Finances

The Norwegian Data Protection Authority has notified dating app Grindr that it could be fined as much as $11.7 million U.S. dollars for sharing the personal data of its users to third parties without their consent. The company has until February 15th to respond to the notice, at which time the Authority will make its final decision.

According to the report from Associated Press, Grindr’s data sharing practice was in violation of European Union privacy rules (GDPR), which requires app companies to let users know how their personal information is being shared as well as obtaining their consent. The Norwegian Consumer Council alleged that Grindr was sharing user information with third party companies so that they would be able to send more targeted ads to users of the app. However, Grindr’s customers weren’t given a thorough explanation of how their data was being used or asked if they consented to sharing it.

Dating app Once, which dubs itself the “slow” dating app, has been sold to conglomerate Dating Group for $18 million in cash and stock, according to Tech Crunch.

Dating Group owns Dating.com, Dil Mil, AnastasiaDate and ChinaLove among other online dating platforms, competing directly with Bumble and Match Group’s suite of apps as well as Facebook Dating. It currently has offices in seven countries, and around 73 million users across its portfolio. Once comes with about 9 million users.

Once positioned itself as a more purpose-driven dating app, offering only one match per day to its users, who then have 24 hours to message that match to show interest, or they disappear. This offering was an intentional tactic to compete with the frenetic pace of apps like Tinder where people are inclined to swipe through dozens of profiles each minute rather than spending time really looking at each one. On the other hand, Once forced its users to consider one match at a time.

Bumble Inc. made its IPO filing public Friday January 15th, following rumors that the company would go public in time for Valentine’s Day. The app is expected to list on NASDAQ under the BMBL ticker.

According to The New York Post, Bumble reported revenue of $488.9 million in 2019, and $376.6 million in revenue between January 29 and September 30th of 2020. (Fourth quarter results have not been reported.) The pandemic has helped fuel dating app sign-ups and activity, with people using them to connect in a time of social distancing. Bumble offers an in-app video chat feature, which has been incredibly popular the last several months as people were in lockdown.

Dating app Bumble is looking to make its stock market debut in February, likely in time for Valentine’s Day, according to a report from Bloomberg who broke the news.

The female-forward dating app was rumored to be planning its IPO for 2021, but there was no date or even timeframe specified. The company is backed by investment firm Blackstone Group, and according to Bloomberg, has already confidentially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public. In 2019, Blackstone acquired a majority stake in what was known as MagicLab, now rebranded as Bumble, which owns the Bumble apps and Badoo among other dating apps. At the time of the purchase, MagicLab was valued at about $3 billion.

Match Group has had a stellar year, with its most recent earnings surpassing last quarter’s by 3.8 percent. Analysts however pointed out that the stock has underperformed based on year over year analysis, despite the company’s increased revenues.

Match Group reported third quarter earnings of 45 cents per share, which was a decline of 13 percent from third quarter 2019. However, Match Group’s revenue paints a different picture of the company’s success, with third quarter reports of $639.8 million, an increase of 18% year over year according to Yahoo! Finance. This was driven by an increase in the average subscriber base this year, likely with more people flocking to dating apps overall as the pandemic raged on.

The average subscriber base increased 12 percent to 10.8 million according to Yahoo!, and average revenues per user (ARPU) were up 4% year over year. Still, analysts are considering how much the pandemic is affecting revenue growth in 2020, and if it will continue as we go into the new year.

Match Group’s revenue numbers increased more than expected for Q3, signaling that its customers are willing to pay for premium services in the midst of a pandemic.

According to Market Watch, Match Group reported revenue of $639.8 million for the third quarter, up from $541.5 million. Analysts had lowered expectations due to the raging pandemic and continued lockdowns, with a projection of $606 million for the quarter, which Match Group blew past. 

The company also reported a net income of $132.1 million, compared to $108.5 million in the same quarter the year before. This was due in part to star app Tinder, and also to the growth in revenue the company is seeing in its other apps, particularly Hinge, which was projected to triple its revenue growth this year.