Contributed by: ElyseRomano on Thursday, July 17 2014 @ 07:06 am
Last modified on
Usually when we talk about online dating and hook-ups, it’s to discuss what everybody’s using Tinder for. Today, it’s about a $90 million merger agreement between Fairfax Media’s RSVP dating website and Ten Network Holdings-backed Oasis Active. The two are teaming up amid growing overseas competition in the online dating market.
Prior to the merger, RSVP was wholly owned by Fairfax, while Ten controlled about 40% of Oasis and shared the registry with other investors including co-founders David Heysen and Daniel Haigh, former Star City, Engin and Solution 6 boss Neil Gamble. Although the companies have been rivals at each other’s throats for some time, they’re now putting aside their differences for a marriage of convenience (but plan to keep their maiden names and their respective management teams).
Following the transaction (which will be conducted in a combination of cash and RSVP shares), Fairfax will have a 58% stake, Ten will hold 17%, and Heysen and Haigh will hold 14% of the company. Their combined business will be managed collectively by the RSVP and Oasis executive teams.
The merger is part of a larger trend for Fairfax over the past two years. Fairfax, the publisher of Business Day, has sold a number of digital assets in that time, including online accommodation business Stayz to United States rental operator HomeAway for $220 million and New Zealand auction website Trade Me in late 2012. Fairfax purchased RSVP, Australia’s largest dating website, in 2005.
Oasis launched in 2008 and is now one of Australia's largest free online dating sites. It has an overseas presence in countries including Colombia, Chile and Mexico, but that’s not enough to take on huge international rivals like eHarmony and Tinder. RSVP and Oasis hope that, by combining forces, they can reach new markets neither company could touch individually.
"Oasis has always admired the RSVP brand in Australia and we look forward to working with a business that has been one of the major players in the Australian market for more than 15 years," Mr Heysen says[*1] . “Together we can ensure that we continue to develop our products to cater for a wider range of the Australian singles market as well as collectively develop ways to best leverage rapidly changing technology.”
“Oasis and RSVP are two of the strongest brands in the online dating market in Australia, and together they will be even stronger,” adds[*2] Ten Network’s Chief Digital Officer, Rebekah Horne. “The partnership of Ten Network, Fairfax, Oasis and RSVP will create a powerful business with myriad growth opportunities, here and overseas.”