by Savannah Dowling
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Category: Match Group
U.S. Orders Chinese Firm to Sell Dating App Grindr Over Blackmail Risk
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Mar 27 – U.S. national-security officials have ordered a Chinese company to sell gay-dating app Grindr, citing the risk that the personal data it collects could be exploited by Beijing to blackmail individuals with security clearances, according to people familiar with the situation. Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd., which acquired a majority stake in Grindr in 2016, would have no choice but to share information on Grindr users if demanded by the Chinese government, U.S. officials believe. That triggered the recent order from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., known as Cfius. National-security experts said a Chinese company would never be allowed to buy a company like Facebook Inc., for example.
"If Cfius only applies to companies China acquires from the U.S., and not companies China builds, what can it possibly solve?" said Geoffrey Cook, CEO of The Meet Group.
Potential buyers for Grindr could include Match. Mark Brooks, a consultant in the dating industry, said Spark Networks and The Meet Group could be among other potential contenders.
by Georgia Wells & Kate O'Keeffe
See full article at Wall Street Journal
Tinder co-Founder Asks Court to Dismiss $250M Lawsuit From Tinder’s Owner
THE VERGE – Mar 26 – Tinder co-founder and former CEO Sean Rad has asked the New York Supreme Court to dismiss a $250M lawsuit against him by Match Group and IAC, the owners of Tinder. Match claims that Rad copied internal files and proprietary information before he left the company, violating his employment contract. In his motion to dismiss, however, Rad says the contract gave him the right to back up internal emails and hold on to those correspondences even after his tenure at Tinder ended. Match's claims are meant to counter a multibillion-dollar lawsuit from Rad. In August 2018, Rad and other former Tinder employees sued Match Group and IAC over claims that the company purposefully undervalued Tinder to avoid having to pay the team billions more in equity. Now Match is countersuing, alleging that Rad copied "highly sensitive, non-public information" about Tinder business strategies and plans.'
by Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge
Matchmakers Emerge as an Antidote to the Agony of Online Dating
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Mar 8 – In a 2018 Match.com survey, 55% of respondents said technology makes personal connections harder to make, and 54% felt overwhelmed by the work involved. Melissa Brown, CEO of It's Just Lunch, a matchmaking service founded in 1991, says the company has seen its fastest growth in the past couple of years among daters in their 20s and 30s. "They're sick of the swiping and the countless hours of talking to people that goes nowhere," she said. Three Day Rule, another matchmaking service, grew out of Talia Goldstein's LA apartment, where in 2013 she would host large parties in hopes of fixing up friends. Now CEO of the company, she secured funding from Match Group, and her company boasts ~700 users across 10 cities. Its services start at $5,500. Clients receive professional photo shoots, and matchmakers help them write texts to prospective dates and shop for appropriate clothes. After each date, the matchmaker will check in with both parties and give the client feedback.
by Michelle Hackman
See full article at Wall Street Journal
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Match Group Falls 4% After Analyst Says Tinder Growth to Slow ‘Substantially’
WILCOXGUARDIAN – Mar 2 – After recommending for years, Deutsche Bank has finally decided to "swipe left" on the online dating platform, downgrading the stock to a hold rating. Analyst Kunal Madhukar told clients that he projects a significant slowdown in subscriber growth in Match's dating app Tinder over the next 12 months. Pricing could also prove problematic for Match, the analyst said, since the majority of the current subscribers live outside of the U.S.
by Jen Stanley
The full article was originally published at Wilcox Guardian, but is no longer available.
Match: Dominance in the U.S., Poised to Conquer Asia
SEEKING ALPHA – Mar 1 – Match has achieved market dominance in the online dating space. The main advantage of Match are:
- The "Network effects" when it comes to online dating (i.e. the more users on the site the more valuable it is). New entrants to the market would need to quickly reach a critical mass in order to compete
- The "best" User Interface has already been settled on. There is little revolutionary improvement to be made to the "swipe right, swipe left" interface pioneered by Tinder. Similar to the situation with Facebook years ago. Google learned this lesson the hard way years ago with Google Plus. Furthermore, every time the Match Group adds a feature to its existing products or launches a new dating app it effectively fills a niche in the industry and closes off a path for potential competitors.
Facebook is a non-issue. Online dating and Facebook do not mix as well as Mark Zuckerberg would want you to believe. Asia online dating a tremendous opportunity. The current statistics of singles who have never used an online dating product in Asia shows massive market potential.
