The Match Group Hires Ex-Yahoo Exec To Lead Growth Of Advertising Business

The Match Group has just hired a new general manager to lead its advertising business.

Peter Foster has taken the role of GM of Global Advertising and Brand Solutions at the dating company.

Foster joins The Match Group after six months at Wrap Media, where he was Chief Revenue Officer, following four years as the VP of Yahoo’s Solutions Development.

While at the US tech company, Foster oversaw its audience advertising business, mid-market sales team and media solutions.

At the now-public dating company, Foster will oversee Match Group’s efforts to ramp up its advertising business on Tinder, Match.com and the rest of its portfolio.

He will work with Alexis Ginas, Head of Brand Solutions, who has overseen this side of the business over the past year, and will now handle sales and account management.

Speaking about the new hire, The Match Group’s CEO & Chairman Greg Blatt, said: “I’m bullish on our ability to create meaningful incremental growth through building our advertising business.

“Peter brings a rare combination of expertise across sales, ad product and technology, and I’m confident he will be a huge boon to Alexis and the rest of the talented and growing team we’ve been building over the last year.”

Before working at Yahoo, Foster was the CRO at 5to1.com, which was acquired by Yahoo in 2011, as well as holding senior leadership roles at Hi5, Kosmix, Photobucket, Fastclick/ValueClick Media, Maxonline and L90.

Speaking about his new position, Foster said: “There are very few global publishers with this level of scale, mobile user engagement, and sophisticated targeting potential. Tinder is a huge potential advertising asset, and Match, Meetic, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish and the rest of the network provides substantial global heft and breadth. I believe this is the very early stage of ramping and that we have huge upside here.”

Earlier this year, a number of law firms announced they had filed a class action lawsuit against The Match Group in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, accusing the company of violating federal securities law in connection with last year’s IPO.

Since launching its IPO on November 19th, shares of the Match Group have fallen from 14.74 to 10.90 as of yesterday.