Acquisitions

Blackstone Acquires Majority Stake in MagicLab

Russian billionaire Andrey Andreev is ending his relationship with MagicLab, the company that owns Bumble, Badoo, Chappy and Lumen. Andreev is set to sell his majority stake in MagicLab to Blackstone in a deal that values the company at $3 billion. As part of the transaction, Andreev will step away from the business and Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd will take over as CEO.

In a prepared statement, Andreev said:

Blackstone presented MagicLab with a great opportunity to further develop the brands and platform, and I am confident Blackstone will take MagicLab to the next level in terms of growth and expansion. I am incredibly proud of the company, and of how we have connected millions of people around the world. At MagicLab, I have had the pleasure of working with some of the best and most talented entrepreneurs. My aim now is to ensure a smooth and successful transition before I embark on a new business venture in search of innovative leaders with new and exciting ideas. I am grateful for all the support of my partners and employees over the years as we couldn’t have gotten to this point without them. I wish MagicLab and Blackstone every success.

Match Group, owner of Tinder, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish and Match.com, has added a new name to its portfolio of dating platforms: Harmonica. The Egyptian online dating startup has been acquired by Match Group for an undisclosed sum.

Harmonica was founded in early 2017 by Sameh Saleh, Tamer Saleh, Shaymaa Aly and Aly Khaled. The app aims to help singles in the Middle East match with potential life partners while respecting the faith, traditions, and culture of the region.

“Two years ago, we founded Harmonica with our sisters, cousins, and friends in mind, with the goal of helping them find a perfect partner. It was critical that what we built was something to protect them and represent the values that our community cares deeply about,” Sameh Saleh said in a statement. “It was also important that our parents would be comfortable with them using our app. We’ve already facilitated hundreds of marriages just in Egypt and believe that with Match Group’s vast experience, there are exciting opportunities ahead.”

Scruff’s parent company, Perry Street Software, has acquired Jack’d in a deal that is expected to make it the largest fully LGBTQ owned-and-operated software company by both revenue and membership. Jack’d will continue to operate as a standalone app.

“For years, we have admired the diverse and global community on Jack’d. Since its launch in 2010, Jack’d has grown to more than 5 million members worldwide,” said Eric Silverberg, CEO of Perry Street Software. “This acquisition will provide Jack’d members with the same combination of technology and active moderation we have developed at Scruff, so that the Jack’d community members will be protected against harassment, spam bots, scammers, and risks while traveling.”

Image: Zoosk

Online dating conglomerate Spark Networks announced its purchase of Zoosk for $258 million USD. The popular dating app was acquired with a combination of cash and stock, and Spark will have full ownership of Zoosk shares.

According to the terms of the deal, Spark will issue 12,980,000 ADSs (American Depository Shares) to former Zoosk shareholders, valued at $152 million based on the closing price of Spark ADSs of $11.78 on June 28, 2019. It also provides for a cash consideration of $150 million, subject to adjustment, according to the company’s press release. Former Zoosk shareholders owned 49 percent of the company.

Beijing Kunlun Tech, a Chinese company which owns the popular dating app Grindr, will now be forced to sell it by June 2020, according to a report by CNN.

Beijing Kunlun Tech owns 60% of Grindr, a popular dating app in the LGBTQ community. Last year the company was planning to take the app public but was stopped when the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) intervened. The U.S. government agency oversees purchases of businesses by foreign entities and expressed concern that the national security of the U.S. would be threatened by the acquisition of the dating app by a Chinese tech company, because of the sensitive user information it had access to.

Grindr has come under scrutiny in the last several weeks after Chinese company Beijing Kunlun Tech purchased a majority stake in the popular dating app in 2018. The U.S. government has demanded the new owners give up control of the company.

According to The Washington Post, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a government body charged with overseeing security threats to U.S. companies, has declared that the Grindr purchase is a threat to U.S. national security because of the risk posed to the privacy of users of the app.