Match Group, Inc. is an American internet and technology company headquartered in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
. It owns and operates the largest global portfolio of popular
online dating service
Online dating, also known as Internet dating, Virtual dating, or Mobile app dating, is a relatively recent method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An onlin ...
s including
Tinder
Tinder is easily combustible material used to start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder until it bursts into flame. The flaming tinder i ...
,
Match.com
Match is an online dating service with web sites serving over 50 countries in twelve languages. Its headquarters are in Dallas, Texas. The company has offices in Dallas, West Hollywood, San Francisco, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing. Match is ...
,
Meetic
Meetic is a French online dating service founded in November 2001 and part of the Match Group since 2013.
History
In November 2001, Marc Simoncini started Meetic as a dating website. It became publicly quoted in October 2005.
In 2007, accordi ...
,
OkCupid
OkCupid (often abbreviated as OKC, but officially OkC) is a U.S.-based, internationally operating online dating, friendship, and formerly also a social networking website and application. It features multiple-choice questions to match members. ...
,
Hinge,
PlentyOfFish
Plenty of Fish is a Canadian online dating service, popular primarily in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Brazil, and the United States. It is available in nine languages. The company, which is b ...
,
UPWARD, 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
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
[ ]Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
is the company's second largest market, after the United States. 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
American Capital, Ltd. was a publicly traded private equity and global asset management firm, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol “ACAS” from 1997 to 2017 and a component of the S&P 500 Index from 2007 to 2009. American Capital was sold to ...
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
An incubator is anything that performs or facilitates various forms of incubation, and may refer to:
Biology and medicine
* Incubator (culture), a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures or cell cultures
* Incubator (egg), a de ...
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
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
.
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
Bumble is an online dating application. Profiles of potential matches are displayed to users, who can "swipe left" to reject a candidate or "swipe right" to indicate interest. In heterosexual matches, only female users can make the first contac ...
for $450 million.
In January 2018, Mandy Ginsberg
Mandy Ginsberg is an American businesswoman and manager, who is the former CEO of Match Group.
Early life and education
Ginsberg graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and subsequently obtained an MBA from The Wharton School of ...
, 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
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
across its portfolio of products. The council included #MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke
Tarana Burke (born September 12, 1973) is an American activist from The Bronx, New York, who started the MeToo movement. In 2006, Burke began using MeToo to help other women with similar experiences to stand up for themselves. Over a decade late ...
and worked with organizations like the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is an American nonprofit anti-sexual assault organization, the largest in the United States. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, as well as the Department of Defense Safe Helpline ...
(RAINN) and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) is an American nonprofit organization that addresses the causes and impact of sexual violence through collaboration, prevention, and resources. Working in collaboration with state and territory ...
.
In August 2018, Tinder
Tinder is easily combustible material used to start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder until it bursts into flame. The flaming tinder i ...
co-founder Sean Rad
Sean Rad (born May 22, 1986) is an American entrepreneur and co-founder of the dating app Tinder. Rad launched Tinder in 2012 and by 2014 the company was recording one billion "swipes" a day.
Rad holds 9 patents for his work, including the pat ...
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
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
. 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–present
In January 2019, Match Group partnered with media brand Betches
Betches (originally Betches Love This) is a digital media company started by Aleen Dreksler, Jordana Abraham, and Samantha Sage. Originally started as a website, the company now includes a webpage, social media accounts, several podcasts, a nationa ...
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
Online dating, also known as Internet dating, Virtual dating, or Mobile app dating, is a relatively recent method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An onlin ...
.
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
A positioning system is a system for determining the position of an object in space. One of the most well-known and commonly used positioning systems is the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Positioning system technologies exist ranging from worl ...
and photo verification.
In January 2020, Mandy Ginsberg
Mandy Ginsberg is an American businesswoman and manager, who is the former CEO of Match Group.
Early life and education
Ginsberg graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and subsequently obtained an MBA from The Wharton School of ...
stepped down as chief executive officer due to personal reasons. Shar Dubey
Sharmistha Dubey is an Indian American business executive. She was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Match Group from March 2020 to May 2022. Dubey joined Match Group in 2006. Dubey also serves on the Board of Directors of Match Group and For ...
, 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 Earn It Act of 2020
The EARN IT ActS. 3538 is proposed legislation first introduced in 2020 in the United States Congress. It aims to amend Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934, which allows operators of websites to remove user-posted content that they dee ...
, a bipartisan
Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing political parties find co ...
bill with the support of President Trump to combat online child sexual exploitation but widely criticized for its predicted negative impact on privacy and computer security.
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
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders.
Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...
of $30 billion. After the separation, four new members joins Match Group's board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
: Stephen Baily, Melissa Brenner, Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian-American actor. He is one of the highest-grossing film actors of all time, with a worldwide box-office gross of over billion.
He began his career starring in the Canadian teen ...
and Wendi Murdoch
Wendi Deng Murdoch (; born Deng Wen Di; December 5, 1968) is a Chinese-born American entrepreneur, investor, movie producer, media mogul, and collector of Chinese contemporary art.
Early life and education
Wendi Deng was born in Jinan, Shan ...
.
In August 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, 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
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
and Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, M ...
to form the Coalition for App Fairness
The Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) is a coalition comprised by companies who aim to reach a fairer deal for the inclusion of their apps into the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. The organization's executive director is Meghan DiMuzio ...
. 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'
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". The Match Group won the legal battle in London courts in April 2022.
In April 2022, Shar Dubey stepped down from her position as CEO while remaining on the board of directors. Bernard Kim
Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname.
The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...
, the former president of Zynga
Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...
, became CEO effective from May 31st, 2022.
In July 2022, Match Group acquired The League
''The League'' is an American sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, Illinois, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football league ...
, a members-only dating app, for an undisclosed sum.
2019 legal action
In 2019, the company was sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
(FTC) for allegations of unfair and deceptive trade practices. According to the FTC's civil complaint, the company used fake love interest ads to encourage free users to pay for premium subscription services on Match.com
Match is an online dating service with web sites serving over 50 countries in twelve languages. Its headquarters are in Dallas, Texas. The company has offices in Dallas, West Hollywood, San Francisco, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing. Match is ...
. Accounts that were flagged as suspicious or potentially fraudulent by the site were prevented from messaging paid subscribers but were allowed to continue messaging free users who were tricked into believing that the suspicious accounts were real users encouraging them to subscribe and connect with them. The company denied the allegations. The FTC further alleged that the company offered false promises of guarantees, failed to provide support to customers who unsuccessfully disputed charges, and made it overly difficult for users to cancel their subscriptions, which Match Group disputed as cherry-picked
Cherry picking, suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoring a significant portion of related and similar cases or data th ...
and misrepresenting internal emails. In September 2020, it was reported that the Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
had closed its investigation into the FTC complaint.
Response to 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, Match Group refused to join the international community and withdraw from the Russian market. Research from Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
updated on April 28, 2022 identifying how companies were reacting to Russia's invasion identified Match Group in the worst category of "Digging In", meaning Defying Demands for Exit: companies defying demands for exit/reduction of activities.
Dating services owned
As of July, 2020, Match Group owns the following dating services;
References
External links
*
{{authority control
2015 initial public offerings
IAC (company)
Online dating services of the United States
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Companies based in Dallas
Online dating services
Dating
Matchmaking