When it comes to online ventures, Barry Diller believes in love and money.

Date: 2007-01-30

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Although Mr. Diller's online dating site, Match.com, made up less than 5% of his holding company IAC's $6.5 billion in sales last year, it accounted for more than 10% of the company's $464 million in profits.

As The Wall Street Journal recently wrote, "Looking for love online is well on its way to becoming mainstream."

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 15% of American adults, roughly 30 million people, know someone who married or had a long-term relationship with someone they met online — and over twice that number, 63 million people, know someone who has used an online dating service.

Match.com monetizes people's desires to meet Mr. or Ms. Right by charging new users $34.99 for the first month's subscription, a charge that drops to $16.99 a month if users sign up for six months or more.

And users are lining up for the service.

According to comScore Media Metrix tallies, Match.com trails only Yahoo! Personals in unique visits, with 4.3 million in December 2006 to Yahoo!'s 4.5 million.

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