BLOOMBERGLAW – Oct 7 – Matthew Herrick, a Grindr user, won't get to argue to the U.S. Supreme Court that the dating app should be held liable for claims stemming from a fake profile that allegedly led hundreds of men to his home. The high court denied Matthew Herrick's petition to review a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling tossing his allegations that the app lacked safety features to prevent fake profiles, and that it doesn't warn users the app could be used to harass them.
Month: October 2019
Bumble Founder Gets £4M Dividend Ahead of Potential Float
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Oct 6 – Bumble CEO & founder Whitney Wolfe Herd enjoyed a £4M dividend ahead of a possible float for the firm's parent company. Badoo is the UK-headquartered majority owner of Bumble, which also controls gay dating app Chappy and over 50s app Lumen. Wolfe Herd owns ~20% of Bumble. According to UK accounts for Badoo, Bumble now makes up 48% of the business, making it the crown jewel in Mr Andreev's dating empire. Andreev snapped up a 79%c stake in Bumble and has bankrolled founder Ms Wolfe Herd, creating a rival to Tinder. Badoo has been rumoured to be preparing for a US listing itself, with its Bumble asset valued on its own at north of $1B.
by Matthew Field
See full article at Telegraph.co.uk
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Egypt Matchmaking App Harmonica Is a Catch for Match Group
THE ARAB WEEKLY – Oct 6 – Match Group has announced the acquisition of the Egyptian emerging matchmaking application Harmonica. Harmonica relies on an AI engine to determine compatibility among users to help them find relationships. Before being launched in November 2017, Harmonica joined a 4-month programme of a regional early-stage investor and accelerator, Flat6Labs, during which it received financial, legal and technical support, as well as access to the Flat6Labs' network of partners and investors. By the end of the programme, the application had attracted ~5K users, a figure that would increase 700% in the following weeks. Following its stage at Flat6Labs, Harmonica entered the early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator 500 Startups, where it raised $150K. The start-up was selected by the Egyptian Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (TIEC) to join its incubator Start IT, which grants a similar package to that of Flat6Labs but for a more advanced stage.
by Marc Espanol
See full article at The Arab Weekly
The Legal Battles Between Former Tinder Executives Keep Getting Messier
CNN – Oct 7 – Former Tinder and Match Group CEO Greg Blatt has filed a lawsuit, accusing Tinder co-founder Sean Rad and former VP of marketing and communications Rosette Pambakian of defaming him. Blatt says they made public accusations of sexual harassment and sexual assault against him last year. Rad, Pambakian and eight other early employees of Tinder kicked off a whirlwind of legal battles when they sued Match Group and IAC for $2B in August 2018 alleging that the company manipulated the valuation of Tinder to deny them billions of dollars they were owed. Included in that suit was Pambakian's claim that she was allegedly groped and sexually harassed by Blatt at a 2016 holiday party. In his suit, Blatt alleges that Rad, internally, made a false accusation of the alleged sexual assault incident without Pambakian's support, and she was ultimately convinced by Rad to join his valuation suit and bring her claims against Blatt. Blatt is seeking a minimum of $50M in damages in his defamation suit.
Top Dating Apps Worldwide for September
REPUBLIC WORLD – Oct 6 – Tinder was the most downloaded app in the online dating category during September 2019, according to research firm Sensor Tower. Tinder had close to 5.5M installs in September, resulting in a total of 4% increase from the same period last year. Badoo was the second most installed dating app worldwide. Tantan, MeetMe, and Happn rounded out the top five most installed dating apps worldwide for the month. Here is the full list of top 10 dating apps.
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The Meet Group Announces Preliminary Financial Results for Q3 2019
THE MEET GROUP – Oct 3 – For the Q3 2019, the company expects:
- Revenue to be in the range of $52M to $52.3M, an increase from the prior expectations of $50.5M to $51M.
- Adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $10.4M to $10.6M, an increase from the prior expectations of $9.3M to $9.5M.
- Video revenue to be at least $20M, an increase from previous expectations of $19M.
Former Tinder CEO Greg Blatt Is Suing Rosette Pambakian for Defamation
LOS ANGELES TIMES – Oct 3 – In August, Rosette Pambakian, a former VP at Tinder, filed a lawsuit alleging that Greg Blatt, the onetime CEO of Tinder and its parent companies Match Group and IAC, sexually harassed and assaulted her at a company Christmas party in 2016. On Thursday, Blatt filed a defamation suit against her, and against Tinder's co-founder and former CEO Sean Rad, alleging that the sexual battery accusations are part of a smear campaign designed to give Rad and Pambakian leverage in a separate multibillion-dollar legal battle over the value of Tinder stock. A spokeswoman for Match Group said neither the company nor its parent is a party to Blatt's suit.
Pomerantz Law Firm Investigates Claims on Behalf of Investors of Match Group
GLOBE NEWSWIRE – Oct 3 – Pomerantz is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Match Group whether Match and its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. On Sep 25, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had sued Match.com for, among other things, using artificial "love interest" ads to deceive consumers into buying or upgrading subscriptions, failing to resolve disputed charges, and intentionally making it difficult to cancel subscriptions.
Japan’s Local Governments Operate Dating Services
THE ECONOMIST – Oct 3 – Match-making services that promote iju konkatsu, meaning "migration spouse-hunting", are increasingly common in Japan. They are typically operated by local governments. Along with online matching services, municipalities across Japan host parties to help singles mingle. They also organize group tours in rural prefectures, in which half the participants are locals and the other half from cities, to encourage urbanites to marry and move to the countryside. Hundreds of singletons participate in these tours every year.