Match.com
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Match.com is one of several large sites that dominate the online dating scene. Match.com, Match.com International, and other affiliated businesses span six continents, operating more than 30 dating sites in 18 local languages. Match.com currently employs more than 800 people worldwide. It has headquarters in Dallas, TX and London, with other offices in Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, Munich, Stockholm, Madrid, and Boulder. IAC/InterActiveCorp owns the site.
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[edit] History
Match.com was started by Gary Kremen in 1994, one of the first consumer-oriented matching sites. It was started as a proof-of-concept for Electric Classifieds which aimed to provide classified advertising systems for newspapers. Early on, Gary was assisted by Peng Ong, who helped develop the initial system, and Simon Glinsky, who helped develop the first Internet business plans for Electric Classifieds. The company's first offices helped settle the newly burgeoning "multimedia gulch" area in San Francisco's South of Market near South Park.
Match.com went live in early 1995 as a free beta. It was first profiled in Wired Magazine in 1995. [1]. By early 1996, Match.com instituted one of the first subscription business models on the internet.
In 1998, Match.com was purchased by Web Media Ventures (who already owned the now defunct One and Only and AltMatch brands) and who moved Match.com to Dallas, TX. A year later Match.com was purchased by IAC/InterActiveCorp (then still operating under the name TicketMaster).
On September 9th, 2004, Jim Safka became CEO of Match.com.
[edit] Celebrity Match and Marriages
Actress Kara Brock and technology author Joseph Bustos met on Match.com in 2001. In 2004, the couple was married at Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara, California.
[edit] Records and notable facts
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 early 2005, the Match.com International division of Match.com invested £3m in a United Kingdom offline marketing campaign.
In late 2005, Match.com entered into a strategic partnership with Dr. Phil on a new marketing campaign called "MindFindBind".
On November 10, 2005, a purported class action lawsuit was filed by Matthew Evans against Match.com in federal court in Los Angeles stating 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. [2][3]
In December 2006, the layout of Match.com was redesigned, to go in line with the newly launched series of black and white TV advertisements featuring Match.com members.
[edit] IAC Personals
Match.com is the leading brand in the division of the IAC/InterActiveCorp known as IAC Personals. Other brands in the IAC Personals sphere include:
- Match.com International
- Udate
- Chemistry.com
- 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 child company Expedia (brand retired May 2003)
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.09/scans.html?pg=7
- ^ http://corp.match.com/index/newscenter_release_detail.asp?auto_index=97
- ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/367167p-312443c.html