Match Group May Break $2B Revenue in 2020
BASEBALL DAILY NEWS – Feb 25 – Equities analysts predict that Match Group will post $447 million in sales for Q1, for a year-over-year growth of 18%. Analysts expect 2019 sales of $1.72B. Match Group showed a net margin of 21.24% on $444m quarterly revenue. 8 analysts have rate the stock with a hold rating, 11 issued a buy rating, and 2 have a strong buy rating. Match Group operates a portfolio, including Tinder, Match, PlentyOfFish, Meetic, OkCupid, OurTime, and Pairs, in 42 languages in 190 countries.
by Carl Hest
See full article at Baseball Daily News
FULL DISCLOSURE: PlentyOfFish is a former client of Courtland Brooks, and Mark Brooks currently owns shares in Match & IAC.
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Tycoons of Love: The Men Who Run Online Dating
THINKNUM – Feb 16 – The world of dating apps is dominated by four companies – Match Group, The Meet Group, Badoo and Spark. Here are the four men behind these companies.
Match Group – Barry Diller
Born in San Fran in 1942, 77 year-old Barry Diller is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia. Diller married fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg in 2001 and is now estimated to be worth $3.3B. He also created the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. On top of creating his own empire in media, Diller's influence has spread to those who he mentored – colloquially called the "Killer Dillers" – which included former Disney Chairman & CEO Michael Eisner and Dawn Leslie Steel, one of the first woman to become the head of a major movie studio.
The Meet Group – Geoff Cook
Geoff isn't The Meet Group's founder. That honor goes to his younger brother and sister, Dave and Catherine Cook. Dave and Catherine created myYearbook in 2005 as a place for ex-classmates to meet up online. Geoff became the company's power player after investing $250K that he made from his EssayEdge and ResumeEdge startups he created in his Harvard dorm room.
Badoo – Andrey Andreev
Born in February 1974 in Moscow, Russia, Andreev founded Badoo, SpyLog, Begun, and Mamba. He also famously convinced ex-Tinder exec Whitney Wolfe Herd to create Bumble, of which Badoo is a 79% owner. Andreev was recently listed by Forbes as one of the world's richest people, estimated to be worth $1.5B.
Spark Networks – Jeronimo Folgueira
Before taking over Spark in 2017, Jeronimo was a Managing Director at Betfair plc (now Paddy Power plc). The Columbia Business School grad took over the reigns of all of Spark Networks SE when JDate and Christian Mingle-focused Spark merged with Affinitas GmbH.
The full article was originally published at Thinknum Media, but is no longer available.
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Q&A With Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg
THE OBSERVER – Feb 14 – Observer sat down with Mandy Ginsberg to chat about her achievements and challenges over the past year.
Q: How would you describe your first year as the CEO of Match Group?
A: I've been with the company for a long time. But this past year was wonderful, because I had not been in a position where I was in charge across all these brands. We had our best performing financial year ever in our history. On the culture side, there were a couple things that were important to me. As a woman leader in the dating category, I wanted to make sure that I can help women on our platforms with issues around dating and sexual assault. I created the Match Group Advisory Council, and we brought together some of the most incredible leaders who have real expertise in the prevention of sexual assault. I also wanted to make Match Group the best technology company for women to work at. We extended our parental leave policies. We also pay for egg freezing now (80% of the total cost).
Q: What is the latest update on the sexual harassment accusations brought against your former CEO Greg Blatt?
A: I don't really have an update, because there's been no litigation. I have been very aggressive to make sure that our employees know that we do not shy away from these issues and that they are in a safe environment.
Q: Has there been any HR policy change since then?
A: Most of the challenges we faced were around Tinder. We had many employees right out of college. So they needed real clarity in terms of what's appropriate in a workplace. We did sexual harassment training, both in person and via online modules, to make sure that people were aware of what the boundaries are.
Q: Does the fact that Match is in the business of dating make it hard to set company policies around related issues, such as office romance?
A: I would feel hard pressed to tell people in the business of love that you shouldn't fall in love with someone at work, especially when I myself fell in love with my husband at work. Our policy is that you can't date people in direct reporting lines.
Q: Over your 13 years in the dating business, what are some of the interesting trends you've observed on how people use online dating services?
A: 10 years ago people felt very embarrassed to tell others that they met their spouses through a dating site. Today, its kind've a badge of honor. What has driven the big transformation in this category is the popularity of free services and smartphones, which have attracted young people into online dating.
Q: What do you think of Facebook's new dating service?
A: Facebook has launched the dating service in a couple of markets, but we haven't seen any real impact on us yet. But for Facebook, you can't underestimate them. They're a huge player and they have access to a lot of people.
by Sissi Cao
See full article at The Observer
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Jared Sine Is Making All the Right Legal Moves for Match.com
CHRON – Feb 12 – The Texas Lawbook and the DFW Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel announced Thursday night that Jared Sine is the winner of the 2018 Outstanding Corporate Counsel's General Counsel of the Year Award for a Large Legal Department. During his 30 months as general counsel and corporate secretary at Match, Sine has tripled the size of the legal department.
by Mark Curriden
See full article at Chron
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