Spring Street Networks, the online dating syndication company which was spun out of Nerve.com personals (used to be a very New York thing back in the days), has been bought out by Various Inc., the parent company of FriendFinder, among other “dating” websites. SSN powers personals on TheOnion, Salon.com and other sites.

The company had been for sale for a long time now, after it got into trouble on payments to its syndication sites. I doubt the company would have sold for a lot…it received $6 million in venture funding in 2003 fromm Battery Ventures, and not sure if the VCs really made anything on this.

Various will continue to operate Spring Street’s NYC office and add to the company’s staff. Various intends to buy other sites in the same space.

Update: RedHerring: Spring Street had won some negative publicity last fall when a new CEO, Barry Kallander, fired nearly half of the company’s 22 employees. It also lost partnerships with AOL and Boston.com, who went to competitors Match.com and Yahoo Personals, respectively.

Related:

—Spring Street Networks Slashes Staff; Sale Imminent

—Spring Street Networks Receives $6 Million Venture Funding From Battery

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