Description
Match Group, Inc. is an American internet and technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It owns and operates the largest global portfolio of popular online dating services including Tinder, Match.com, Meetic, OkCupid, Hinge, PlentyOfFish, Ship, and OurTime totalling over 45 global dating companies. The company was owned by parent company IAC and in 2019, the company had 9.283 million subscribers, of which 4.554 million were in North America. Japan is the company's second largest market. In July 2020, Match Group became a separate, public company.
History
2009–2018
In February 2009, IAC incorporated Match Group as a conglomerate of Match.com and other dating sites it owned. In July 2009, Match Group's Match.com acquired People Media from American Capital for $80 million in cash. People Media operated dating sites BlackPeopleMeet.com and OurTime, which became part of Match Group's portfolio, and powered AOL Personals.
In February 2010, Match.com acquired dating site Singlesnet. In February 2011, Match Group acquired OkCupid for $50 million. OkCupid was the first free, advertising-based product added to the Match Group portfolio.
In 2012, online dating application Tinder was founded within Hatch Labs, a startup incubator run by parent company IAC. The application allowed users to anonymously swipe to like or dislike other profiles based on their photos, common interests and a small bio. On November 19, 2015, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.
In 2017, Match Group launched Tinder Gold, which established Tinder as the highest grossing non-gaming app globally. In the summer of 2017, the company offered to acquire Bumble for $450 million.
In January 2018, Mandy Ginsberg, formerly the CEO of Match North America, replaced Greg Blatt as CEO of the company.
In June 2018, Match Group acquired 51% ownership in dating app Hinge. The acquisition was intended to help diversify Match's portfolio and appeal to a wider array of singles. In February 2019, Match Group fully bought out the company.
In July 2018, Match Group launched a Safety Advisory Council comprising a group of experts focused on preventing sexual assault across its portfolio of products. The council included #MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke and worked with organizations like the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
In August 2018, Tinder co-founder Sean Rad filed a $2 billion lawsuit against Match Group, claiming that Match Group and its parent company IAC purposely undervalued Tinder to avoid paying out stock options to the company's original team. Rad and his co-plaintiffs also accused the former Tinder CEO, Greg Blatt, of sexual harassment. The company said that the allegations are "meritless". In October 2019, Blatt filed a defamation lawsuit against Rad and Tinder founding member Rosette Pambakian seeking at least $50 million in damages.
2019–2021
In January 2019, Match Group partnered with media brand Betches to launch a dating app, called Ship, that allowed users to help their friends pick out potential dates.
In August 2019, the company acquired Harmonica, an Egyptian online dating service.
In January 2020, Match Group announced an investment and partnership with safety platform Noonlight. The partnership incorporated new safety tools in Match Group's products, including emergency assistance, location tracking and photo verification.
In January 2020, Mandy Ginsberg stepped down as chief executive officer due to personal reasons. Shar Dubey, then President of Match Group, became the CEO of the company effective March 1, 2020.
In March 2020, Match Group became the first tech company to support the Earn It Act of 2020, a bipartisan bill to combat online child sexual exploitation.
In July 2020, the company completed the separation from IAC. The separation was the largest ever for IAC, as Match Group then had a market capitalization of $30 billion. After the separation, four new members joins Match Group's board of directors: Stephen Baily, Melissa Brenner, Ryan Reynolds and Wendi Murdoch
In August 2020, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Match Group reported growing profit and revenue and surpassed 10 million subscribers across its portfolio.
In September 2020, Match Group joined others companies like Spotify and Epic Games to form the Coalition for App Fairness. The purpose is to combat Apple over its app store policies.
In February 2021, Match Group announced that it would be acquiring Seoul, Korea-based social network company Hyperconnect for $1.73 billion in both cash and stock. This deal is reportedly Match Group's largest acquisition to date.
Also in February 2021, Match Group took legal action against dating app Muzmatch, the online Muslim dating app, calling the app a "Tinder Clone".
