Founder of China Based Gay Dating App Blued Steps Down

Founder of Blued - Baoli Ma

Baoli Ma, the founder of BlueCity Holdings which operates Blued, China’s most popular gay dating app, has stepped down from his position as chairman and CEO after the company was privatized and delisted from NASDAQ. The company has not yet named a successor.

According to the South China Morning Post, Ma hinted that it was difficult to run a gay dating platform in the country’s current environment, where the government is cracking down on LGBTQ content online and removing gay dating apps including Grindr from its app stores. Last year, Chinese conglomerate Tencent erased over a dozen LGBTQ university groups from WeChat. Same-sex marriage is currently illegal in China as well.

The country has enforced new rules regarding privacy, data management and algorithmic recommendations for the past few years, which have especially affected gay dating platforms like Blued. But the app has run into controversies on its own, too. In 2019, Blued suspended new user registrations for one week after a report came out that some underage users contracted HIV on dates set up via the app.

BlueCity grew revenue in that same year to US$107.2 million and went public the following year with a valuation of nearly $800 million US. But maintaining that proved difficult in the wake of China’s restrictions on LGBTQ online spaces. In the three years since, the company’s value fell to US $57.7 million and its stock price was only $1.54 before it was delisted, less than ten percent of its value at the initial public offering according to South China Morning Post.

The company said it will be funded by both Ma and a fund controlled by social networking app developer NewBornCity, based in Hong Kong. NewBornCity contributed roughly $50 million of the $60 million buyout, according to South China Morning Post.

Over the years at Ma’s direction, Blued offered some revolutionary new features, such as operating an HIV-focused nonprofit to not only serve its users but to be part of the state’s public health infrastructure. It also expanded to launch a digital pharmacy and internet hospital for Chinese men, according to RestofWorld.org.

Ma said in a statement regarding his stepping down from the company: “We have turned ideals into reality and made something impossible possible,” Ma wrote, hinting at the difficulties of running a business which specifically serves the LGBTQ+ community. “I feel content and unregretful, as I’ve accomplished my mission,” he added.

Ma had been optimistic about the company’s future prior to its IPO, saying at the time: “The Chinese government has said several times in international meetings that it does not discriminate against sexual minorities and promises equal health and employment rights for LGBTQ+.”