SeekingArrangement is an American sugar baby and sugar daddy dating website founded by MIT graduate Brandon Wade in San Francisco, California in 2006. Wade is currently the company's CEO. Section 8.c. of the membership agreement of Seeking Arrangements grants them full perpetual rights to use anything put on their site by members. Section 13.c. gives them the right to release members' user information to anyone if Seeking Arrangements deems the release to be "reasonable." Members' data are retained forever. The SeekingArrangement business model is based on a membership system. Sugar babies create profiles and join the website free of charge. Sugar baby members who register with their university email address automatically qualify for a Premium Membership status. Sugar Daddies and Mamas are able to register for site services free of charge, which provides them with a limited number of messages. After the trial period has expired, members have the option to either purchase credits for expanded messaging privileges on a monthly basis or on an annual basis with the Diamond Package. The initial model also relied heavily on their stated mission for membership acquisition and retention, by stating that both Sugar Daddies, Sugar Babies and Mamas could get what they wanted when they wanted. Such criticism on more traditional relationships, namely, that traditional relationships do not offer such advantages and the 2014 statement by its CEO Brandon Wade that love is "a concept invented by poor people" started to back lash; and in terms of its business model competitive analysis, it fell short of foreseeing the large market gap this would create for other dating sites to explore the market share consisting of genuine sugar babies seeking true relationships. Members join for free, and can currently access the site from 139 countries with translations in ten languages. The company headquarters is presently located in Las Vegas, NV. There are additional offices located in Ukraine and Singapore. Currently there are a combined 2.6 million Sugar Babies active on the site—both male and female. In 2010, SeekingArrangement.com began offering free Premium Memberships to students who register using their university email addresses. The company expanded its offering to college students in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, and various parts of Europe. In 2014, over 1.4 million students were registered on the website in search of Sugar Daddies and Sugar Mommies. Requests from Sugar Babies varied from assistance with college expenses to monthly allowances for living expenses. In February 2015, Seeking Arrangement released a list of the top 20 colleges attended by girls using the website as sugar babies. The number one university on the list was the University of Texas with 425 new sign-ups in 2014. Other information on sugar babies was also provided such as the average allowance and a break down of what girls spent their allowance on.
Controversy
Google executive Forrest Hayes was found dead on his yacht in November 2013 by his captain. Surveillance footage from the yacht shows Alix Tichelman, a woman he met on SeekingArrangement.com, injecting what appears to be heroin into her arm, then shooting the substance into Hayes immediately after. Hayes died later from an apparent overdose. Alix Tichelman was arrested in July 2014, on charges of manslaughter and prostitution. On May 19, 2015, she was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and administering illicit drugs. When the 2012 Republican National Convention took place in Tampa Bay, Florida, SeekingArrangement.com plausibly saw a 25.9% increase of site users stemming from this geographic area. This increase translates to the average of 1,823 daily users increasing to 2,295 accessing the site at this reported time. The Huffington Post quotes “politicians in the Republican Party had more than just politics on their mind.” Huffington Post continued to state that further evidence suggests that of the 200,000 Sugar Daddy users, 42.1% reportedly identify as Republicans and 34.9% as Democrats. In 2011 former New York U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner posted a photograph of sexual nature via his Twitter page. Six women would come to light admitting that they had engaged in sexually charged phone relationships with the married representative. Sydney Elaine Leathers, one of the six women Weiner had extramarital contact with, admitted to meeting Weiner on the SeekingArrangement site. Leathers has since admitted to using similar sites since the age of 19. On January 25, 2016, Doug Richard appeared at the Old Bailey, where he admitted sexual activity did occur but said it was consensual, believing her to be 17 at the time. Richards had met the girl through SeekingArrangement. The court heard that the 13-year-old girl in question told Richards on a number of occasions that she was 17. On January 29, 2016, Richard was cleared of all charges brought against him by a unanimous jury decision. The New York Times piece “Keeping Up With Being Kept” revealed the world of Sugar Dating, including the allowances Sugar Babies typically requested, gifts received and the age ranges involved. The article highlights that pairings seemed to likely tip towards older male–younger female partners.
