Andrew Conru is an American internet businessman who has founded e-commerce, advertising, online dating, and personal ad sites including W3, AdKnowledge, WebPersonals, FriendFinder, and

Adult FriendFinder Adult FriendFinder (AFF) is an internet-based, adult-oriented social networking service, online dating service and swinger personals community website, founded by Andrew Conru in 1996. In 2007 AFF was one of the 100 most popular sites in the Un ...

. He is the CEO of FriendFinder Networks Inc.

Education and early career

Conru grew up in northwestern

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

and attended Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, earning undergraduate degrees in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

. In 1991, he went to

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, receiving a doctorate in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

. While there, he founded W3.com, an early interactive website development firm that was the first company to develop commercial software for membership management. The company created PWS (Personal Web Site), an early customized advertising product used by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

and Egghead Software. In 1997, the company released a product called AdOptimizer Network, the first centralized ad server, which allowed sites to manage advertising across a network of sites. He also founded Adknowledge, a web-based

banner ad A web banner or banner ad is a Online Advertising, form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract web traffic, tra ...

vertising company. In 1994, Conru founded WebPersonals.com. Considered to be one of the first internet dating sites, Conru sold the company in 1995.

FriendFinder

In 1996, Conru launched FriendFinder.com, an early social networking site. Days after the site went live, he found that members were posting nude photos pictures of themselves and using the site to seek out partners for adult activities. As a result, he started Adult FriendFinder, followed by other niche dating sites, including Senior FriendFinder, Amigos.com, BigChurch.com, and Alt.com. By 2007, the websites had 260 million registered members combined, more than 500,000 affiliates and 450 employees. In December 2007, Conru sold the company to Penthouse Media Group for $500 million, much of which came in the form of

IOU An IOU (Abbreviation, abbreviated from the phrase "I owe you") is usually an informal document acknowledging debt. An IOU differs from a promissory note in that an IOU is not a negotiable instrument and does not specify repayment terms such as th ...

s. Penthouse later changed its name to FriendFinder Networks. On September 17, 2013, FriendFinder Networks Inc. filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wh ...

. In December 2013, as the company emerged from bankruptcy protection, Conru once again gained control of the company, and is its CEO.

Charitable and political activity

In 2010, Conru launched the non-profit foundation ''Compute.org'', which awards internet and software startups with grants in amounts of $50,000100,000. One startup that has been awarded is CityRoof.org, a social network for homeless people that helps the homeless connect with necessary resources. In 2014, he delivered the keynote address at AVN Internext Expo in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Nevada.

Human Diversity Foundation

In October 2024,

Hope not Hate Hope not Hate (stylised as HOPE not hate) is an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom which campaigns against racism and fascism. It has also mounted campaigns against Islamic extremism and antisemitism. It is self-described as a "non-pa ...

discovered through an undercover investigation that Conru had donated over $1 million to the far-right Human Diversity Foundation which publishes discredited ideas of

eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...

and

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

through podcasts, online magazines and dubious papers. In response to the investigation, Conru said he has stopped funding the HDF, remarking that he was “deeply troubled” by the findings of the investigation and stated he rejects "racism, discrimination or hateful ideology.”Margo Vansynghel
Seattle arts funder, after Guardian report, disavows ‘hateful ideology’
''Seattle Times''. 22 October 2024.

References

External links