General News

Over a year ago in December of 08, FriendFinder Networks filed their IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for $460 million (see Story). On January 8th, 2010, FriendFinder set the terms of their initial public offering to just under half of the first estimate to $220 million. They plan to sell 20 million shares at a cost of $10 to $12 each. The Lead Underwriters of the offering are RenCap and Ledgemont Capital Markets LLC.

For those of you who are interested in more information, you can view the full half hour IPO video and slide show presentation here. The presentation is done by Daniel C. Staton, who is the Chairman of the Board of FriendFinder Networks Inc.

BlackPeopleMeet.com is one of the most popular dating sites for African-Americans and they have recently launched a free online magazine for their members. The magazine contains insight, advice and perspectives for Black Singles who need help with love, relationships and dating. Frequent updates are promised for the online magazine and when you visit the site you can expect to find the following content:

• Feature articles focused on dating, love and relationships, and intimacy.
• Expert advice from recognized dating authorities and leading bloggers, such as Twanna Hines, author of the blog “FunkyBrownChick.com.” Readers will be invited to submit questions, with answers provided in the magazine by guest experts.
• Interviews with high profile experts, authors and personalities, ranging from dating coaches to career advisors. In the first issue, featured interviews include ones with Yolanda Shoshana, who leads seduction workshops in New York, as well as Sandra Sea, a career coach who shares tips on making new year resolutions focused on one’s profession.
• Interactive polls, inviting readers to share their opinion on a wide ranging and always changing roster of questions of interest to African-American singles.
• Success stories of real couples who have met through BlackPeopleMeet.com, offering inspiration and heartwarming anecdotes about their triumph in finding a meaningful relationship through the dating site.

For more on the story, read Earth Times. To find out about the dating site, read our review of BlackPeopleMeet.com.

Here are the eHarmony coupon codes for two of their more popular promotions. Both of these coupon codes expire on December 31, 2010.

eHarmony Coupon #1

eHarmony Coupon #2

These coupon codes listed above are valid on eHarmony in the United States (eHarmony.com).

For UK singles, go here for our United Kingdom (eHarmony.co.uk) vouchers.

For Canadian singles, go here for our eHarmony Canada (eHarmony.ca) coupons.

Read our review of eHarmony for more information about this online matchmaking service.

A number of Brits have been stuck at home last week due to the cold, and the ice and snow. A unforeseen effect of this is, many UK dating services are reporting a surge in traffic to their sites. Most people who are home alone for more than a day or so get sick of watching the TV and need something else to do, hello the internet.

Singles365.com saw visitors on Tuesday and Wednesday rise by 27 percent when compared to a year ago. Likewise MySingleFriend.com reported that traffic on Tuesday increased by 55 percent with the peak time coming in at 3:00pm and not the usual 11:00pm. Meanwhile the affairs website IllicitEncounters.com acknowledged a record gain of new members on Wednesday with the total for the 6 days up to and including Wednesday to be 2,567 new members. This is 37 percent more than usual. Most of these dating sites also report that the areas hit worse by this extreme weather, like Berkshire and Hampshire, are also seeing the most new members.

In the dating world, January has always been the busiest month, but this surge of traffic to dating sites in the UK shows that environmental conditions does effect business. Let us hope the weather changes soon so all these new visitors to UK dating sites can actually go out and meet the people they have been chatting with online. 😉

For more on this story, read BBC News and to find a list of dating sites in the UK, check out our United Kingdom Dating category.

In response to this Story about BeautifulPeople.com booting 5,000 members off their dating site for gaining weight, Spark.com has decided to offer a free one month subscription to all 5,000 members. Adam Berger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Spark Networks, said he was disappointed by the public actions BeautifulPeople has taken and decided to make this offer to show that all singles are welcome at Spark.com.

To claim this offer, the rejected BeautifulPeople.com members need to sign up for a free profile at Spark.com. They then need to email their Spark username and the rejection notice they received from BeautifulPeople.com to getignited AT spark DOT com. In 24 hours or less you will then receive a free one month subscription.

To find out more about this dating site, check out our review of Spark.com.

 

The production company behind "Big Brother" created the new ABC TV dating show called "Conveyor Belt of Love" which aired last Monday night. The show gives 30 bachelors 60 seconds each to impress 5 women. Each guy is brought out on a conveyor belt, one at a time to "audition" for the women. The women can ask the man questions and the guy usually has a talent he uses to try to win the women over. Some examples of these talents from the show include joke telling, ballet and magicians. If the women like what they see they can hold up a sign telling the audience she is interested. At this point the guy goes to a platform where he waits and see if he is replaced.

The show is describe by the producers as a Speed Dating on TV and is based on a British Series. ABC currently only has plans for the one show but if ratings indicate that the public liked it, I am sure we will see some new episodes in the future. My take on this? it was entertaining for the first 5 minutes but after that I was just embarrassed for the contestants.

For more on the show, read Reuters.