Andrew Conru wants out of the smut business, and fast.
 

Update On The AdultFriendFinder Deal

The rumors keep flying with the AdultFriendFinder deal we?ve been writing about

No sale has yet been closed, but not due to a lack of a willing seller. We?ve gotten confirmation, from a new source, that their annual revenues are ?over $300 million.? And we?re now hearing EBITDA numbers in the $100 million/year range. Penthouse seems to be the only serious bidder for the company, but they are clearly talking to a lot of potential buyers. They seem to be ready to sell for a little as $300 million, which suggests founder Andrew Conru wants out of the smut business, and fast.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/23...ndfinder-deal/

Is it a firesale yet? What the hell happened?

Nows the best time for him to get out IMHO. I mean with all the new sites coming out hes smart to just take the money and run

Lars has already dismissed these as rumours.

TechCrunch doesn't know how to get facts straight, they've been spreading rumours for quite some time about this deal to the point that I consider them nothing more than a tabloid. The enquirer is probably a more reliable source.
WG

hey boyalley... can I get an answer to the couple icq's I've sent you please...

10-4. what's your email?

Notice how TechCrunch is the same one throwing the Adult Friend Finder story out there each time.

Makes one wonder if AFF floated the rumor themselves in order to see if anyone bites (or worse, paid someone to float the rumor).

TechCrunch undercuts their credibility when they announce a company being possibly sold one day for $1 billion, then days later, it's simply on the market for $300 mil.

Add Penthouse to the equation (and the missing iBill $20 million), and it just smacks of smoke and mirrors...

ADG

Techcrunch sends some good clicks/feed subscribers when you blog/trackback them.

Now's the time to sell. Dating is dead. Long live Web 2.0!

hahaha...


erhm...


nevermind

anyone have boyalley's email?

true. dating is dead ...

Yeah, and he's such the stand up guy, we should all take him at his word.

It should be interesting.

icq's fine here... other than the occasional crash when trying to add someone...

btw, check your mail :thumbsup

perhaps it is... perhaps he sees that with the growth of free social networking sites, the paid dating model is rapidly going out the window...

so fucking agree, the gini has cut and run - this would be his ticket to some secluded island inhabited by canibals.

I would bet there is something going on behind the scenes that we dont know about and he wants out before the shit hits the fan. That and/or their sales have started to drop and they can see the writing on the wall.

I never understood why people paid for dating sites in the first place. There is a decent amount of free dating sites out there and back in the day I use to use AOL to meet girls. It was easy as hell and I met lots of girls just searching local profiles. I am sure the same things could be done today using myspace, facebook, friendster, etc... Between that and free dating sites like okcupid and plentyoffish why do people pay?

Got to love cams, the 1 and only thing you will never get for free. Not like a lot of hot girls out there who are doing cam shows to guys for the fun of it. :winkwink:

Thats what I was thinking when I read it

I met my wife on a free personal section of a bbw porn site. Free dating is the best lol

Don't believe everything you read. AFF has great cash flow. Is there any hard proof that they want to sell?

Have to wonder how much the other pay dating sites have started eating away at revenue, and that's not including free dating networks and social networks. I still think their revenue numbers must be insane though.

the fact that they are casting about for buyers is probably a great indicator just how much they relied upon the scum sites for their revenue... seeing Leaseweb shitcanning all the torrent sites recently and suddenly AFF is looking for a buyer? wow, what a coincidence...

i hope they take a big loss on any sale or end up still holding the bag when the shit starts leaking out of it..

:2 cents: