match.com

History

In 1993, Match.com was founded by Gary Kremen and Peng T. Ong and Simon Glinsky 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 LGBTQ communities, created business models and initial marketing strategies and made early hires. Fran Maier later joined the company as its director of marketing. According to a retrospective from The Atlantic, Maier helped to implement Match.com's business strategy, which included a subscription model and the inclusion of diverse communities, including technology professionals and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities. Match.com became operational as a free beta version website during early 1995 and was first profiled in Wired magazine that same year.

Founder Kremen left the company in March 1996 after disagreements with venture capitalists. In 1997, Match.com was purchased by CUC International. Following CUC's merger with HFS to form Cendant, the company was sold to IAC in 1999.

Growth and partnerships

In September 2001, Match.com partnered with AOL and MSN 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.