Match Group

Match Group, Inc. is an American Internet company that owns and operates several online dating web sites including OkCupid, PlentyOfFish, Tinder, Hinge and Match.com.

Match Group, Inc.
Public
Traded asNASDAQ: MTCH
Russell 1000 Component
IndustryInternet
HeadquartersDallas, Texas, United States
Key people
Joseph Levin
(Chairman)
Shar Dubey
(CEO)
Revenue US$1.7 billion (2018)
US$553 million (2018)
US$473 million (2018)
Total assets US$2.1 billion (2018)
OwnerIAC/InterActiveCorp: 80.9% (economic)
97.6% (voting)
Websitemtch.com

Match Group is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.[1] Its controlling shareholder is IAC/InterActiveCorp.

History

Match Group went public on November 19, 2015, and trades on NASDAQ with the ticker symbol MTCH.[2] The company's controlling shareholder is IAC/InterActiveCorp, its former parent. As of March 31, 2018, IAC's economic ownership interest and voting interest in Match Group were 80.9% and 97.6%, respectively.[3]

Match Group reported $1.7 billion in revenue for the year 2018 and has a 15.7 billion market cap.[4]

In January 2018, Mandy Ginsberg replaced Greg Blatt as the CEO of Match Group.[5] She previously served other leadership roles within the company, including acting as the CEO Match North America.[5]

In August 2018, Tinder co-founder Sean Rad filed a $2 billion lawsuit against Match Group, claiming that Match Group and its parent company IAC purposely undervalued Tinder to avoid paying out stock options to the company's original team.[6] Rad and his co-plaintiffs also accused the former Tinder CEO, Greg Blatt, of sexual harassment.[7] The Match Group said in a statement that the allegations are "meritless".[8]

Match Group's shares had the best day in their history on August 7, 2019, rallying by as much as 29% to new all-time highs. The gain was driven largely by Tinder's paid subscriber growth; Tinder gained 503,000 new subscribers over the prior quarter, or 1.5 million new subscribers year-over-year. At the end of Match Group's second quarter, Tinder had 5.2 million average subscribers. All of Match Group's properties reported a combined 9.1 million average subscribers at the end of the second quarter ending on June 30, 2019.[9][10][11] The share price growth added more than $5 billion to Match Group's market capitalization.[12]

In January 2020, CEO Mandy Ginsberg stepped down from her position due to personal reasons.[13] Shar Dubey, then President of Match Group, became the next CEO of the company on March 1, 2020.[14]

Acquisitions

As of February 2018, the company owned over 45 dating app companies, including OkCupid, PlentyofFish, and Tinder.[15] In February 2019, Match Group acquired dating app Hinge.[16] In August 2019, Match Group acquired Egyptian online dating startup Harmonica.[17][18][19]

In 2019, the Match Group was sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for allegations of unfair and deceptive trade practices. According to the FTC's civil complaint, Match.com used fake love interest ads to encourage free users to pay for its premium subscription services. Accounts that were flagged as suspicious or potentially fraudulent by the site were prevented from messaging paid subscribers, but were allowed to continue messaging free users who were tricked into believing that the suspicious accounts were real users encouraging them to subscribe and connect with them.[20]

The FTC further alleges that Match.com offered false promises of guarantees, failed to provide support to customers who unsuccessfully disputed chargers, and made it overly difficult for users to cancel their subscriptions.[21]

Match Group, in its capacity as the parent company of Match.com, denies the allegations.[20]

References
  1. "Match Group, Inc. (MTCH) IPO". NASDAQ. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  2. Plaugic, Lizzie. "Tinder parent company Match Group is now public". The Verge. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  3. Match Group FORM 10-Q dated May 10, 2018
  4. "Match Group 8K" (PDF). Match Group. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  5. "Match Is the Sweetheart of Online Dating—But Can It Fend Off Facebook and Bumble?". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  6. Carman, Ashley (2019-06-14). "Tinder co-founder's lawsuit against Tinder parent company moves closer to a trial". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  7. Bort, Julie. "Tinder founders say former CEO 'groped and sexually harassed' an executive at a company party in a bombshell $2 billion lawsuit". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  8. Ha, Anthony (2018-08-14). "Tinder founders sue parent companies Match and IAC for at least $2B". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  9. "Match Group Reports Second Quarter 2019 Results" (PDF). Match Group. 2019-08-06. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
  10. Carville, Olivia (2019-08-06). "Match Surges Most Ever as Tinder Leads Robust Revenue Growth". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
  11. Forman, Laura. "Match Results: Made in Heaven". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
  12. Palmer, Annie (2019-08-07). "Tinder results add more than $5 billion to Match market cap". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-08-07.
  13. Wells, Georgia (2020-01-28). "Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg Steps Down". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2020-01-29.
  14. "Our economic picture is unprecedented in modern history". Fortune. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  15. "How Match got away with buying 25 dating sites — and counting". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  16. Tiffany, Kaitlyn (2019-02-11). "Nearly all of the big dating apps are now owned by the same company". Vox. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  17. GEEK!, Mohammed SalahContributor at MENAbytesFounder of Social 'n' Tech A. Digital Marketing Professional who is a strong Contributor to the Entrepreneurship ecosystem in Jordan Proudly (2019-08-07). "Online dating giant Match Group acquires Egyptian dating startup Harmonica to expand into Muslim-majority markets". MENAbytes. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  18. "Match Group acquires Harmonica, the Egypt-based "halal Tinder"". Enterprise. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  19. "Tinder parent company Match Group acquires Egypt's Harmonica". Ventureburn. 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  20. Ivanova, Irina (September 25, 2019). "Government sues Match.com over fake "love interest" messages". CBS News. online. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  21. Drayton, Nicole (September 25, 2019). "FTC Sues Owner of Online Dating Service Match.com for Using Fake Love Interest Ads To Trick Consumers into Paying for a Match.com Subscription". Federal Trade Commission. online. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
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