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Match (MTCH) Stock Skyrockets, Q1 Results Boosted by Strong Dating Revenue

Paying customers grew 36% to 5.1 million, with Tinder surpassing 1 million paying members.

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The results, issued late on Tuesday, showed the dating and educational website operator which also owns Match.com and OkCupid, gets the majority of its revenue from membership fees and paid features.

Match shares were last seen up 23% at $13.72 on Wednesday.

Now with the news that more than 1 percent are subscribed to its premium service, it’s looking like more and more, Tinder will be a social hub for people looking for love.

Adjusted earnings of 11 cents a share handily beat Wall Street’s projections of 8 cents a share.

Match Group, majority owned by media mogul Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, agreed to buy Vancouver-based PlentyOfFish for $575 million in July past year.

Total revenue rose 21.4 percent to $285.3 million, beating Reuters’ estimate of $281.8 million. IAC/InterActiveCorp., which owns 85 percent of Match, reports its earnings after the close of trading.

The hook-up app Tinder has become big business.

Speaking to The Verge, Match CEO Greg Blatt said that Tinder still has a lot of potential without eating into Match’s other dating related properties.

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Since most of its revenue is derived from paid subscriptions, it was observed that Match’s acquisition of PlentyOfFish for $575 million gave them a 24% rise in revenue, or around $260.4 million. “The category expansion far outweighs any cannibalistic impact”, said Blatt.

Greg Blatt, chairmain of Match Group and Sam Yagan CEO of Match Group and co-founder and CEO of OkCupid celebrate Match Group's initial public offering at the NASDAQ stock exchange