A three-times married multi-millionaire, notorious as boss of a controversial dating site, will wed again this year after meeting his soul mate through his own agency. Brandon Wade, 51, founded SeekingArrangement - the US sugar babies dating site, in California in 2006.
Infamous for announcing love was “invented by poor people,” he admits his own cynical declaration was challenged by meeting economics student Dana Rosewall, 21, at the end of 2020. Since then he has transformed the site – which had 36 million users worldwide with around a million in the UK – into Seeking, an upmarket dating agency “building connections between like-minded people.”
He has moved the operation away from catering for sugar babies, or younger women dating richer older men or sugar daddies for cash. Brandon, who lives with his fiancée in Las Vegas, USA, and had already accumulated wealth as a tech consultant before starting his dating site, said: “Mine and Dana’s love is eternal, timeless and transcends this life.
He said: “Marriage was a significant event and we wanted to send a message to the world. This isn’t a stunt, this is a huge commitment.”
Juggling multiple partners after his marriages ended, while Brandon was asset rich, he admits that until he met Dana he was spiritually impoverished and spent most of his adult life believing love was “not real.”
But, he says Dana changed all that, explaining: “She said love is the only thing you should be attached to in this reality. We realised that no matter what, even if I lost every cent tomorrow, as long as I was with her on this journey to explore love, I would be okay.
“Neither of us wanted to get married when we first met, but we decided to do it because we finally understand what love is. And now that we understand it, there is no reason for a divorce, so I am going into marriage later this year waiving my right to have one.”
Planning to exchange vows “somewhere in nature” later this summer, there will be no prenup, as Brandon says there will be no need, as he will agree not to divorce. He now feels his failed marriages and multiple girlfriends were all part of his “endless” and unfulfilled pursuit of true love.
Growing up in Singapore, in south east Asia, he says he did not attract much female attention until he found success and believed financial acumen was the main attraction for women when choosing a man. Once wealthy, he claims he had more success with women, but he failed to find true love – sparking his flippant comments on the subject.
With his longest marriage lasting for six years, he admits to his own romantic failings, with one partner telling him it was “like kissing a robot.” By then SeekingArrangement – which he says he created to improve his own dating life – was thriving.
Brandon said: “I really believed love was for poor people. I’d been searching for love my whole life, but I was confused about what I was searching for. As a kid, I lacked attention from females in my age group.
“I launched SeekingArrangement because I was fed up with my dating life. I thought I had the formula for love figured out. I thought it was about having wealth and nothing more."
A pitiful 50th birthday spent all alone in the summer of 2020, as the pandemic raged around the world, was the wake-up call Brandon needed. But his despair disappeared when he received a message from Dana on the dating website and the pair immediately hit it off.
After speaking for four hours, he asked her if he could fly out to Orlando, Florida, where she lived, so they could have a meal together. He said: “Our first conversation lasted hours and the next day I flew out to Florida to see her. She told me she would show me what love really is.”
Dana, who says she used SeekingArrangement as she was looking for someone with a “successful mindset” is delighted to have found the husband of her dreams. She said: “When he asked me to marry him I said yes immediately.
“Nothing about our relationship is typical. We have a big age gap, people always look at us. I tell people to spend five minutes with us before forming an opinion. It won’t be what they expect it to be. Our love is genuine.”
Inspired by finding love, Brandon decided to rebrand his website in line with his new way of thinking. He said: “When I started Seeking in 2006, my dating life flourished. I was arrogant and openly embraced non-monogamy. But everything changed when I met my soulmate Dana.
“The evolution of Seeking now reflects my personal journey. Once the world’s largest sugar dating site, Seeking is now the place to find great connections, honesty and relationships on your own terms.”
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