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Match.com

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Match.com
File:Match.com logo.svg
File:MatchScreenshot.jpg
The U.S. Match.com homepage on July 15, 2012
Type of site
Online dating service
OwnerIAC
URLmatch.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationYes

Match.com is an online dating service with Web sites serving 25 countries in more than 8 languages spanning 5 continents. Its headquarters are in Dallas, Texas and the company also has offices in West Hollywood, San Francisco, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing. Match.com is owned by IAC.[2]

History

Match.com was founded by Gary Kremen in 1993. It was started as a proof-of-concept for Electric Classifieds which aimed to provide classified advertising systems for newspapers. Early on, Kremen was assisted by Peng T. Ong, who helped in the design of the initial system, and Simon Glinsky, who helped in the development of one of the first Internet business plans for Match.com and also provided management and marketing expertise. The initial business scope developed by this team included a subscription model, now common among personals services, and inclusion of diverse communities with high first trial and market leaders status, including women, technology professionals and the Gay and Lesbian community. Fran Maier joined in late 1994 to lead the Match.com business unit where she significantly bolstered the strategy to make Match.com friendly and accessible to women (the men would then follow).[3]

Match.com went live in early 1995 as a free beta. It was first profiled in Wired Magazine in 1995.[4]

The initial users of the service were given free lifetime charter memberships for signing up in an effort to build up the initial database of users for other paying customers to be able to match with.

In 1998, Match.com was purchased by Cendant. A year later Match.com was purchased by IAC (then still operating under the name TicketMaster). In late 1999, Match.com was moved to Dallas, Texas, to merge with another matching site, One & Only networks, that IAC had purchased the same year.

Between September 9, 2004, and April 24, 2007, Jim Safka was the Chief Executive Officer of Match.com.[5] Thomas Enraght-Moony was the CEO from April, 2007 to February 19, 2009.[6] Grégory R. Blatt served as the CEO of Match.com from February 2009 - December 2010.[7]

In November 2004, Guinness World Records recognized Match.com as the largest online dating site in the world. At the time, more than 42 million singles globally had registered with Match.com since its launch in 1995, and worldwide there were over 15 million members using the service.

In December 2006, the layout of the United States Match.com site was redesigned, to go in line with the newly launched series of black and white TV advertisements in the US featuring Match.com members.[8]

In late 2005, Match.com in the United States entered into a strategic partnership with Dr. Phil on a new US marketing campaign called "MindFindBind", a monthly subscription program that Match.com members can pay an extra fee to access.[9]

It was announced in February 2009 that Match.com's European operations was sold to Meetic for 5 million Euros and a reported twenty-seven percent interest in the company.[10] At the same time that this sale was announced, the current CEO Thomas Enraght-Mooney stepped down, while IAC's (Match.com's parent company) Executive VP and General Counsel, Greg Blatt, took his place.[11]

In July 2009, Match.com acquired People Media from American Capital for $80 Million. People Media powers AOL Personals and operates such sites as BlackPeopleMeet.com and OurTime.com.[12]

On February 4, 2010, Match.com and Meetic announced a joint venture in the Latin American dating market. The two companies formed a partnership to combine ParPerfieto in Brazil with extended Match.com presence in Latin America.

SinglesNet was also acquried by Match.com in February 2010, adding to Match.com's collective portfolio of domestic and international online dating brands.

Match.com announced its mobile application for Android™ enabled devices in March 2010, making Match.com apps available on all major smartphone platforms.

On May 24, 2010, Match.com became the exclusive provider of online dating service for Yahoo! via the formation of a co-branded site, "Match.com on Yahoo!".[7]

In December 2010, Match.com’s CEO Greg Blatt was made CEO of parent company IAC.

It was announced in February 2011 that Match.com would acquire dating site OkCupid, diversifying its portfolio of dating sites with a non-subscription based site. OkCupid’s co-founder and CEO Sam Yagan remains CEO of the site.

In May 2011, Match.com announced a planned public tender offer for all outstanding shares of Meetic S.A.

In September 2011, Match.com invested a 20% interest in Zhenai Inc., a leading Chinese dating site.

In 2012, Match.com announced Stir, a service that brings Match.com members together in thousands of events across the country. Stir consists of hundreds of local events each month, ranging from large-scale happy hours to smaller, more intimate events such as cooking classes, wine and tequila tastings, bowling nights, rock climbing, and more. Match.com also introduced a proprietary collection of on-site, dual-player games designed to allow people to get to know each other online in a natural way.

In October 2012, Sam Yagan was named CEO of Match.[13]

MatchLive and MatchTravel

In 2002 and early 2003, Match.com's then CEO, Tim Sullivan, tried to expand Match.com reach by expanding into the local dating scene with a service called MatchLive. Daters would meet in a public location sponsored by Match.com. People would be involved in social activities and a form of speed dating together. The idea was scrapped by the parent company. Shortly afterwards, IAC fired Tim Sullivan as acting CEO, and laid off 30 people in the Dallas office involved with the MatchLive brand.[14] The company stated that it planned to refocus its operation moving forward on on-line dating instead of hosting singles and speed-dating events.

