IAC’s Match.com taking over for Yahoo Personals as Yahoo’s dating service

Match.com taking over Yahoo’s dating service

SAN FRANCISCO — Match.com, the dating website owned by Internet company IAC/InterActiveCorp, said Monday it will become Yahoo Inc.’s online dating site, replacing the company’s own Yahoo Personals brand.

Financial terms and the exact length of the multiyear deal were not disclosed.

Yahoo has been trying to focus on creating and licensing content and selling online advertising, while forging partnerships with other companies to run some of its other services. Also Monday, Yahoo said that Nokia Corp., the world’s largest cell phone maker, will run maps and navigation services for Yahoo on phones and computers.

Match said that users of the Yahoo Personals dating service can switch over to the cobranded “Match.com on Yahoo” during the next 60 days.

In an interview, Match.com CEO Greg Blatt said the agreement is a “great deal” for Match.

“Online dating is a pretty interesting thing because your users are in many ways part of your product. The more and better users you have, the better experience you’re delivering to your users,” he said.

In the first quarter, IAC’s Match unit, which includes Match.com and other dating sites, had a total of 1.6 million paid users. IAC does not break down the figures by service. Yahoo has not disclosed the number of Yahoo Personals users.

IAC shares rose 82 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $22.30 in afternoon trading Monday, while shares of Yahoo rose 28 cents to $15.76.