Company:Affinity Labs
| Type of business | Public |
|---|---|
| Available in | multilingual |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Owner | Monster.com |
| Website | affinitylabs.com |
| Current status | active |
Affinity Labs is a company that builds social networking sites for niche groups such as firefighters, police officers, nurses and the Armed Forces.[1] In January 2008, Affinity Labs was acquired by Monster Worldwide for US$61 million.[2]
Affinity Labs sites have over a million registered members, as of January 2008.[1] PoliceLink, aimed at law enforcement personnel, is one of Affinity Labs' most active sites with over 717,000 unique visitors per month.[3] Other sites include: SalesHQ, ArtBistro, TheApple, FireLink, NursingLink, InsideTech, GovCentral, IndiaOn, Excelle, AllHealthCare, and the European communities, HMForces.co.uk, ProNurse, and WerPflegtWen.
In 2008 after Monster acquired Affinity Labs, it then bought a French military website, Armees.com for an undisclosed fee, then transferred the site to its Affinity Labs social networking vertical.[4]
Affinity Labs still successfully operate across North America but in March 2012 it shut down its European operations. Despite HMForces.co.uk[5] being its most successful vertical, and having shared resources with Military.com, the global recession did not assist its longevity. HMForces.co.uk still has a strong presence on social networking sites[6] to this day, evidence of its popularity. Further references to this military vertical can be found on UK e-commerce sites,[7] and there is also a HMForces blog[8] still surviving despite it not being updated regularly.
History
Affinity Labs was founded by Christopher Michel[9] in 2006 after he sold Military.com to Monster in 2004 for $40 million.
The Mayfield Fund[10] and Trinity Ventures invested in Affinity Labs prior to its Monster Worldwide buyout.[11]
Between 2010-14, the President of Military Advantage and Vice President of Monster Worldwide,[12] was former Navy Admiral Terry McCreary. He oversaw the military Affinity operations in Europe which had a product manager in London reporting to the former Admiral in the US.[13] However, this operation was closed down in 2012.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Monster buys community site, Affinity Labs, for significant $61M - VentureBeat - News - by Matt Marshall". VentureBeat. https://venturebeat.com/2008/01/04/just-in-monster-buys-community-site-affinity-labs-for-61m/.
- ↑ "Monster buys S.F. Web operator Affinity for $61 million". mercurynews.com. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7889340.
- ↑ "Policelink.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast". quantcast.com. http://www.quantcast.com/policelink.com.
- ↑ "Armees.Com - Actualité". armees.com. http://www.armees.com/.
- ↑ "HMForces.co.uk : Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army, Royal Air Force". hmforces.co.uk. http://hmforces.co.uk/.
- ↑ "HMForces.co.uk". Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/HMForcescouk/130036903806/.
- ↑ "Media Centre - Product Reviews - Military Reviews at UK Gear". ukgear.com. http://www.ukgear.com/Pages/Media-Centre/Product-Reviews/Military-Reviews/381-HM-Forces.co.uk---PT-1000-Review.html/.
- ↑ http://hmforcescouk.blogspot.co.uk
- ↑ "Affinity Labs, Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek". Businessweek.com. http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=30486396.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-04-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20070421210847/http://www.mayfield.com/newsarticles/2006-12-04_mayfield_announces.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
- ↑ "Monster Worldwide - Bringing People Together to Advance Their Lives". corporate-ir.net. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=131001&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1091499&highlight=.
- ↑ "Team". Military.com. http://www.military.com/aboutus/aboutusarticle/0,15897,teambios,00.html.
- ↑ "Linkedin - Corporate Social Network". https://uk.linkedin.com/in/stewartathompson.
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