In May 2012, Match.com announced Stir, events by Match.com. The new service offers hundreds of local events each month for Match.com members to attend.

MatchTravel was an attempt about the same time as the MatchLive brand to offer discounts via the then sister company Expedia, Inc. to daters meeting on Match.com. The service was rescinded shortly afterward.

Controversy

On November 10, 2005, a class action was filed by Matthew Evans against Match.com in federal court in Los Angeles alleging that Match.com "secretly employs people as 'date bait' to send bogus enticing E-mails and to go on as many as 100 dates a month - or three a day - to keep customers ponying up." The suit has been repudiated by IAC as baseless. The suit was dismissed by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on April 25, 2007.[15]

A class-action lawsuit filed in June 2009 accuses Match.com of matching customers with people who are non-paying customers or who are not customers at all. Match.com has said that the suit is without merit.[16] According to the complaint, filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, represented by attorney Norah Hart, "Match misleads paying subscribers by charging them for the ability to write e-mails to members who can't reply to their e-mails or even read them."[17]

Another class-action lawsuit was filed in December 2010, alleging that the site maintains thousands of inactive, fake and fraudulent profiles on its dating site to mislead and lure consumers into subscribing.[18] The judge in the case ruled on August 10, 2012 that Match.com did not breach its user agreements with consumers because the agreements "in no way requires Match.com to police, vet, update the website content" or guarantee the accuracy of profiles on the site.[18]

A woman claiming she was raped by another person she met on Match.com sued the site in 2011.[19] The woman and her lawyer wanted Match.com to start checking their users' backgrounds in order to prevent registered sex offenders from using the site. Match.com has responded that it would create many problems trying to get background information from all their users.[20][21] Days after the lawsuit was filed, Match.com announced that the site would begin screening new members.[22]

Match.com uses automatic subscription renewal. On Match.com UK, the British version of the site, a subscription cannot be cancelled online, it can only be cancelled by phoning a call centre.[23] To cancel Match.com in the U.S., one must go to a page on the site that contains the information on how to do it.[24]

IAC Personals

Match.com is the leading brand in the division of the IAC/Interactive Corp known as IAC Personals. Other brands in the IAC Personals sphere include:

  • OkCupid.com - Acquired February 2011
  • Singlesnet.com
  • Chemistry.com
  • People Media, which includes sites BlackPeopleMeet.com, LoveandSeek.com, and OurTime.com (formerly SeniorPeopleMeet.com)

Brands retired by IAC Personals include:

  • Stir.com & Downtoearth.com - Free Dating Experiments (Retired May 2010)
  • One and Only (brand retired in Dec. 2005)
  • AltMatch (brand retired in Dec. 2005)
  • MatchLive - localized singles meeting event coordination division of Match.com (brand retired in May 2003)
  • MatchTravel - a collaboration between then IAC sister company, Expedia (brand retired May 2003)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Match.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
  2. ^ "IAC's Match.com Announces Successful Tender Offer For Meetic S.A." 18 August 2011 Reuters. Retrieved 15 July 2012
  3. ^ LOVE'S LABOR LOST / Online matchmaker still seeks love, money
  4. ^ Krieger, Todd (1995). "Love and Money". Wired. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  5. ^ Brooks, Mark (2005). "Online Personals Watch Exclusive Interview - Match.com's CEO, Jim Safka". Online Personals Watch. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Linkedin.com
  7. ^ "Gregory Blatt". Forbes.
  8. ^ Brooks, Mark (2006). "Match.com CEO, Jim Safka - OPW Interview". Online Personals Watch. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Albo, Bonny. "Match.com Review". About.com.
  10. ^ Brooks, Mark (2009). "Love is In the Air". Online Personals Watch. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  11. ^ Brooks, Mark (2009). "IAC Appoints Greg Blatt CEO of Match.com". Online Personals Watch. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Wauters, Robin (2009). "Match.com Acquires People Media For $80M In Cash". TechChrunch. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ "Yagan moves up at Match.com". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  14. ^ Bizjournals.com
  15. ^ New York Daily News - Home - Call 'em Match.con
  16. ^ Eric Tordenson, Dallas-based Match.com accused of misleading customers, Dallas Morning News, June 10, 2009
  17. ^ Sean McGinn, et al vs. Match.com LLP, Case 1:09-cv-05328-SWK Document 1 Filed 06/09/2009
  18. ^ a b "Match.com Class Action Lawsuit Gets No Love in Court". Retrieved October 11, 2013. Top Class Actions website.
  19. ^ ABC News
  20. ^ Offlinetalk.com
  21. ^ "Woman Sues Match.com". Time. April 15, 2011.
  22. ^ Almendrala, Anna. "Match.com Heads To Court Over Sexual Predator Lawsuit". Huffington Post.
  23. ^ Deleting Match.com accounts
  24. ^ Match.com
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