Affinity Labs
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Owner | Monster.com |
| Website | affinitylabs.com |
| Available in | multilingual |
| Current status | active |
Affinity Labs is a company that builds social networking sites for niche groups such as firefighters, police officers, nurses and the Armed Forces.[1] In January 2008, Affinity Labs was acquired by Monster Worldwide for US$61 million.[2]
Affinity Labs sites have over a million registered members, as of January 2008.[1] PoliceLink, aimed at law enforcement personnel, is one of Affinity Labs' most active sites with over 717,000 unique visitors per month.[3] Other sites include: SalesHQ, ArtBistro, TheApple, FireLink, NursingLink, InsideTech, GovCentral, IndiaOn, Excelle, AllHealthCare, and the European communities, HMForces.co.uk, ProNurse, and WerPflegtWen.
In 2008 after Monster acquired Affinity Labs, it then bought a French military website, Armees.com for an undisclosed fee, then transferred the site to its Affinity Labs social networking vertical.[4]
Affinity Labs still successfully operate across North America but in March 2012 it shut down its European operations. Despite HMForces.co.uk[5] being its most successful vertical, and having shared resources with Military.com, the global recession did not assist its longevity. HMForces.co.uk still has a strong presence on social networking sites[6] to this day, evidence of its popularity. Further references to this military vertical can be found on UK e-commerce sites,[7] and there is also a HMForces blog[8] still surviving despite it not being updated regularly.
History
Affinity Labs was founded by Christopher Michel[9] in 2006 after he sold Military.com to Monster in 2004 for $40 million.
The Mayfield Fund[10] and Trinity Ventures invested in Affinity Labs prior to its Monster Worldwide buyout.[11]
Between 2010-14, the President of Military Advantage and Vice President of Monster Worldwide,[12] was former Navy Admiral Terry McCreary. He oversaw the military Affinity operations in Europe which had a product manager in London reporting to the former Admiral in the US.[13] However, this operation was closed down in 2012.
References
- 1 2 "Monster buys community site, Affinity Labs, for significant $61M - VentureBeat - News - by Matt Marshall". VentureBeat.
- ↑ "Monster buys S.F. Web operator Affinity for $61 million". mercurynews.com.
- ↑ "Policelink.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast". quantcast.com.
- ↑ "Armees.Com - Actualité". armees.com.
- ↑ "HMForces.co.uk : Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army, Royal Air Force". hmforces.co.uk.
- ↑ "HMForces.co.uk". Facebook.
- ↑ "Media Centre - Product Reviews - Military Reviews at UK Gear". ukgear.com.
- ↑ Military Social Blog
- ↑ "Affinity Labs, Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek". Businessweek.com.
- ↑ http://www.mayfield.com/newsarticles/2006-12-04_mayfield_announces.htm
- ↑ "Monster Worldwide - Bringing People Together to Advance Their Lives". corporate-ir.net.
- ↑ "Team". Military.com.
- ↑ http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=45398057&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile