improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages a major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . january 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article reads like a news release or is otherwise written in a promotional tone . please help by either rewriting this article from a neutral point of view or by moving this article to wikinews . when appropriate blatant advertising may be marked for speedy deletion with db spam . january 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message plentyoffish type private founded 2003 headquarters vancouver canada key people markus frind founder and ceo revenue 100 million usd 1 2014 estimated owner match.com match group iac number of employees 75 1 website pof.com plentyoffish pof is an online dating service popular primarily in canada the united kingdom ireland australia brazil 2 and the united states . 3 the company based in vancouver british columbia 4 generates revenue through advertising and premium memberships . 5 while it is free to use plentyoffish offers premium services as part of their upgraded membership such as who has liked a member through the service s tinder like meetme feature and allowing users to see whether a message has been read and or deleted . 6 contents 1 history 2 staff 3 technical details 4 statistics 5 references 6 external links history edit markus frind ceo and founder of plentyoffish media inc. graduated in 1999 from british columbia institute of technology with a diploma in computer systems technology . 7 in 2004 plentyoffish became a full time business for frind . 8 he ran the site independently until 2008 when he began hiring other employees at his new vancouver headquarters . 9 in 2009 plentyoffish also launched a contest with lady gaga allowing single members to go together and meet the singer during her fame monster tour . 10 the website for plentyoffish appeared in several music videos in 2010 in lady gaga s telephone natasha bedingfield s touch ke ha s we r who we r flo rida and akon s available jason derulo s ridin solo 11 and 3oh 3 s double vision . in 2011 it appeared in britney spears s music video for hold it against me . many of these appearances are undisclosed paid product placements 12 13 which have met with highly negative reviews . 14 15 in 2010 plentyoffish launched mobile apps for iphone and android . 16 17 as of may 2013 about 70 % of plentyoffish s logins come from mobile devices . 18 in a june 2014 interview frind edited this number and now attributes 85 % of all plentyoffish traffic to mobile with the number growing weekly . 19 on january 21 2011 it was discovered that the plentyoffish website had been hacked which exposed the personal and password information on nearly 30 million user accounts . 20 since the alleged hacking incident frind alleges he has identified persons he believes are responsible for the hacking and alleges he is threatening legal action in response to the widespread negative media exposure . at the time this received global media exposure and security experts blame plentyoffish for the security and privacy lapse specifically for keeping users passwords unsecured . 20 21 on february 28 2012 the parents of us army lieutenant peter burks sued plentyoffish . the parents lawsuit alleges photos of their son who was killed in iraq in 2007 were used without permission . the parents were seeking compensatory and punitive damages . 22 in an august 2012 interview markus frind stated that based on the millions of relationships and marriages plentyoffish has created over the past several years it is estimated that over one million babies have been born as a result of the website . 23 on may 20 2013 frind implemented several changes to the website with the stated goal of focusing on meaningful relationships . among these changes were the removal of the intimate encounters option . 24 a related feature that was eliminated was the option to contact clients of age differences greater than markus presumably frind found tasteful . although the plentyoffish site and its matching criteria continue to match couples with age differences greater than the 14 year guideline attempts to contact the matches resulted in an inbox message from markus stating among other things t here is no reason for a 50 year old man to contact a 18 year old woman . 25 another implementation included with the changes is no longer allowing male users to attach images to messages . 26 on march 25 2015 plentyoffish media inc. paid 48 000 as part of an undertaking for an alleged violation of canada s anti spam law casl . it was the second company in canada to be punished by the crtc under the enforcement of this legislation . 27 on july 14 2015 plentyoffish was sold for 575 million to the match group owner of match.com okcupid and tinder . 28 staff edit plentyoffish employs 75 people including programmers marketing managers and customer service representatives . 29 the site relies on volunteers to monitor forums and sort through the 50 000 new photos that come in each day . 30 technical details edit the website uses the following technology 31 asp.net 2.0 microsoft sql server 2005 statistics edit registered users 100 000 000 march 2015 1 dating site ranking in the uk 1 comscore may 2011 32 dating site ranking worldwide 1 hitwise august 2011 33 u.s. site by market share 1 with 18.57 % of the market hitwise august 2012 34 number of page views a month 2 billion april 2012 35 references edit a b c orton tyler march 17 2015 . plentyoffish hits 100 million users releases revenue numbers for first time . business vancouver . retrieved may 3 2015 . pof takes top spot in brazil at opw . retrieved february 16 2012 . plentyoffish.com how one man beat the big guys at arcast.tv . retrieved august 3 2007 . plentyoffish fires darts at eharmony match.com on valentine s day . itbusiness.ca . 