We called it. IAC’s Match.com is acquiring fellow dating site Singlesnet. We originally reported on the deal last week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Match.com said the acquisition is more of a “value acquisition than a strategic one” and Singlesnet will continue to be run as an independent business. Singlesnet’s traffic, says Match,com, is declining but could present new monetization opportunities for “Match.com’s collective portfolio of domestic online dating brands.”
Adrian Ong, who joined Match.com from Soulmates Technology, will lead Singlesnet. The acquisition isn’t surprising. Match is in the habit of buying up potential competitors. The dating giant scooped up highly-targeted dating site network People Media last year for a whopping $80 million.
Although traffic is declining, Singlesnet’s traffic is fairly significant for a dating site that doesn’t have the resources of IAC-backed Match. According to comScore stats for January, Singlesnet saw 3 million unique visitors worldwide, which was half of Match.com’s 6.1 million unique visitors for the same period.