to what's comfortable to them. They go back to eating their comfort foods, they crank up the heat by the fire instead of going out all night, and they want someone to be able to share things with." FULL ARTICLE @ GLOBE & MAIL
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Jobless, Lovelorn Rush To Network
CRAIN'S NEW YORK BUSINESS -- Jan 18 -- For the last four months of 2008, LinkedIn, which has 1.4 million members in New York state, reported an 11% increase in the number of connections made between users, a 10% boost in invites sent among members and a 9% uptick in page views. Facebook reached 150m+ active users earlier this month. Interactive One, which operates BlackPlanet.com, AsianAvenue.com and MiGente.com, has seen a 12% jump in uniques. Sign-ups from New York state residents on Lavalife.com were down 13% until the stock market meltdown, according to Marina Glogovac, CEO of Lavalife. New York membership increased 7% each month from the beginning of the 3rd quarter through the end of 2008. Although OKCupid met its goal of reaching $2m in revenue last year, Mr. Yagan admits that his site is vulnerable to a declining ad market. FULL ARTICLE @ CRAIN NEW YORK BUSINESS
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Lavalife's Search For Canada's Top Singles
CNW -- Jan 7 -- Lavalife has launched the third annual search to find Canada's 10 most eligible singles with the smarts, looks and winning personalities to carry the title of Top Single. Lavalife's 2009 Top Singles Competition is presented by Colgate MaxFresh and is in partnership with LouLou and Glow magazines.
The full article was originally published at CNW Group, but is no longer available.
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Toronto Internet Dating Cocktail Party
TORONTO DATING SOCIAL -- Nov 30 -- The first Toronto Internet Dating Industry Party for the owners and executives of the Internet Personals and Social Networking companies was held on November 25, 2008. This networking event was attended by 27 representatives of 15 dating technology companies. Companies that attended the Toronto Dating Social Party:
Date.com, OmniDate Inc., Dating Ad Network, Lavalife Corp., Epic Advertising, Canoe / Reseau Contact, ChristianCafe.com, Cupid.com, Talkster, Impact Mobile, Randodate.com, WorldFriends Networks, Personality Pro, Dating Essentials
The full article was originally published at Toronto Dating Social, but is no longer available.
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Single Boomers Won't Get Married
GLOBE AND MAIL -- Sep 15 -- In a new era of divorce, approximately 25% of Canadians born between 1946 and 1964 are single. According to a poll by the American Association of Retired Persons, only 15% of single boomer women and 22% of boomer men are looking for someone to marry or live with. But they are looking for friendship. Since last year's launch of LavalifePrime, an online dating service for people 40 and over, 65,000 people have registered. "They're looking for people they can do activities with," says Agneta Owen, who helped launch the site. "I'm sure a lot are finding romance as well, but it's a lot less about getting married."
The full article was originally published at Globe and Mail, but is no longer available.
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