South Africa, April 7 -- Marketing strategy

Founded in 2001, the site initially logged hundreds of thousands of sign-ups, but its growth accelerated under CEO Noel Biderman, who brought his childhood friend Evan Back on as vice president of sales. The pair adopted an aggressive marketing strategy, appearing on news programs and daytime TV - sometimes with Biderman's wife - to promote the platform directly to the US, arguing that Ashley Madison did not create cheaters, but simply served an existing need.

By 2015, the site had 37 million users across more than 40 countries. That same year, the company's future was shaken when a hacker group, The Impact Team, leaked millions of user records in one of the most infamous data breaches in inte...