Haaretz reports that MatchNet , the operator of JDate, is planning an IPO on NASDAQ in which it hopes to raise $100 million. MatchNet is currently traded on the Frankfurt bourse where it has a market value of over $182 million. The cool thing about going public is that the SEC requires that your prospectus divulge all kinds of juicy information.
For instance, the prospectus states that MatchNet, which runs 11 dating sites, including JDate and JCupid, has 9.8 million active members. The prospectus also specifies that MatchNet posted revenues of $30.9 million in the first half of 2004, double its income in the same period last year. Despite this, MatchNet posted a net loss of $7.1 million in that same period. Given this loss, is the timing of the IPO reflective of cash flow problems? Nah, MatchNet is probably trying to ride on the hype created by the upcoming Google IPO and the resulting mini-dot.com revival.
Now I’m no math wiz, but the prospectus states that MatchNet’s average membership fee is between $24.95 and $34.95. Let’s assume an average monthly fee per member of say $15 in order to take into account cheaper multi-month membership plans. That having been said, my quick calculations show that out of MatchNet’s 9.8 million “active” members, only 343,333 are actual paying members. JDate claims to have over 500,000 members. Using my previous calculations, I can deduce that JDate effectively has only about 17,500 paying members. And that’s just the beginning.
What this means, is that given current JDate rules that only allow paying members to reply to messages, if you buy a membership on JDate, only 3.5% of the people you send messages to will be able to reply or acknowledge your message in any way. See, JDate gives you no indication whether or not a profile you are interested in belongs to a paying member capable of replying. That kind of sucks. Imagine sending out 100 messages to 100 “active” members and only 3 (and a half) of them are capable of replying, let alone willing to reply!
I hope that brings some comfort to all you frustrated JDaters. You’re not a loser! Your beloved is simply incapable of replying to your beautifully crafted message extolling the wonder of moonlit walks along the beach, or whatever lame-ass thing you wrote.
How about Joe Shapira? He’s the founder of JDate / MatchNet, the co-chairman of the board and owner of 20% of the company. The MatchNet site tells us that Shapira is a graduate of the “Ort Singlavosky Institution of Technology in Tel Aviv” – I am assuming this is a misspelling and that they meant the ORT Syngalowski or ORT Singalovsky. In any case, it is an Institution of Technology right? Kind of like what, the Massachusetts Institution of Technology, or MIT in the US? Sounds pretty impressive until you go to the ORT Web site and realize that Singalovsky is in fact, a high school.
Also listed in Matchnet’s profile of Shapira is his experience as co-founder, director and officer of Matrix Video Duplication Corporation, a publicly listed company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Matrix , founded by Shapira in California, was involved in some pretty funny stuff. For instance in 1992 Matrix sold some video tapes that ended up being used by Scholastic Inc. These tapes contained recordings of a children’s television special called “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” and was offered for sale to schools, churches etc. The problem was that these were recycled tapes returned to Matrix by Cinderella Distributors Inc., a distributor of porn flicks. Thus when the little kiddies finished watching “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” they got a little unanticipated bonus footage!
With respect to Matrix, Haaretz also reported the following:
Prior to his success in the dating game, Shapira was known in Israel mainly for a major fiasco. In 1987, he founded Matrix, a video duplication company, in California, and in 1994, he started an Israeli branch, Videomatrix, along with Carmel and the Israeli firm Dovrat Shrem. Videomatrix held an IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange later that year, raising NIS 15.6 million, but 18 months later, the share had fallen 77 percent. Then, news broke that the California company was under investigation for allegedly falsifying reports, and the suspicions soon spread to include the Israeli firm. Videomatrix ultimately had to sell all its assets and become a shell company.
This was a brave move, given the amount of advertising JDate does on the Haaretz Web site. Jdate also advertises heavily on the Jerusalem Post Web site and it is interesting to note that their story on the JDate IPO was not quite as, uh… revealing.
So I guess I can assume that JDate will NEVER advertise on Jewlicious? Dang yo. Integrity sucks.
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Maybe one or two of our contributors who are single can do a post about the current state of Jewish dating sites?
