Love is finally going to be available on the public market.
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The company plans to list its shares on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “MTCH”.
Match Group is swiping right and hopes investors will do the same: The parent of Tinder, Match.com and OkCupid is filing for an initial public offering of stock. All, of course, are geared toward fulfilling a mission to “increase romantic connectivity worldwide”.
Internet media company IAC controls 100% of Match Group, but said in June that it would publicly sell less than 20% of the dating division to inject fresh capital into the fast-growing business.
The company says it has 59 million monthly active users, and about 4.7 million paid members, using its dating products as of the end of the third quarter this year.
Match generated 2014 revenue of $888.3 million, up about 11% year-on-year, with net income of $147.8 million, up 18% year on year, according to the company’s prospectus.
IAC also owns many other popular websites and apps – including Vimeo, The Daily Beast, About.com and search engine Ask – which many still remember as the old Ask Jeeves.
The Match Group’s IPO faces a few risks: There is a lot of competition in the dating space, though Match Group does own a few of the most buzzworthy platforms.
If the Match Group IPO goes through, it would be a major mark of success for the Los Angeles tech community. If Facebook substantially changes its terms and conditions in a way that affects Tinder’s ability to onboard customers, it could negatively impact Match’s business.
Since 2009, Match Group has spent over $1.28 billion in order to acquire 25 brands for its dating portfolio, including OkCupid, Meetric, Twoo, and PlentyofFish. Match Group has 1,600 employees overall.
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JP Morgan, Allen & Co LLC and BofA Merrill Lynch are the underwriters for the offering, Match said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It all started with the realization that there are many apps that connect us with people we already know, but none that do a great job of help…