2012 02 14 . retrieved 2012 05 18 . plenty of fish fact sheet at pof . retrieved february 3 2009 . plenty of fish upgrade . retrieved january 13 2011 . school of computing and academic studies computer systems technology . b.c. institute of technology . archived from the original on october 12 2007 . retrieved december 9 2007 . lehman michael 2007 . iis show 10 plentyoffish.com and iis 6 plenty of performance . channel 9 . retrieved april 12 2007 . chafkin max january february 2009 . and the money comes rolling in . inc. retrieved february 21 2009 . dead link ein news november 2010 . plentyoffish.com teams up with lady gaga . retrieved january 19 2010 . jason derulo is ridin solo on plentyoffish.com . june 2010 . retrieved february 18 2011 . hampp andrew 2010 03 13 . how miracle whip plenty of fish tap lady gaga s telephone . advertising age . retrieved 2012 08 07 . elliott stuart 2011 02 17 . plenty of fish a dating site promotes itself in music videos . new york times . retrieved 2012 08 07 . weiner juli . plentyoffish.com get out of music videos and get back to the internet . vanity fair . retrieved 2012 08 07 . kelly liz 2011 02 18 . celebritology 2.0 britney spears debuts hold it against me video infomercial . washington post . retrieved 2012 08 07 . spira julie 2012 07 18 . dating in a mobile world . the huffington post . retrieved 2012 09 20 . plenty of fish dating app review . theappzine.com . de lacey martha 2013 05 22 . internet dating boss admits most of the woman on his site looking for no strings sex are actually men . mailonline . retrieved 2013 05 22 . brooks mark . username jlittle67 2016 pof.com pof interview with ceo markus frind check url value help . online personals watch . retrieved 22 july 2014 . a b plentyoffish.com hacked blames messenger . krebsonsecurity.com . 2011 01 31 . retrieved 2012 05 18 . plenty of fish hacked ceo recounts bizarre ordeal with hacker in blog post fp tech desk financial post . business.financialpost.com . 2011 01 31 . retrieved 2012 05 18 . canadian dating site plenty of fish sued for using dead u.s. soldier s photo . national post . retrieved 2012 02 20 . clay kelly august 23 2012 . how one man made a million babies with free online dating . forbes . retrieved 2012 09 17 . bignell paul ; hastings rob may 2013 . plenty of fish dating site founder pulls intimate encounters option to ward off sleazy men ein . the independent . retrieved 2013 05 22 . incognito may 2013 . pof changes age restrictions or 14 years and intimate encounters . http www.datingfora.com . retrieved 2013 10 28 . external link in publisher help new change males can no longer send private images to other users . . plentyoffish media inc. pays 48 000 for alleged violation of canada s anti spam law . government of canada . march 25 2015 . retrieved 2015 04 17 . bootstrapped dating site plentyoffish has fewer than 100 employees and match just bought it for 575 million in cash . retrieved 14 july 2015 . pof expands team to 66 and creates new consumer blog . onlinepersonalswatch . retrieved 2012 08 23 . stross randall 2008 01 13 . from 10 hours a week 10 million a year . the new york times . retrieved 2008 01 18 . frind markus 2007 . looking for 3 senior software developers . . plentyoffish blog . retrieved 2007 12 09 . plentyoffish.com is the most visited dating site in the uk & usa . opw . 2011 . retrieved september 6 2011 . online trends experian hitwise . hitwise.com . december 31 1999 . retrieved may 18 2012 . us online dating rankings update . opw.com . 2012 . retrieved september 17 2012 . pof passes 100m weekly messages 2 billion pageviews week . plenty of fish blog . 2012 . retrieved april 18 2012 . external links edit official website official blog inc. magazine profile of markus frind v t e companies based in the metro vancouver area 604 records a & w canada advanced cyclotron systems apparent networks avigilon aritzia army & navy stores ballard power systems best buy canada black box games blenz coffee blueshore financial boston pizza brightlight pictures british columbia maritime employers association broadbandtv corp chc helicopter ctc bank of canada cactus club cafe canada wide media limited canadaupdates canfor canucks sports and entertainment central 1 credit union central heat distribution choices market citizens bank of canada clearly.ca coast capital savings coast mountain bus company commodore books cymax stores dairyland canada dan d foods dollar tree canada d wave systems e comm ea canada ebco industries eldorado gold envision financial fairchild group finning first quantum minerals fortisbc freshslice pizza goldcorp great northern way campus greenpeace gulf and fraser fishermen s credit union happy planet heffel gallery hellbent games hootsuite hothead games hsbc bank canada insights west intrawest ironclad games ivanhoe mines limited jet black games jim pattison group justason market intelligence kerberos productions klei entertainment london drugs lululemon athletica lush north america macdonald dettwiler macdonald realty magma energy mclean group of companies methanex metrolyrics modo car co op nature s path netsentron nettwerk nevada geothermal power new gold next level games nintendo of canada o2e brands ocean productions panago the pantry piranha games plentyoffish premium brands