Love and money making Tappin happy in new position.

TODD Tappin, recently named chief executive of online dating giant MatchNet Plc., says the goal is true love.

"Now that I'm here, I have tremendous satisfaction that our product is benefiting people's lives," Tappin said.

Helping people hook up is also lucrative. U.S. consumers spent $1.3 billion on paid online content in 2002, according to the Online Publishers Association, and personals and dating were the top categories. MatchNet generates its revenues by charging members $16 to $30 a month, depending on the length of subscription.

The 12 million singles populating MatchNet's online dating networks in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia and Israel had revenues of $10.6 million for fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, a 13 percent increase over the like period a year earlier.

After graduating from University of Colorado at Boulder with a bachelor's in business in 1984, the New Jersey native worked us a financial analyst for Deloitte Haskins and Sells, and director of finance for the home entertainment group at Universal and Fox Entertainment's 20th Century Fox unit. In 1998, Tappin became chief financial officer of Overture Services, what was then a startup that had patented a system of selling online advertisers spots in lists of sponsored links that appear during a search.

He helped raise $35 million in private equity, and led the company through a $94 million initial public offering in June 1999. Overture was profitable by 2001 and was purchased by Yahoo Inc. last year for $1.8 billion.

Overture is suing Google for patent infringement, claiming that Google's AdWords sponsored results listings infringes Overture's patent. Tappin liked the battle. "It was sort of the normal course of business," he said. "I enjoy the sparring."

Tappin, 42, lives in Malibu with his daughter and wife, who is expecting another child.