Milestones

I've been sick lately (and still am) so I have some catching up to do on news posting.

On December 23, 2008 FriendFinder Networks filed for a $460 million IPO. My first thought was it is an interesting time to file with the downturn of the economy. Adult FriendFinder is the major revenue generator of the FriendFinder Networks and with the latest posts about dating sites doing better in these market conditions, maybe the recession is not as much a concern. Still, there are less people out there with money to invest.

The other big issue is the proceeds of this will be used for the most part to pay off debt. Most investors tend not to like this type of scenario. I'm not sure where this debt came from. FriendFinder Networks was bought last December (see Story) by Penthouse for $500 million. I assume at this point, the FriendFinder accounting books where in a positive territory. I can't see Penthouse buying them for so much money if FriendFinder had a huge debt. This new debt must of come from Penthouse.

Match.com UK celebrated 2 milestones in London yesterday. Since 2001 more than 1 Billion emails and 1 Billion winks have been sent through the Match.com dating site. During this celebration Match.com launched match100, a new consumer panel.

The responsibility of this group is to consult on new services and provide a valuable on-the-ground view of the search for love in 21st century Britain.

The match100 is made up of a diverse group of old and current Match.com members from all over Britain. The groups first job will be to create an Insiders Guide to Online Dating based on their own experiences. Find the new match100 media center here.

Related Story: eHarmony has Issued more than 1 Billion Matches

For the full story visit Marketing Week and for further information on Match.com UK dating site read our detailed review.

Since 2000 eHarmony has produced more than 1 Billion automated matches for its members. With eHarmony's detailed profiles and strict criteria for matching singles, combined with their large membership base, this is a huge success for them.

To see how this fact was established using eHarmony's match ID, visit the Unofficial eHarmony Blog. For more information about this popular online dating service read our eHarmony Review.

Lavalife's latest dating service called LavalifePRIME for mature singles celebrated its first anniversary last week. Lavalife calls this site "one of the world's first social dating sites", since it is a combination of online dating and social networking features (which dating site isn't these days). This free site is geared towards singles 45 years or older and has gathered more than 40,000 members since it opened May 2007.

LavalifePRIME includes forums where members can discuss almost any topic. You can post unlimited photos, send messages, chat with other members in groups or message one on one. Since this site is free there are a fair number of ads displayed on most pages you visit. LavalifePRIME is still in beta and I have to wonder if they plan on keeping the site free (will they make enough with the online ads to cover costs) or once they have enough members will it become a paid service? This site does compete with Lavalife itself so, I wouldn't be surprised if it does become paid eventually, especially since income from paid advertising isn't as profitable as it use to be.

Related Stories: Lavalife Looking for Older Singles

Last month we reported this story, Rumor - FriendFinder purchased for $1 Billion?. Well it turns out that most of the rumor is true according to the New York Times. The FriendFinder Network was sold but for $500 million. There are over 25 sites in the FriendFinder Network with about a total of 1.2 million paying subscribers out of 260 million members. The projected profits of the network is estimated to be $340 million this year.

Some more of the popular sites in the FriendFinder Network includes their first site created, FriendFinder.com and Passion.com geared towards adults.

I received an email from Relationship.com. They are changing their name to ChristianMingle.com to make it easier for people to realize what type of single Relationship.com is trying to attract.

For the last year or so Relationships.com has been the most visited Christian dating site according to Hitwise. Hitwise is a company that keeps track of how many people visit web sites and then ranks them accordingly.

I guess this means I'll have to update my review of Relationship.com to reflect the new name change. I should have another look at this dating site anyways since it's been a while and I like to review each site at least once every 6 months.