Comments on: Patti Stanger Launches Dating Site

By: Spark Networks Consolidates Dating Brands into Spark.com

Spark Networks Consolidates Dating Brands into Spark.com — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:29:46 +0000

[...] Patti Stanger as a spokesperson/affiliate/ private label operator in the hopes that branding her as the new face of American Singles would provide a much-needed shot in the arm to the once-powerful yet declining [...]

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:50:41 +0000

Online dating has an array of positives, like being able to get to know the person better before even meeting them. this gives it an edge over other forms of dating.
Discrete dating site for those married , or in a relationship,
and looking for discreet married dating.
http://www.marriedaffair.co.uk

By: Andrew Presley

Andrew Presley — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:35:19 +0000

Nice article! Online dating can be tough but it can work for anyone.

By: Truff

Truff — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:41:29 +0000

I watched her show ONCE! Her ragtag collection of supposedly wealthy morons, douchebags, and the brainless skanks that chase them makes me want to go out on date with someone that just filed for bankruptcy…

By: Ross Felix

Ross Felix — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:27:51 +0000

Well if that’s true, Joe, that’s a shame. Perhaps you should have trademarked the phrase.

By: joe

joe — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:34:14 +0000

I used to own moretoluv.com but I didn’t think the luv would attract enough users so i didn’t renew it. Now I just own bbwmoretolove.com – they must have stolen the idea from me!!!

By: Ross Felix

Ross Felix — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:10:50 +0000

Not quite accurate, Markus. As of Q2 2009 they had $18mm in short term liabilities, but only $7.5 million of that was debt of a $30 million credit line with Bank of America. The stock’s current market cap is a bit over $48 million. That said, they’ve had gross revenues of $50.5 million for the past 12 months. Unfortunately, not nearly as much made it down to the bottom line.

Who knows?

By: Ross Felix

Ross Felix — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:49:43 +0000

So, interesting — if you’ve registered for Jdate (and possibly other Spark sites), you can log in using your username and password from Jdate, and pulls in some of your profile info without telling you that it’s going to do that.

It’s a nice feature — but they should probably have told you that in advance.

By: Markus

Markus — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:45:09 +0000

Subtract their debt from the share price and its worth virtually nothing..

By: Ross Felix

Ross Felix — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:58:10 +0000

Who wouldn’t want to cut advertising spend? But if I recall correctly, back in 2005 they tried to cut back on their ad spend on American Singles, and that’s when the member decline began.

I believe that they’re just out of touch. They relatively recently redid the Jdate interface. To the best of my knowledge they didn’t add anything substantive, but ended up splitting the user profile (for example) into four pieces. They then announced on their quarterly call something to the effect of redesigning the site. Slapping on some new graphic and minor GUI fixes isn’t a site redesign, it’s more of a waste of money, in my mind.

In short, they’re having trouble because they’re advertising 15+ brands. I’m eager to hear what will happen with Match.com now that they also have all of those niche sites that they bought from someone else. I wonder if that will now significantly increase their necessary ad spend.

As for buying Spark, their shares are currently worth just under $50mm. The stock has traded as low as $2/share, and is currently around $2.30. I feel the worst for Great Hill Investors (the company’s largest shareholder) — I’m sure they’d love to see a return on their investment. The question though is whether Spark would allow themselves to be purchased for a reasonable price. A December 2007 article in the New York Times mentioned a $175mm price tag (although I don’t know what the source was for that number).

Time will tell.