Match is an

online dating service Online dating, also known as Internet dating, Virtual dating, or Mobile app dating, is a relatively recent method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An onlin ...

with web sites serving over 50 countries in twelve languages. Its headquarters are in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

. The company has offices in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. Match is owned by Match Group, which owns several

History

In 1993, Match.com was founded by Gary Kremen and Peng T. Ong in San Francisco. At the beginning, Match.com was the name of the website, while the company that operated it was formally named Electric Classifieds Inc. Early on, Kremen was assisted by Ong, who helped in the design of the initial system, and Simon Glinsky, who co-wrote its business plan, developed product designs including matching criteria, services to LGBT communities, created business models and rollout marketing strategies and made early hires. Fran Maier later joined the company as its director of marketing. According to a retrospective from ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', Maier helped to implement Match.com's business strategy, which included a subscription model and the inclusion of diverse communities, including women, technology professionals, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Match.com went live as a free beta in early 1995, and was first profiled in ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' magazine that same year. Founder Kremen left the company in March 1996, after disagreements with

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which h ...

ists. In 1997, Match.com was purchased by

Cendant Cendant Corporation was an American provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel industries. In 2005 and 2006, it broke up and spun off or sold its constituent businesses. Although it was based in New Y ...

, who then sold it to IAC in 1999.

Growth and partnerships

In September 2001, Match.com partnered with

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

and

MSN MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

, with the idea that Love@AOL and MSN Dating and Personals would allow a more diverse audience to gain access to Match.com. In 2002 and early 2003, Match.com's then CEO, Tim Sullivan, expanded Match.com into local dating with a service called MatchLive, where daters would meet in a public location for social activities and a form of speed dating. In September 2004, Jim Safka replaced Sullivan as CEO. Safka was replaced as CEO by Thomas Enraght-Moony in 2007. On November 10, 2005, a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

was filed by Matthew Evans against Match.com in federal court in Los Angeles alleging that Match.com employed fake members to send emails and go on dates with paying members. The suit was repudiated by IAC as baseless, and was later dismissed by the

United States District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a Federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, ...

on April 25, 2007. Similar suits were filed in June 2009 and December 2010, with the judges ruling that Match.com did not break user agreements. In January 2006, Match.com hired

Dr. Phil McGraw Phillip Calvin McGraw (born September 1, 1950), better known as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality and author best known for hosting the talk show '' Dr. Phil''. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased rene ...

as a celebrity spokesman.

Formation of Match Group

In February 2009, IAC incorporated Match Group as a conglomerate of Match.com and other dating sites it owned. Also in February, it was announced that Match.com's European operations would be sold to Meetic for 5 million Euros and a reported twenty-seven percent interest in the company. At the same time that this sale was announced, the current CEO Thomas Enraght-Moony stepped down, while IAC's (Match.com's parent company) Executive VP and General Counsel, Greg Blatt, took his place. In July 2009, Match.com acquired People Media, which powered AOL Personals and operated BlackPeopleMeet.com and OurTime.com, from American Capital for $80 million. The following year, Match.com acquired SinglesNet, another dating site. In December 2010, Match.com’s CEO Greg Blatt was made CEO of parent company IAC. In 2012, Match.com bought

OkCupid OkCupid (often abbreviated as OKC, but officially OkC) is a U.S.-based, internationally operating online dating, friendship, and formerly also a social networking website and application. It features multiple-choice questions to match members. ...

, and

Sam Yagan Sam Yagan (born April 10, 1977) is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of OkCupid. In 2013, he was named to ''TIME'' Magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World' list. He is the Vice-Chairman of the e-datin ...

OkCupid
s co-founder and CEO, became CEO of Match Group. That same year, Match.com announced Stir, an events service that was to offer local events each month for Match.com members to attend. In April 2014, Match.com launched an updated mobile app with a feature called "Stream" which used location to match people based upon photographs, using similar algorithms as the mobile dating app Tinder. The platform's membership auto-billing method has been criticized by customers for the lack of transparency. In 2017, Yagan was replaced by

Mandy Ginsberg Mandy Ginsberg is an American businesswoman and manager, who is the former CEO of Match Group. Early life and education Ginsberg graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and subsequently obtained an MBA from The Wharton School of ...

as the CEO of Match.com’s parent company, Match Group. In 2020, Ginsberg was succeeded by Shar Dubey as the CEO of Match Group. In 2022, Match Group released a new service called Stir, a dating app for single parents. In April 2022, The Match Group announced that Shar Dubey was stepping down from her position as CEO while remaining on the board of directors. Bernard Kim, ex-president of online video game service

Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...

, became CEO effective May 31st, 2022.

Use by sexual predators

A woman claiming she was raped by another person she met on Match.com sued the site in 2011. The woman and her lawyer wanted Match.com to start doing

background check A background check is a process a person or company uses to verify that an individual is who they claim to be, and this provides an opportunity to check and confirm the validity of someone's criminal record, education, employment history, and oth ...

s on their users in order to prevent registered sex offenders from using the site. Match.com has responded that it would create many problems trying to get background information from all their users. Days after the lawsuit was filed, Match.com announced that the site would begin screening new members. From 2011 to 2014, a man described by British police as a “sexual predator” contacted thousands of women through the website. He raped five of them. In March 2016 Derby Crown Court heard that four of the victims complained about the man to Match.com; one of the women was told that administrators could not do anything because he had not sent abusive messages through the site.

References

External links