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Zhenai, Chinese Dating Site 20% Owned By Match Group, Being Bought By Aviation Company

Zhenai

A Chinese dating site 20% owned by Match Group, Zhenai.com, is being courted by aviation and drone company DEA General Aviation.

DEA wants to acquire the dating site as part of its “Internet Plus” strategy, aiming to integrate the dating service into its home appliance business, according to Reuters.

The Guangdong-based company announced it aims to acquire 100% of Zhenai’s shares, and has entered a preliminary share purchase agreement with Zhenai’s controller Li Tao.

The deal is currently being finalised, but the two parties have not yet signed a formal agreement.

Founded in 2004, last year Zhenai revealed it had over 100m registered users and reported annual revenues of $145.6m.

The dating business also posted net profits of $14m in the October 2016 filing.

In 2011, Match Group announced plans to acquire 20% of the dating site for an undisclosed amount.

With its Q4 results, released at the end of January, Match Group saw dating revenue increase 22%, hitting $295m, up from $287.5m in Q3.

This pushed total revenue up 19% compared to the year before, to $319.7m.

The Match Group also revealed that Tinder closed the year with 1.7m paying subscribers, more than doubling the previous year’s total of 0.8m.

Read the full set of results here.

Simon Edmunds

Simon is the former editor of Global Dating Insights. Born in Newcastle, he has an English degree from Queen Mary, London and after working for the NHS, trained as a journalist with the Press Association. Passionate about music, journalism and Newcastle United.

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