Shares rose 38% to $12.45 at 10:24 a.m.in NY, after reaching $13.05, up 45%, earlier in the day.
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The USA online romance market, worth more than $2 billion a year, has thrived as instant messaging, photo-sharing and geolocation services grow in popularity. Shares begin trading on Thursday.
Match Group raised about $537 million by selling 33.3 million shares in its IPO.
Match Group’s crown jewel is Tinder, one of the most popular dating apps among the 20-something “millennial” audience, allowing users to make rapid-fire judgments about whether someone is date-worthy by swiping on a person’s picture on their mobile phone. Mobile-based Tinder is another of Match’s well-known online dating offerings.
Match’s first date with Wall Street is actually more of a double date.
The company, owned by media mogul Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, has developed online dating sites that work well on smartphones, attracting busy young professionals that are highly coveted by advertisers. Square’s (SQ) IPO could end up pricing the company at a big discount from where it was last valued in the private markets. During that period, Match reported revenue of $991.9 million – which is up almost 12% from fiscal 2014.
BTIG analyst Brandon Ross warned investors to stay away from the Match IPO because of a “Tinder Catch-22” where the hot app’s strong growth threatens to cannibalize the rest of the business.
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In addition, IAC retains 98 percent voting control over Match Group, which limits the influence of other shareholders when it comes to decisions such as electing directors and paying dividends. That means investors who buy the common stock won’t have much of a say on key decisions like mergers, executive compensation and dividends.