You know, this is a 2005 post. At this point, 7 years later, I don’t think there are too many sites where you have a critical mass of Jewish subscribers, so JDate is one of the few games in town, for better or worse.
ort singalovsky is actually a very esteemed telavivian college.. many graduates have done very well..
also i have several friends – all wonderful talented educated and delightful people – who have met their partners on jdate and now have raised wonderful families..
its a shame people are so full of sarcasm.. perhaps no more than a thin translucent veil of their own inadequacies..
love is valid no matter how it is found and today in our busy life styles not everyone has the time or the energy or the social exposure to find a partner in their immediate circles.. in israel life partnership is a very pivotal topic and there is also the peer and family pressure which one can avoid by online dating..
smile its free
What I’ve experienced on Jdate lately has been very strange, and I’m not sure if it’s limited to this particular service: I contact these hot-looking chicks who say they live somehwere in my state. We begin writing to each other, they tell me that they love me in a couple of days, but that they can’t talk by phone until a week or so has gone by. They send cute pictures, pictures of their parents, friends, other family members, everthing. Next, they tell you that they’re really from Russia. Need more be said?
While there has been much said about online dating, I truly believe only a small number (10% or so) meet with success. Not a great average. If you are going to use online, use it only if it works. After 1-2 months if no success – drop it. JDate is simply a niche site – for an affluent group – but sparesly populated. And I agree – with a boat load of names – only a very few actually use the site.
Seriously though, its a waste of money. All the hot girls on there arent what you think they are. They are just meant to mess with your head and find the next sorry asshole they wanna screw. It’s true, Jdate is by the worse dating website ever.
Esther, you are hilarious. I have this problem right now:I surfed Jdate, now I have an email from this insanely hot chick. Is this a set-up so I will sign up to “begin a relationship” with her? Please advise.
I agree! JDate and Match.com are just in it for the $$$, like anyone else in the U.S. of Corporate A.!!!! I will not give them one penny of my hard-earned $$$ and if those same spoiled, stuck-up, self-centered, money-grubbing, shallow JAP whores won’t talk to me in person, why should they talk to me over a goddamn computer???? LOL…I’d rather give my $$$$ to beautiful, young hos offa craigslist! LOL…
Jewbitchhater sounds hot. Did he give you his JDate profile handle?
I too, would like to stick with chocolate.
And I’m pleased to announce that my band, Repugnant Physiognamies, has just announced dates for the Back to Hell Bitches Tour.
for a second there I thought maybe Jew b hater was a friend, but he DEFINITELY HAS TO LET GO OF THE ANGER>..and move from California, duh!
He wished you well…
Hee hee. And I don’t even know this guy, or anyone else in Plano, Texas.
or a cocksucking cunt who knows i am right. eat shit and choke on the dick you suck cumstopper
It’s a wonder a witty and well spoken man like yourself a) needed recourse to JDate at all – women must be throwing themselves at you! and b) Once on JDate, did not meet with great success – I would think you’d have pick of the litter!
fuck jdate and fuck the goddamn motherfucking gold digging shallow spoled jap whores infesting california. they have the nerve to demand everything under the sun with their bloated disgusting asses and repugnant physiognomies unable to cash the checks their disgusting traps write. i will stick with chocolate-non judgemental, down to earth, and NICE! you are single for life worthless whores! back to hell bitches!
jdate is a bust in my opinion. a friend died last year and i wrote them to take her profile off and after two months, it is still there. i wonder how many ‘active members’ are really active!
MatchNet, the parent company of much beloved Jewish online dating service, JDate, has withdrawn its planned NASDAQ IPO. “The company cited a faltering market for Internet-related IPOs and said it would reconsider a U.S. offering next year if market co…
JDate sucks. Now I understand why. Thanks Jewlicious! The JDate IPO is definitely NOT something I am going to throw my money away at. The same goes for JDate membership.
Are you drunk again?
…and he knows more people, both male and female (I can personally attest to this) than any website every could or will.
More fun with numbers: Jdate represents about 5% of MatchNet’s membership. MatchNet’s market value in Frankfurt is about $182 million. Add the $100 million that they want to raise via NASDAQ and you have $282 million. 5% of that is $14.1 million – or nearly one dollar for every Jewish man, woman and child alive in the world today. That seems a little …. much, n’est-ce pas?
Right on. I tried using JDate, but sending every guy I want to meet a bill to pay jdate is not exactly how I want to start off a relationship.
I also find their prices very high compared to some of the other sites out there….As an example, JMatch charges $60 for 6 months, while JDate is at $149!
Sharon.
Naw, you’re just a loser. If you weren’t, those three paying loser chicks would get back to you…