Two former competitors have found a connection in the love game. Online dating site Match.com has bought OkCupid for $50 million cash, according to a statement released today. Lonely people can now rejoice knowing that there’s more lonely people on their network to make a connection with. 
 
 “We know that many people who start out on advertising-based sites ultimately develop an appetite for the broader feature set and more committed community, which subscription sites like Match.com and Chemistry.com offer, creating a true complimentary relationship between our various business models,” chief executive of IAC Greg Blatt said in the statement. 
 
 The mostly free OkCupid has about 3.5 million users who peruse its blogs, quizzes and surveys and appeals to generally younger daters, compared to the monster Match.com, a pay-to-use site that pairs people up from over 5.8 million users. No word on how the pay model will change now that the companies have merged. OkCupid co-founder and CEO Sam Yagan will stay on to help manage the site. 
 
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 Dating site titans OkCupid and Match.com have hooked up today — as Match.com, an operating business of IAC, has acquired the other site for $50 million in cash, plus future payments depending on performance. 
 
 OkCupid, an increasingly popular site, generates most of its revenues through advertising (it's mostly free to use — making it popular among members who are strapped for cash), and, according to a release, it has been the fastest growing dating site in the advertising-supported bracket this year. Therefore, we can see how it would be attractive to Match.com, which is — for its part — a paid service. 
 
 "We know that many people who start out on advertising-based sites ultimately develop an appetite for the broader feature set and more committed community, which subscription sites like Match.com and Chemistry.com offer, creating a true complimentary relationship between our various business models," says Greg Blatt, CEO of IAC. 
 
 "2010 saw record growth both for Match and OkCupid, and we believe coordinating the adjacent business models will help fuel continued growth for both." 
 
 OkCupid co-founder and CEO Sam Yagan will stay on at the site to run operations. We've reached out to him for further comment, and will update this post when we know more about how this merger will play out.
– Match.com has bought rival OkCupid for $50 million, consolidating its hold on the online dating market, Mashable reports. The acquisition provides Match.com—a high-end service that charges its 5.8 million users—with access to lots of new customers. OkCupid is a mostly free site with 3.5 million users. No word yet on whether the pay models will change, notes Time. “We know that many people who start out on advertising-based sites ultimately develop an appetite for the broader feature set and more committed community, which subscription sites like Match.com and Chemistry.com offer, creating a true complimentary relationship between our various business models,” says Greg Blatt, CEO of Match.com parent IAC.