Today is a big day for Match.com and Meetic.
IAC and Meetic, a leading European online dating company based in France, announced today that they have entered into an agreement for Meetic to acquire Match.com’s European operations from IAC. IAC will sell 100% of the stock of the entity that houses Match.com’s European operations for an approximate 27% stake in Meetic, plus a 5 million euro note. Additional terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.
Match Europe contributes approximately 13% of Match’s consolidated Operating Income Before Amortization. IAC expects annual run rate synergies to be at least 15 million Euros, though it will take a significant transition period before Meetic is able to fully realize them.
Match has been battling it out in many European markets and that the deal is a huge opportunity for customers to reach larger broader community. It also makes sense that there are a number of business efficiencies that both companies may benefit from.
Meetic founder Marc Simoncini speaking to the BBC in 2007 after acquiring Dating Direct:
The UK is the battlefield for the World War of dating.
If Meetic is able to take the UK, Meetic will have won the war. If Match.com is able to keep the UK then they will have won the war.
If you use a US website they promise you will fall in love. They promise you to be married in 6 months, which for a French guy or a Spanish guy or an Italian is crazy. So the difference is whether you promise love or you promise dates.
It’s the French vision against the Texan vision so we will see. I’m confident, but I’m French.
It looks like the free-for-all dominance of the European dating market is just about sewn up. there are still a few French, German and Nordic dating sites ripe for acquisition, but this is the real game-changer.
TechCrunch says:
IAC will sell 100% of the stock of Match Europe – the entity that houses Match.com’s European operations – for an approximate 27% stake in Meetic, plus a 5 million euro note.
According to French newspaper Le Monde, Meetic had revenues of 153,7 million euros in 2008 and currently counts over 696,400 registered users. The company is public and listed on NYSE Euronext, currently at a nearly 228 million euro valuation.
Acquisitions Meetic has made in the past to grow in Europe include eFriendsNet, Lexa, ParPerfeito, DatingDirect, Cleargay and Neu.
I wonder how Parship feels, after all, they made 46 million euros in 2007, not exactly small change for a dating site.
The deal is set to close in a few months.
Emails, calls and texts are flowing into HQ here, I’ll continue to post as more is known about the deal and the online dating industry reaction to the news.
Deal Coverage
Loic Lemeur (video of Meetic founder Marc Simoncini being interviewed by Loic, who was on the Meetic board).
No related posts.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I am pretty sure , company’s health is not so good.
This is great news for other European Online Dating companies – the two largest players will be kept tied up over the next year trying to integrate their businesses.
It seems crazy that Meetic is taking over Match in the UK – from our perspective, the team at Match UK were far better than those at DatingDirect.com (Meetic’s brand in the UK) and I’m surprised that they’ve taken this decision.
We’ve seen DatingDirect.com decline significantly over the last year in terms of market dominance – very strange decisions going on in Texas!!
Ross
I wonder how Meetic will compete against european free online dating sites!
Tony
I agree with Ross, this is a very strange decision that looks like it has been made on cost cutting grounds and one has to question IAC’s longer term strategic commitment to Dating as a business. Match ‘won the war’ in the UK as far as I am concerned versus Dating Direct (Meetic) and if the UK was ‘the dating battleground of Europe’ why take this decision? Emphasis seems to be on cost savings that will (in time) benefit both businesses, but having spent so much money and effort building up Match’s presence in the UK and installing a good management team this seems a very odd decision.
For dating sites with a good business model and brand positioning, the growth outlook for online dating in Europe is very positive. However going forward I believe that people will increasingly move away from the large dating ‘portals’ such as Match and Meetic in favour of smaller dating sites with a more targeted audience base, better suited to their particular dating needs. When looking for a partner online quality of potential matches with high levels of suitability will win over quantity every time.
As for ‘Free’ versus ‘Paid For’ dating, here again I believe that an element of Match and Meetic’s user base will defect to free sites as both share a mass appeal ‘one size fits all’ business model and audience migration is inevitable. That said certain demographics and women in particular will continue to pay to use online dating services as they realise and appreciate that such sites deliver a higher quality of potential matches over their free counterparts.
All in all, a very strange decision and only time will tell if it proved to be pivotal to the demise of Match.com as the World’s Largest Online Dating site.
Matthew
“The UK is the battlefield for the World War of dating.”
How about Africa? We want to meet our true love too.
They might have good reasons for doing so… It might be for the benefit of their subscribers. Hope they are doing effectively.
The online dating industry is like any other industry that is open to take over and partnerships between the industry heavy weights. If only some of us here started our dating sites 15 years ago and got the head start on the competition.
Looking for fun visit : http://bit.ly/cD2oRC and enjoy the virtual dating.
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