secretstalks
Darren Chan, the founder and CEO of Sugarbook, an online dating platform based in Malaysia, was arrested by police on his way to lunch on a February afternoon in 2021. He claimed that the police had shown up in four vehicles.
Chan realized that his company’s viral marketing campaign had “blown up a bit too much” at that same moment, which he described as being like a scene “straight out of the movies” to himself. A few days before he was taken into custody, a post on Sugarbook’s website headlined “Top 10 Sugar Baby Universities in Malaysia” attracted the attention of the government as well as the wrath of some of the populace.
Chan spent 10 days in jail and was later charged over the article’s publication, to which he pleaded not guilty. While there have been no recent updates on the trial, Chan, now 36, recently informed Yahoo Finance Singapore that his legal issues have been “resolved” and the “case is now closed,” though he declined to provide further details.
Despite the controversy, Sugarbook reports having around 4.5 million members, primarily from Malaysia, the US, and Singapore, across more than 90 countries. The platform is also expanding into new markets, such as Taiwan, and has introduced new features, including live-streaming.
Although Chan declined to disclose the company’s earnings and other financial information, he did state that revenue had increased by 60% so far this year over the same period last year. Since the feature’s introduction last year, Sugarbook has also given live streamers payments totaling US$1.7 million, according to him. This featured high-end presents like purses from Chanel, LV, and Hermes.
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