Match Group


Match Group, Inc. is an Internet company headquartered in Dallas that owns and operates several online dating services including Tinder, Match.com, Meetic, OkCupid, Hinge, PlentyOfFish, and OurTime. In 2019, the company had 9.283 million subscribers, of which 4.554 million were in North America.

History

The company was incorporated on February 12, 2009 as a subsidiary of IAC.
On November 19, 2015, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.
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 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 February 2019, Match Group acquired dating app Hinge.
In August 2019, the company acquired Harmonica, an Egyptian online dating service.
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 July 2020, the company completed the separation from IAC. Ryan Reynolds and Wendi Murdoch joined the board of directors.

2019 legal action

In 2019, the company was sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission 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. 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 chargers, and made it overly difficult for users to cancel their subscriptions.

Dating Services Owned

As of July, 2020, Match Group owns the following dating services