News about Match Group

Match Group said Tinder's global daily active users returned to year-over-year growth in September for the first time in three and a half years, while declines in monthly active users and payers narrowed in the third quarter. Tinder's monthly active users fell 6% and payers fell 4%, with foreign-exchange-neutral direct revenue down 2%, and full-year 2026 direct revenue is now expected to decline at a low-single-digit rate. Lower-than-expected user givebacks, now about $25 million versus the $60 million previously anticipated, helped drive the improvement. Hinge revenue rose about 19% in the quarter, and the company kept its target of $1 billion in Hinge revenue in 2027. Match generated $832 million of year-to-date free cash flow and deployed $591 million toward buybacks, dividends and employee-equity settlements, but higher Apple and Google app-store fees are expected to pressure adjusted EBITDA margins in 2027.

Match Group (MTCH) closed at a 52-week high on October 20, 2026, and its stock is up 40.4% over the past year before dividends, mostly because net income rose 31.6% in the twelve months to June 2026 while revenue grew only 1.7%. Hinge's direct revenue rose 22% in Q2 2026, while Tinder's fell 1%. Across nine earlier 52-week highs, the stock was higher a year later after six, with a median gain of 43.5%. By contrast, buying on any trading day from November 2016 to October 2025 produced a median 10.0% gain a year later. The article notes the October 2021 high was followed by a 75.5% drop a year later, and six of the nine highs saw closes at least 20% below the buy price within the year.

Bumble shares rose 56% to $5.94 in morning trading after Ithaca Holdings agreed to take the dating app private in an all-cash deal valuing it at $1.3 billion. Ithaca is offering $6.05 per share, a 122.4% premium to the close before Bumble's sale exploration was first reported, and co-founders Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman will become co-CEOs after closing. Blackstone and founder Whitney Wolfe Herd have provided the shareholder approval the deal requires, so the outcome now rests mainly on closing conditions. The article notes Bumble's paying users have been shrinking and quarterly revenue has fallen for nearly two years, while rival Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, rose 2% to $42.32.