HERE'S EXACTLY HOW WE'LL GET RICH!
PlentyOfFish sold to U.S. firm in $575-million deal
PlentyOfFish has steadily lured in people seeking everything from no-strings attached hookups to marriage.
Bonny Makarewicz / NYT
Markus Frind, at the Vancouver Aquarium in January 2008: A B.C.
Institute of Technology graduate, Frind started the website in February
2003 in his Vancouver apartment, just as the tech bust was in full swing
and he was jumping from one sinking ship to another.
A Vancouver computer developer, who started
the dating website PlentyOfFish as a way to boost his resumé, has reeled
in the biggest catch: the sale of his company for more than half a
billion dollars.
Markus Frind, CEO and founder of PlentyOfFish,
who is believed to own 100 per cent of the privately held firm, has
sold it to the Match Group for $575 million (U.S.) in cash.
A subsidiary of billionaire Barry Diller’s
media and internet company IAC/InterActiveCorp., the Match Group
operates nearly 50 different dating properties including Match.com,
OkCupid and Tinder.
Frind, a B.C. Institute of Technology
graduate, started the website in February 2003 in his Vancouver
apartment, just as the tech bust was in full swing and he was jumping
from one sinking ship to another.
According to a blog post, Frind said he saw it
as a way for him to learn a website-building language. He built the
code within two weeks, and would constantly tinker and make changes to
the website.
The secret to the company’s success was that it’s free to join, with slogans like “the best things in life are free.”
It claims 100 million registered users, and
3.6 million users logging on each day. An estimated 30 million messages
are sent each day and there are 6.5 million first contacts each day.
While Frind wasn’t earning monthly fees from
users, by June 2003, he had placed Google’s Ad Sense advertisements on
his website, and earned $7.60 in the first two weeks, based on clicks
and page views.
As more users signed up, and clicked, a month
later, he was making thousands of dollars, according to Frind’s blog. By
the end of the year, he had quit his job.
In 2006, Frind posted an image of a cheque
from Google for more than $900,000 to cover two months of payments.
While it still gets revenues from advertising, most of the money now
comes from subscription services, such as finding out if someone has
read a message or when they did.
During a discussion at the Traction Conference
in Vancouver last month with BBC business reporter Kim Gittleson, Frind
said he didn’t seek any outside investors because “by the time they
showed up, I had millions in the bank account . . . . There was no
need.”
PlentyOfFish was a one-person set-up until
2008, when Frind finally decided he needed help. Then, he had 15 million
users, $10 million in revenue and he doubled his workforce, to two.
Even today, there are just more than 75
employees in the Vancouver office. Its operations are expected to
continue after the deal closes in the fourth quarter. The sale needs
approval from Industry Canada.
According to a 2014 BBC report, Frind has been
spending less time in the office, so he can spruce up a ranch he has
bought with his wife Annie. He met her offline.
The Match Group’s acquisition of PlentyOfFish
further solidifies Barry Diller’s position as the leader in helping
people find love online.
Prior to this deal, IAC had more than 20 per
cent of the Internet dating market, which is expected to total $2.4
billion (U.S.) this year, according to researcher IBISWorld.
It also lines up with IAC’s plans to spin off
its dating division, the Match Group, with an IPO later this year. The
Match Group will sell less than 20 per cent of its common stock in the
transaction. Last month, analysts pegged the Match Group’s worth at $6
billion or more.
IAC, the parent company of Match Group, owns a
variety of media and Internet properties including the Princeton
Review, Investopedia, Vimeo and the Daily Beast.
—with files from Bloomberg
The Match Group's companies
Match Group has nearly 50 brands of dating products. Here's a look at some of the best-known:
Match.com
Launched in 1995, singles can set up their own
profiles including writing sections about interests and post up to 26
photos. Individuals can search through other profiles to find others,
and the company also crates daily personalized matches. For additional
subscriptions, users can receive and reply to messages from other Match
subscribers as well as see who has viewed or favourited their profile.
Tinder
Begun as a mobile dating app, it quickly
became known as the lead-in to a “hook-up” or casual sex because it uses
GPS data to find potential matches based on geographic proximity.
Potential matches are sent to smartphones, and users can swipe to left
for no, and right to like. If the other also swipes “like,” then the two
can message each other, and off they go.
Meetic
Based in Europe, and started in 2001, this
dating site, which operates in Canada, allows people to set a quiz on
their profile page to figure out what makes people tick. Users can ask
five to 20 questions, including ones the website has created, or one of
their own. And then, the users also set what answers they are seeking.
It provides six matches each day.
OkCupid
It’s all about the numbers. Users are asked to
answer questions, and the more answers that are submitted, the greater
the likelihood of finding a match. The website uses an algorithm to
figure out the best match, as users are allowed to decide the importance
of each question. And those looking for love can specify what answers
they would or would not accept from a potential match.
HowAboutWe
This site focuses on getting participants to
spend more time offline and meeting people in the real world. It offers
the Tonight feature, a fast-track option for singles “to meet up
locally, have fun and hopefully find love.” Users specify a date at a
specific time, and HowAboutWe searches through potential matches who had
opted for a date tonight, and lets users choose who to go out with.
