IAC’s Match Group, the online dating site that owns Tinder and OkCupid, is buying Vancouver-based PlentyOfFish for $575 million in cash, ahead of the spin-off IPO it is planning for the end of the year.
PlentyOfFish is a free online dating service that started in 2003; it has 90 million registered users and 3.6 million active daily users. Match Group CEO Sam Yagan, the co-founder of OkCupid, told the Wall Street Journal the acquisition ”brings new members into our family of products and deepens the lifetime relationship we have with our users across our portfolio.”
The announcement of IAC’s PlentyOfFish purchase comes just a month after the company IAC decided to spin-off its dating businesses. Match.com, founded in 1995, is the oldest of the dating sites and has long been a powerful force in IAC’s portfolio. The Match Group also owns dating sites Meetic, and OurTime, test preparation company The Princeton Review, and fitness site and app DailyBurn.