THE MOTLEY FOOL – July 20 – In this episode of Industry Focus: Consumer Goods, join Motley Fool analysts Asit Sharma and Emily Flippen as they take a look at the online dating industry, including dating trends coming out of the coronavirus pandemic as well as two of the biggest competitors: Match Group and Bumble.
Category: Match Group
Will Bumble Be Worth More Than Match Group by 2030?
THE MOTLEY FOOL – July 19 – Enthusiasm for Bumble waned after its IPO but, Bumble has been growing faster than Match. Revenue rose 36% to $489m in 2019, then +19% to $582m in 2020. Bumble had slower growth in paid users during the pandemic, but expects revenue to grow ~25% in 2021. Meanwhile, Match's revenue rose 19% to $2.1B in 2019 and +17% to $2.4B in 2020. Analysts expect revenue to increase 22% this year. Bumble and Match trade at 12x and 15x sales. Bumble's+Badoo's paying users rose 22% to 2.5m in 2020, and +30% YOY to 2.8m in Q1 2021. Bumble had 1.35m users, while Badoo had 1.45m. Bumble generates 2x the ARPU of Badoo. Match's paid subs rose 12% to 10.9m in 2020, then +12% YOY to 11.1m in Q1 2021. The global online dating market could grow at a CAGR of 8.3% between 2019 and 2025, according to Allied Market Research.
Conclusion: Bumble could monetize Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz and become a social network. Bumble is highly unlikely to be worth more than Match in ten years but, it could still be a promising growth stock to own for the next decade.
by Leo Sun
See full article at Nasdaq
Mark Brooks: If you're going to invest in dating and social stocks, Bumble should be in the mix. I've learned not to underestimate Bumble. This company is going places! FULL DISCLOSURE: I own Match Group stock…and not Bumble, but will fix this omission this week!
Match.com in $50M Class Action Crosshairs
LAW.COM – July 15 – A South Florida litigator filed a class action seeking $50M in damages in New York federal court against Match Group. The class action complaint alleges Match Group committed fraud, breach of contract, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Users claim they were tricked into purchasing subscriptions to Match.com. After creating free profiles, the defendant informed new users that other members had initiated contact with them. But to read those messages or to craft a response, the users had to upgrade their accounts to a paid subscription, which hundreds of thousands did only to find out that "many of these communications were scammers". The lawsuit is based on a FTC lawsuit filed in 2019 that stalled, and a separate action in California. Match Group settled the latter case in California state court last week for $2M, without admitting fault, based upon claims arising out of automatic renewals without user consent.
by Michael A. Mora
See full article at Law.com
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Dating-App Investors Should Play the Field
by Laura Forman
See full article at Wall Street Journal
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Match Group Agrees to Pay $2M in Subscription Renewal Row
MYNEWS LA – July 8 – Match Group will pay $2M to settle a civil lawsuit alleging the online dating service charged customers for automatic renewal without their consent. Match Group is additionally required to clearly disclose its automatic renewal terms, to get consumer consent via a checkbox before charging for automatic renewals, and to email customers a confirmation of transactions after they pay with a clear statement of the automatic renewal terms. Consumers also must be allowed to easily cancel service online or otherwise and there must be no misleading online sales information or payment systems.
Match Group Is Pioneering the Family-Friendly Workplace
DALLAS INNOVATES – July 7 – Match Group has a commitment to a family friendly culture that starts at the top. Its benefits include full healthcare coverage, paid parental leave following a birth or adoption, on-site nursing rooms, accommodations for those considering parenthood, child care assistance, a partnership with Care.com, and more.
U.S. Lifestyle Apps Installs Hit a Record 151M in Q1 2021
SENSOR TOWER – July 6 – Lifestyle category apps are off to a strong start in 2021, both in terms of adoption and consumer spending in the U.S., according to Sensor Tower's State of Lifestyle Apps 2021 report. U.S. consumer spending on lifestyle apps hit ~$300M in Q1. Excluding Tinder, which introduced direct payments on Android, the Lifestyle category saw a compound annual growth rate of ~50% in U.S. consumer spending since the Q1 of 2018. For the first time ever, Lifestyle category apps saw 151M first-time installs in Q1 2021, up 10% YOY. This growth in adoption was driven especially by Android users; Google Play installs reached 69M last quarter, up 30% Q/Q. This brought Google Play's share of the downloads to 46%, which was the highest it had seen since 1Q18. Match Group maintained a strong presence in the top charts in Q1 '21, taking seven out of the 10 spots in the top dating apps by U.S. consumer spending.
Match Group Releases First Impact Report
PR NEWSWIRE – June 28 – Match Group released its inaugural Impact Report, which highlights the company's social, environmental, and governance performance for 2020. The report can be viewed and downloaded at mtch.com/impact.
Dating Apps Say Sex Isn’t Everything in a Post-pandemic World
REUTERS – June 22 – "There's a really interesting trend that has been taking place in the connection space, which is this desire to have platonic relationships," said Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd. Her company is investing in its Bumble BFF (best friends forever) feature, which it said comprised ~9% of Bumble's total monthly active users in Sep 2020. Meanwhile Match Group paid $1.7B this year for South Korean social media firm Hyperconnect, whose apps let people chat from across the world using real-time translation. Hyperconnect's revenue jumped 50% last year. Gay dating app Hornet, meanwhile, aims to be more of a social network focused on users' personal interests, rather than solely a hook-up service.
by Aniruddha Ghosh, Subrat Patnaik & Sarah Morland
See full article at Reuters
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Match CFO & COO: Hyperconnect Expands Technology Base and Geographical Footprint
SEEKING ALPHA – June 18 – Gary Swidler, CFO and COO of Match Group, lauded the dating app company's recently closed $1.725B acquisition of Hyperconnect, saying the deal expands both its tech base and its geographical footprint. Appearing on CNBC, Swidler noted that the purchase will broaden its business model as well, adding social discovery to its traditional dating services and expanding its move into an a-la-carte revenue stream.
by Brian Stewart
See full article at Seeking Alpha