WEBPRO NEWS – Nov 3 – Barry Diller, Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia, recently reflected on the relative youthfulness of the Internet and areas which are still ripe for entrepreneurs. IAC owns Tinder and Match. People forget that the Internet revolution is still really young, only 22 or 23 years. It took 10-15 years just to get up enough bandwidth to actually have rich media being served through it. We are really at the very earliest stage of this.
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THE VERGE – Nov 2 – Bumble is looking to drop its $400M countersuit against Match Group. Yesterday, Match filed a notice of non-opposition, essentially saying that it's okay with Bumble dropping its claims so long as the court issues declaratory judgments absolving Match from allegedly stealing Bumble's trade secrets. Match is also hoping the court will issue declaratory judgments validating its patents and Bumble's alleged infringement of them, which are involved in its original lawsuit from March. Both companies seem okay backing away from this case for now, but Match seems to want to get some absolution out of it, especially if it'll benefit the company's lawsuit against Bumble. Match sees Bumble's countersuit as serving only as a publicity stunt to bolster its reputation.
by Makena Kelly & Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge
WFSU – Oct 31 – In dueling lawsuits, Match, which owns Tinder, alleges that Bumble stole Tinder's intellectual property. Bumble says those claims are bogus, designed to drive down Bumble's worth and "poison Bumble in the investment market," according to Bumble's lawsuit. One of the central questions revolves around Tinder's patented system for connecting people over the Internet. The matching is based on mutual interest, as expressed through a swiping motion. It's a real patent. But Bumble says it shouldn't be. Patents are supposed to cover inventions, not abstract ideas. Design a machine that does something, and you can patent it. Have an general idea, an overall concept? No patent. "You don't get a patent for saying 'cure dementia with a drug.' You have to say what the drug is," explains Daniel Nazer, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. But in the Internet era, people discovered they could get a patent for an otherwise abstract idea as long as they tied it to an existing technology.
by Camila Domonoske
See full articl at WFSU
BUSINESS INSIDER – Oct 13 – Wall Street thinks online dating could be the next hot sector, and the latest estimate sees the market growing to $12 billion by 2020. It all comes down to peoples' increasing willingness to try out online dating, said Mark Kelley, an analyst with Nomura Instinet. "Roughly half of Internet users are single, and we estimate 20% of them will be willing to use online dating products by 2020 (up from 15% in 2015), which equates to ~310M people globally (excluding China)," Kelly said. Match will remain the clear leader. Even Facebook shouldn't be a concern.
by Graham Rapier
See full article at Bussines Insider
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FORTUNE – Oct 10 – The Match Group on Tuesday filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of undervaluing Tinder, saying that Sean Rad was closely involved in Tinder's valuation and underestimated its potential revenues. Tinder co-founder Sean Rad and a group of ex-Tinder workers filed the lawsuit in August, alleging that Match lowballed Tinder's valuation in July of last year to stop Rad accessing from the full value of his stock options. The group alleges that Match created "a false picture of Tinder's financial condition and prospects" resulting in "bogus numbers," or a $3B valuation. IAC say that Rad was closely involved in determining that $3B number. He estimated that Tinder to bring in $500M in revenue this year – significantly less than the $800M they now project for 2018. Match didn't predict Tinder's success over the past year, but neither did Rad, Match claims.'
by Emma Hinchcliffe
See full article at Fortune
FORTUNE – Oct 5 – Executives from two companies suing each other took the stage one after the other at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif., last week. Match CEO Mandy Ginsberg said that she respects Bumble and its founder Whitney Wolfe Herd despite the two companies' ongoing legal drama. "I've really admired Whitney and what she's built," Ginsberg said. "I've had a great personal relationship with her even through all this."
SEEKING ALPHA – Oct 3 – IAC discloses acquiring ~259K Match Group shares at average prices ranging from $35.23 to $59.25. The acquisitions represent Match shares as reimbursement for IAC shares issued in connection with the settlement of Match equity awards and the exercise of IAC stock options. Match Group shares are up 1.7% to $57.25.
by Brandy Betz
See full article at Seeking Alpha
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TECH CRUNCH – Sep 27 – Bumble is continuing to go on the offensive against Match Group by serving Match Group with papers. Bumble is taking Match Group to court for fraudulently obtaining trade secrets during acquisition talks. Today, Bumble is also officially responding to Match Group's suit against it, which claims patent infringement and misuse of intellectual property. "Bumble has today formally responded to Match's lawsuit from March 2018 alleging patent infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets. We believe all of the claims are baseless, and are seeking to have several claims dismissed immediately, given their lack of merit." Bumble says Match Group filed its original lawsuit against it to make it less attractive to other potential acquirers. The claims Match Group makes around patent infringement involve Bumble's use of a stack of profile cards, mutual opt-in, and its swiped-based gestures.
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch