Match.com Buys OkCupid for $50 Million, I Freak Out

OkCupid, the hottest young dating site on the web, has been acquired by Match.com for $50 million dollars, according to Mashable. Suddenly, I feel a little worse about being on OkCupid, and my date tomorrow night with a girl that I’ve exchanged roughly 68 words with via OkCupid messages feels a little more desperate and sketchy.

Let me explain: in New York, OkCupid is the only dating site that’s acceptable for twenty-somethings to use. I was always tempted to join a dating site after I broke up with my girlfriend towards the end of my last semester of college, but it seemed sort of pathetic. I mean, have you seen the people in the Match.com commercials? They’re the same people in the Olive Garden commercials. It’s awful. When you’re here, you’re desperate.

My gut reaction: this was a brilliant move by Match.com. OkCupid has a superior business model to Match. Unlike Match, they offer free services and have a trendy blog (OkTrends) that attract young users. Yes, Match.com dominates amongst thirty-somethings, but in ten years, they won’t; all the twenty-somethings currently on OkCupid will be thirty-somethings…still on OkCupid. Just possibly after a failed marriage or five-year stint locked in Charlie Sheen’s closet.

I’m almost terrified to write this post because I don’t want the news about OkCupid being owned by Match.com will leak. What if it scares off all the cute Brooklyn literary hipster girls that send me messages and keep my self-esteem afloat (barely)? What will I do if they disappear from my life? I’ll actually have to go pick up girls at bars. I get far too drunk to pick up girls at bars. That’s ridiculous.

Luckily, Sam Yagan, the CEO and co-founder of OkCupid, is staying on to run the site. Let’s spread that bit of information around.