Dating Services

Dating app giant Match Group is set to cut 13 percent of its staff, a reduction of about 325 employees from its most current count of 2,500. The company will also be closing all open positions.

This news comes after another disappointing first quarter. The company said in an earnings call that paid users fell more than 5 percent from a year ago, a trend that continues as more young daters look for ways to meet outside of dating apps. According to Fortune, the company’s new CEO Spencer Rascoff said that the staffing cuts will save Match Group about $100 million per year, and about $45 million in 2025 alone.

The trimming of staff will mostly focus on management according to Tech Crunch, with about one in five managers affected. The company wants to centralize key functions like technology and data services, customer care, and content moderation. It also wants to focus on media buying and international go-to-market functions to increase customer reach.

Randian Capital, an activist investor in Bumble, is urging the company to follow its “turnaround plan,” which also includes a potential sale.

The investor group spent six months analyzing Bumble’s business practices and is advocating for drastic change to be made because “the current trajectory is not working,” according to sources who spoke to Investing.com.

When asked about potential buyers, Randian mentioned one interesting company – Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and dominates the social media market. Meta is also currently the subject of an SEC investigation into the nature of its previous mergers, which are alleged to violate anti-trust laws, due to some internal correspondence among its executives.

Tinder has launched a new game featuring AI bots that users can interact with to practice flirting, enact meet-cute scenarios, and get suggestions on how they can improve their skills.

According to Tech Crunch, “The Game Game” as Tinder calls it, is accessible over the app. When a user clicks on the Tinder logo in the top left corner, the game is activated and provides the user with a set of cards, each one featuring a different AI persona in a different scenario.  

Users can respond by talking and flirting with the bot directly and seeing if they can score a “date.”

Dating app Hinge announced that it is adding a $1 million fund for in-person events and social group gatherings in New York, Los Angeles, and London.

According to CNBC, the money is to subsidize free or lower cost events to attract young people. The fund is part of their One More Hour social impact initiative which the company launched last year. Hinge says it recognizes Gen Z’s need for more tangible ways to connect than just over a dating app, and wants to create more spaces for them to get together.

The groups will focus on a range of activities that include food, nature, and reading, for example. The purpose of the groups is to highlight an interest to attract people and give them something to do while they are meeting other people, taking the pressure off.

Bumble announced it has added ID Verification in addition to other new safety-related features to attract singles back to its app.

The new verification feature lets users submit a photo of a government-issued ID to prove they are who they say they are, and then they can earn a verified badge for their profile, according to Tech Crunch.

The female-centered app is appealing its core demographic with the announcement – focusing on its female clientele who are looking for more safety features on dating apps. ID Verification is available in 11 countries, including the U.S., U.K., Australia, France and India. The company intends to roll out in more countries in the coming months, according to The Seattle Times.

Hinge has launched a new feature called Match Notes, which allows users to privately share details about themselves that they don’t want to post to their public profiles.

Match Notes instead allows users to share these details only with their potential matches, including important information like if they are non-monogamous, sober, have a disability, or are recently out, according to Mashable.

Now when a user updates their settings, they can add the Match Note, which appears only to users they match with. According to Mashable, If someone has added a Match note, another user must acknowledge it in order to actually match (or they can also choose to not match with the person). The Match Note is automatically shared when two people Like each other (or in other words, when they officially match).