Category: Reporters – Ashley Carman

Bumble Is Slowly Backing Off On Its $400M Lawsuit Against Match Group

Posted on November 5, 2018

Lawsuit jan 14THE 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

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Summarized by the IDEA team

Four Tinder Plaintiffs Drop Out Of Lawsuit

Posted on September 3, 2018

Tinder logo red backgroundTHE VERGE – Aug 31 – Rosette Pambakian, Joshua Metz, Jonathan Badeen, and James Kim are voluntarily withdrawing from their Match Group / IAC lawsuit today, claiming the company covertly tried to enact an arbitration agreement during their employment. All four plaintiffs worked at Tinder, which Match Group owns, up until they filed the lawsuit. At that point, Match / IAC placed them on administrative leave. They all seemingly signed the arbitration agreement. An arbitration agreement is a contract clause that prevents employees from taking legal concerns to court. Instead, they have to settle them privately with their employer. It's unclear why these plaintiffs would voluntarily sign an arbitration agreement, especially if they had been planning a lawsuit. Most likely, the plaintiffs didn't read their new contract closely or even realize what it said.

by Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge

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Summarized by the IDEA team

Sean Rad Claims He Was Forced To Sell His Match & IAC Stock Over Threat Of Being Fired

Posted on August 28, 2018

Tinder sean rad 2017THE VERGE – Aug 27 – Tinder co-founder Sean Rad, along with nine other plaintiffs, sued IAC / Match Group earlier this month over alleged devaluation. The case centers on stock options and how much the original team deserved to be compensated for their work on Tinder. A source close to Tinder suggested that although Rad claims Tinder was undervalued in July 2017 at $3B, he still exercised his options and ended up receiving ~$94M and ~816K from IAC stock. This source took these actions as evidence that Rad didn't believe in Tinder's future success. Rad says he was forced to exercise his options in August 2017, before he was fired from Tinder in September. He had to exercise them, he says, because they would expire after his dismissal from the company.

by Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge

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Summarized by the IDEA team

The Tinder Lawsuit Is Going To Get Nasty

Posted on August 23, 2018

Tinder lawsuit1THE VERGE – Aug 22 – Last week, a group of current and former Tinder employees, including co-founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, sued Match Group and IAC for $2B over allegations that IAC hid Tinder's potential for growth in an effort to avoid paying billions of dollars to the startup team. Tucked into the suit is also the claim that former IAC CEO Greg Blatt sexually harassed Tinder VP of marketing and communications Rosette Pambakian, and that Match allegedly merged Tinder into itself to eliminate stock options without telling any of the employees. Match has placed the four plaintiffs who still worked at Tinder on leave following the lawsuit's filing. An old Gawker article, published in March 2013, could potentially suggest that the alleged misconduct Pambakian seeks to expose had been ongoing. The piece, written by N. Michelle AuBuchon, recounts a story in which a man referred to as "Jim," who was the "former head of her department who had been appointed CEO of a major dating site," harassed an employee and then demeaned AuBuchon. But the current Tinder lawsuit isn't about sexual harassment – it's about money and stock options. Meanwhile, a source close to Tinder says that Rad actually sold a great deal of stock following the merger between Tinder and Match Group, and suggested that the co-founder didn't have much faith in the future of the dating app and that Match's valuation was accurate.

by Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge

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Summarized by the IDEA team

Tinder Is Testing Location-tracking Features

Posted on May 14, 2018

Tinder placesTHE VERGE – May 11 – Tinder's director of product revenue, Jeff Morris Jr, tweeted some of the features Tinder is working on this year, including looping videos, women being able to message first, and location tracking. The new location-tracking feature, called Places, seems to function similarly to the dating app Happn in that users can view places they've visited and then see other people who have been there. The company appears to have partnered with Mapbox for the map and FourSquare to populate it with places. Users can apparently also identify places they like for potential matches to view and bond over.

by Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge

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Summarized by the IDEA team

Users Can Now Search For Specific Interests On OkCupid’s Mobile App

Posted on December 7, 2017

Okcupid interests screenshotTHE VERGE – Dec 6 – OkCupid's bringing one of its desktop features over to iOS this week. The company's Discovery feature, which allows users to search for specific interests, will roll out on Apple devices this week, with an Android launch sometime in the future. Users can type in more general topics like, "hiking,". The app will then surface people whose profiles contain that word.

by Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

OkCupid Matching People By Their ‘Flavors’

Posted on June 1, 2016

Okcupid flavorsTHE VERGE – May 31 – Users can define themselves by specific flavors and subsequently swipe through those users. OkCupid describes its new match-making feature: "Flavors is kind of like turning vanilla ice cream into a sundae. You add the fixings like cherries and chocolate goo, and end up with something more satisfying."

by Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team