Tinder’s paying users just keep running for the exits
Shares of the Tinder and Hinge owner were down 18%, as dating-app-makers navigate a postpandemic market.
Match Group is still struggling to attract more users. The company reported a 3% decline in total paying users — which constitutes the majority of its revenue — in the latest quarter, marking its eighth consecutive quarter of negative payer growth.
The company also projected flat year-over-year growth in sales for the fourth quarter, between $865 and $875 million, while analysts expected $903.5 million, per FactSet. Shares of Match Group fell 18.1% as of midday Thursday, making it the biggest decliner among S&P 500 stocks.
At least Hinge, the company’s fastest-growing brand, was a bright spot: the majority of the user loss came from Match Group’s largest and oldest app, Tinder. Paying users declined 4%, dragging direct revenue down by 1% from a year ago. Meanwhile, Hinge saw 21% more payers, leading to 36% direct revenue growth.
Meanwhile, rival Bumble was modestly higher. It had risen about 9% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after it reported earnings, but the stock’s gains moderated in regular trading today.
While smaller, Bumble seems to have fairly consistent paying-user growth. However, average revenue that each user brought in declined, and overall revenue was slightly down.
Since their 2021 peak, shares of Bumble are down nearly 90% and Match Group has slid more than 80%.
This leaves us with Grindr, which will report after the bell on Thursday. The company, conversely, has seen consistent improvement in its stock and paying users, yet it is going through somewhat of an identity crisis.
Together, Bumble, Match Group and Grindr make up about 85% of the online-dating market, Bank of America analysts estimate.
