You need to know three things about Joel Stein's feature in Business 2.0 on Andrew Conru of Friend Finder. First, it's fine if you haven't heard of him; nobody has. Second, according to Conru's profile on Adult Friend Finder, the wildly successful sex personals site which is the largest part of the business, "I've had a ménage à trois." And, third, though Stein lets the readers do the sums themselves: Conru's worth 10 figures. He's the billionaire under Silicon Valley's nose. More than $200m in annual revenue; costs which, reading between the lines, can't be more than a third of that; top-line growth of 40% a year; and the Friend Finder founder, who grew the company without taking outside investment, appears to own 90% of the company. Except its almost impossible to find a buyer for the adult business. (By the way, if you're disappointed Business 2.0 didn't work out the valuation, don't bother complaining to Stein; he has no truck with feedback. "Here's what my Internet-fearing editors have failed to understand: I don't want to talk to you; I want to talk at you.")

Social networking's dirty side — by Joel Stein for Business 2.0

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