THE VERGE – Apr 23 – A Match Group spokesperson confirmed that a "limited number" of old accounts had been accidentally reactivated recently and that any account affected received a password reset. Match.com's current privacy statement says that the company can "retain certain information associated with user account" even after they close it. The company plans to roll out a new privacy policy in order to comply with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); under the new policy, all those years-old accounts will be deleted. Although there is no federal data destruction law in the US, 32 states have data disposal laws that require "entities to destroy, dispose, or otherwise make personal information unreadable or undecipherable."
Category: Match Group
10 Reasons To Invest In Match Group
SEEKING ALPHA – Apr 17 – Buy and hold MTCH for at least three to five years. Here's why:
- An emerging and fast-growing online dating services market
- Limited competition Tinder just made $0.4B revenue in 2017 and its closest competitors also are Match Group properties such as Match.com or POF.
- Tinder is a worldwide brand with no close number two internationally
- A strong leadership. An industry leader enforcing its patent
- Multiple growth – users, subscribers and revenue
- A scalable platform that costs little to operate. Operating profit already is at 27% in 2017, and projected to be above 30% in 2018.
- Higher barrier to entry for new entrants as the industry matures
- M&A history of Match Group
- Price appreciation. Since its IPO at $13.5 a share, Match Group's share price has been climbing steadily and is now very close to its all-time high.
- Valuation – Match Group is richly valued if we consider the price/sales ratio of 9 or the trailing P/E of 38.
Match Group Appoints Malgosia Green CEO Of Plenty Of Fish
PR NEWSWIRE – Apr 12 – Green founded and led various consumer and education tech companies in Toronto and has a strong track-record building and leading product and engineering teams. Most recently Green served as the Chief Product Officer of Top Hat, an innovative education technology business where higher education instructors can create content to engage students both in and outside the classroom.
The full article was originally published at Match Group website, but is no longer available.
Bumble Is Suing Match For $400M For Fraudulently Obtaining Trade Secrets
TECH CRUNCH – Mar 28 – Two weeks ago Match Group sued Bumble for patent infringement and misuse of intellectual property. Bumble has now filing a separate lawsuit accusing Match of multiple improprieties in regards to interactions between the two companies over the past few months. The lawsuit acknowledges that Bumble and Match Group were in acquisition talks over the last 6 months. Bumble alleges that once Match Group found out there were other companies also interested in either investing in or acquiring Bumble, Match Group filed their aforementioned lawsuit to make Bumble less attractive to those other companies. Secondly, Bumble alleges that during the acquisition process Match Group fraudulently requested that Bumble provide "confidential and trade secret information" which Match Group said they "needed to provide a higher offer for Bumble". Bumble alleges that no subsequent offer came, and Match Group instead requested and obtained this information solely for "the financial benefit of its dating app businesses". The lawsuit requests relief in the form of monetary damages, which Bumble estimates at $400M.
by Fitz Tepper
See full article at Tech Crunch
Match Group Is Defending Itself In A Patent Lawsuit Filed In January By PersonalWeb Technologies
RPX INSIGHT – Mar 21 – PersonalWeb Technologies, a company based in Texas, is suing Match Group for patent infringement. PersonalWeb Technologies owns several patents that are fundamental to cloud computing, distributed search engine file systems and content addressable storage and social networks. The company filed the complaint on January 24th, 2018, and claims Match Group has infringed 5 of its patents. More info here.
Match Group Also Sues Chinese Dating App Tantan
LAW360 – Mar 20 – Match Group has filed another intellectual property lawsuit. This time against Tantan, a dating service billed as "China's Tinder". Match Group is accusing Tantan of infringing its design patents and trademarks by copying Tinder's swiping system including "nearly identical" match screen. Tantan was acquired by Chinese social media app Momo for $760M last month.
by Bill Donahue
See full article at Law360
Tinder And Bumble Will Never Be A Match
by Emily Bary
See full article at MarketWatch
Bumble Responded To Match Lawsuit With An Ad
TECH CRUNCH – Mar 20 – Tinder's parent company Match Group is suing its competition Bumble, accusing the app of stealing trade secrets and patents. The complaint also says that Bumble has rolled out two new features that were "learned of and developed confidentially while at Tinder". Bumble is responding with a full-page ad in the New York Times, "We swipe left on your multiple attempts to buy us, copy us, and now, to intimidate us." The ad goes onto say that Bumble isn't afraid of aggressive corporate culture. "That's what we call bullying, and we swipe left on bullies," it says, noting the thousands of users the company has blocked for "bad behavior."
by Fitz Tepper
See full article at Tech Crunch
Match Group Is Suing Bumble For Patent Infringement
RECODE.NET – Mar 16 – Match Group is suing Bumble for infringing on two of its patents, including a design patent for Tinder's now-famous swipe-to-connect feature, according to the suit. Match also claims that early Bumble executives Chris Gulczynski and Sarah Mick, who both previously worked at Tinder, stole "confidential information related to proposed Tinder features," including the idea for a feature that lets users go back if they accidentally skip someone, according to the suit. Tinder and Bumble have a long and interesting history. Most recently, Match made an offer to buy Bumble last summer for $450M, according to TechCrunch. One source tells Recode that Match is still interested in acquiring Bumble, which means this lawsuit may very well be a bargaining chip – albeit an unfriendly one. Badoo is Bumble's majority owner, with a 79% stake.
by Kurt Wagner
See full article at ReCode
Match Group Stock No Longer Cheap But Could Rally Further, Says Analyst
MARKETWATCH – Mar 7 – Jefferies analyst Brent Thill raised his price target on Match Group shares to $50 from $44 late Tuesday, writing that he believes new investors haven't missed Match's rally entirely, despite the stock's 156% rise over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 is up 15% in that time. Thill wrote that Match Group shares still trade at a discount to shares of other subscription companies, including Netflix, Zillow Group and Angi Homeservices based on EBITDA. "The argument can no longer be made that Match is a cheap asset, but we still believe that upside remains," Thill wrote. Tinder continues to perform well and a new paid Tinder feature due out later this year is potentially "a catalyst that can move the stock."