The Global Personals Ltd team is no doubt celebrating big-time today as they celebrate nine years in the online dating business. You might recognize their top brand, White Label Dating, which offers private label dating services to entrepreneurs and major brands alike. With revenue clocking in at over $57 million, Global Personals has had a longstanding and often-times highly entertaining and somewhat controversial presence in the online dating industry. The business currently employs more than 130 full time staff out of their London and Windsor offices.
The announcement mentions that the top three visited UK dating sites in July 2012 were PlentyOfFish, the Global Personals Ltd network, followed by Match.com. Comparing one site to thousands of sites to 40 or so sites isn’t exactly a fair measurement, but nonetheless, the owners of the White Label Dating brand have certainly been on a growth tear over the last few years.
In Europe, WLD and Cupid LLC are the two primary companies to watch. One of them is going to be acquired in the next 12 months, but which one is anyone’s guess. Cupid doubled revenue to $56 million from 2010 to 2011 putting them on equal footing in regards to revenue, but otherwise identifying the differences between the two companies has become more difficult in recent years. Both own and run lots of dating sites and offer private label dating services. CupidLLC also has an affiliate network.
Happy birthday Global Personals, what do you have in store for the dating industry next?
