Techcrunch is now saying that the potential suitor for adult dating site AdultFriendFinder and scores of other sites owned by parent company Various, Inc., may be Penthouse, and that the price was closer to $500 million.
On Saturday I mentioned Michael Arrington wrote that AdultFriendFinder may have been acquired for more than the $1 billion. This is a juicy rumor that continues to be embellished by various sources.
Mark Brooks at Onlinepersonalswatch posted a transcript with AFF CEO Andrew Conru, who denied that the company is for sale.
His response was to be expected. Andrew plays things extremely close to the vest and wouldn’t dare do anything on his part to spoil a potential deal.
If The FriendFinder network has revenues of $300 million, I’m not clear why the purchase price would only be $500 million, that seems quite low.
This would easily be the largest largest transaction ever in the online personals space. It also helps put a number of PlentyOfFish, which is also most likely positioning itself to be acquired. Stay tuned for more details.
