Tinder

Brian Norgard, who has reigned as Tinder’s chief of product the past two years, announced his resignation.

According to website Tech Crunch, Norgard says he is exiting on a positive note and plans to get back to his entrepreneurial roots. Before he joined Tinder, he founded startup messaging app Tappy, which was acquired in 2014, along with Facebook messaging app Chill, another successful startup with 30 million users. When Norgard first joined Tinder, he was head of revenue and moved on to his chief of product role.

Norgard cites Keith Rabois of PayPal as his inspiration for leaving to pursue something new.

“It’s been a great ride but my strength has always been in the early-stage game,” Norgard told TechCrunch. “What I’m trying to do now is take all the learnings from that wonderful experience and bring them into my investing.”

Tinder announced that it is testing its newest feature Swipe Surge – inspired by popular ride-hailing app Uber’s surge pricing when it operates at the busiest times.

Swipe Surge will offer push notifications to users when Tinder usage spikes in a specific geographic area, alerting users to dating opportunities (rather than traffic jams). As Tinder noted, when more people are on the app, the chances of matching increase.

It works like this: if a user opts in to Swipe Surge, their profile goes to the front of the line (virtually speaking), so other users who are also swiping during the surge will see them first. (This advantage is normally reserved for those paying for it at non-peak times.) Those participating in Swipe Surge will also be identified by a badge on their profile.

New Branding Effort for Tinder

Match Group is looking to differentiate their suite of dating apps acquired over the past few years, including star Tinder and relationship-focused app Hinge.

On a call with investors, Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg shared that the company is looking at better defining their brands, according to website Tech Crunch. This means that Match Group has decided to embrace the hook-up reputation of Tinder to attract younger users from 18-25, who aren’t necessarily looking for a long-term relationship.

Match Group will launch a new branding effort called “single lifestyle” with billboard campaigns and digital initiatives. It’s begun publishing content on the “Swipe Life” website with stories about travel and dating. Recent articles have included “7 Exit Strategies for Terrible Dates,” and “Study Abroad Hookup Confessions.”

Match Group stock fell 10% 2 weeks ago in response to falling short of analysts’ Q4 goals, which were released along with their third quarter earnings reports.

Match Group reported revenue of $444 million, topping analyst estimates of $437 million for quarter 3. This is an increase of 29% when compared to quarter 3 of 2017 ($343 million). Match said it expects revenue of $1.72 billion for the year. But despite the growth and positive news, it was the projections for the last quarter which caused the dip in confidence from Wall Street. Analysts projected $454.5 million in Q4, while Match Group estimates it will only reach between $440 and $450 million.

Match Group lowered its estimates because of its higher-than-anticipated spending for Tinder and its other dating apps. Marketing costs are expected to rise 20% for Tinder and other brands like Hinge.

Is the end in sight for the legal battle between Match Group and Bumble?

According to documents filed in Texas last month, Bumble is looking to drop its $400 million countersuit against Match Group, which alleged Match interfered with its business operations, fraudulently obtained trade secrets, and intentionally tried to make Bumble less appealing to other potential acquirers. The countersuit was filed in response to a lawsuit from Match that claims Bumble infringed on several patents related to Tinder.

Initial attempts to settle failed and the war appeared poised to rage on, but a statement released by Match Group in early November indicated that Bumble will drop its lawsuit. A notice of non-opposition filed by Match confirms the company’s intent to support Bumble dropping its claims, provided the court issues declaratory judgments validating Match’s patents and Bumble’s alleged infringement of them, and absolving Match from allegedly stealing Bumble’s trade secrets.

There’s no sign of a slowdown in the legal battle between Tinder co-founder Sean Rad and Tinder’s parent company, IAC/Match Group.

In August, Rad and nine other plaintiffs sued IAC over alleged devaluation. Rad claims the company undervalued Tinder in July 2017 at $3 billion to prevent him from accessing the full value of his stock options. The suit alleges that IAC created “a false picture of Tinder’s financial condition and prospects” resulting in “bogus numbers” and that “through deception, bullying, and outright lies, IAC/Match stole billions of dollars from the Tinder employees.”

IAC is now fighting back with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, filed on October 9, which claims that Rad “fully participated in the valuation process” of Tinder and shares responsibility for the company being undervalued. Though IAC failed to accurately predict Tinder’s success over the past year, the motion argues, Rad also failed.