Yahoo! Personals' ''Operation Bachelor'' is The First-Ever Online Search to Uncover America's Most Irresistible Bachelors

Business Wire, Feb 5, 2003

Business Editors/Entertainment Editors/Lifestyles Editors

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 2003

Yahoo! Personals Takes The Mission of Finding Love to

Ten American Cities For Valentine's Day

Yahoo! Personals (http://personals.yahoo.com), a leader in the online dating market, recently conducted its first-ever search for America's most irresistible bachelors looking for love on the Internet. "Operation Bachelor 2003" took place in 10 cities across the country uncovering America's most appealing single men from The Big Apple to the beaches of Los Angeles. The Yahoo! Personals bachelors represent the variety of top-notch single guys who are looking to find the woman of their dreams on Yahoo! Personals.

Bachelors from Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. were chosen from nearly 4,000 applicants. Each of the 46 bachelors finalists are now waiting for a great woman to come knocking on their virtual door at Yahoo! Personals. From now until noon on February 12th, single women in each of the 10 cities can sign up at http://personals.yahoo.com/bachelors for a chance to be selected by a bachelor to accompany them on a special Valentine's Day date. Each bachelor will choose a bachelorette from the site on February 13th, and then Yahoo! Personals will treat the couples to a fun and romantic night out on the town in each respective city.

First-Ever National Online Bachelor Search

Through Operation Bachelor, Yahoo! Personals searched for the all-around, good guy. The judging criteria were based on their online profiles -- well-rounded men who are not only charming and attractive, but also serious about finding someone special. For example, Jose from Baltimore not only runs his own business, but is also an actor, serves as the production manager for a local children's theater and is a "Big Brother" striving to be a good role model for children. Peter from Boston volunteers as a ski coach for the Special Olympics. William from Austin is a classical guitarist who has a graduate degree in geography and whose goal it is to visit all 254 counties in Texas. Ryan from Washington, D.C. is a busy medical student who just simply doesn't have time or interest in the local bar scene, but wants to meet other interesting singles living in the nation's capital.

"With online dating being as mainstream as it is today, we wanted to highlight the irresistible bachelors from our site this Valentine's Day," said Katie Mitic, vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Personals. "We're encouraging single women in the 10 cities to get online and check out these irresistible bachelors as they search for a date for the 14th. By replying to one of the bachelors' personals, single women can win a fun night out on the town, and maybe even a chance at love."

The bachelors that entered the search were from different regions, ethnic backgrounds and careers, however, they all shared one common trait -- they are busy, have an adventurous spirit and they are looking for someone special. "We were surprised to find that the bachelors had different goals in different regions -- those living in the big cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco seem to be hopeless romantics and are thinking this opportunity will help them find that special someone, while bachelors in smaller cities like Austin and San Diego are looking to meet nice girls and have a fun time. Of course, if they happen to meet 'the one,' then they are all for it," added Mitic.

Getting Even More Personal With The Bachelors

To get more of an insight into each bachelor's personality, women can view voice and video clips in the bachelors' ads. As a leader in the online dating arena, Yahoo! Personals was the first major online dating site to offer singles the ability to record both voice and video clips as part of their personals ad. Voice and video greetings are the newest way for singles to enhance the ads they post. The new features are free, and allow singles to record a 30-second voice and/or video greeting that will appear as a part of their personals ad.

Online Dating Industry is Exploding

According to Jupiter Research's December 2002 report on online dating(1), 16.3 million online users, composed of 6.1 million women and 10.2 million men, visited personals or dating sites in 2002. Yahoo! recently noted that through the third quarter of 2002, 70 percent of the company's subscription revenue came from four services, one of which was Yahoo! Personals. As online dating sites experience increased popularity, Yahoo! will continue to invest resources to offer its users the best technological dating tools available.

About Yahoo! Personals

Yahoo! Personals was first introduced in 1997 and has quickly grown to become one of the leading and most popular online dating services available. The service offers a large, dynamic dating scene where users can search for, meet and communicate with people who are serious about starting a new relationship.