Tinder Owner Looks To Competitor About Possible Takeover

Match Group Inc., the dating service that owns Tinder, has approached a rival, Meet Group Inc., about a possible takeover, according to Bloomberg.

The decision wasn’t final on Thursday, but Dallas-based Match Group could eventually decide not to go forward with a deal. The sources for this information weren’t revealed as the matter wasn’t public yet.

Dating sites and apps have been feeling the pressure as of late to do bigger deals, as Facebook entered the game last year with its own service. Bumble owner MagicLab got a shake-up last year as Blackstone Group acquired a majority stake.

Match is in the process of being spun off by parent company InterActiveCorp, and meanwhile has acquired a minority stake in personal safety product maker Noonlight as of January.

New Hope, Pennsylvania-based Meet Group’s shares rose 21 percent on Thursday. It was up 17 percent in the very early morning hours, which gave it an overall value of $468 million. Match, meanwhile, rose 4.8 percent, giving it a value of $22.3 billion with stock prices of $79.68.

Match Group has several of the largest dating apps in the world under its umbrella — OKCupid, Hinge and PlentyOfFish are all owned by the company. They missed revenue estimates in the fourth quarter after Apple made it easier for users to cancel their subscriptions to dating apps, they reported recently.

Meet Group’s specialty is live-streaming apps that allow users to communicate with text, and some of the properties under their banner include MeetMe, Growlr and LOVOO. One division of German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE is also exploring an acquisition of Meet Group, according to Reuters last December.

The world of online dating was shaken up when Facebook entered the fold, and Match’s stock price tanked upon the news. Facebook’s arrival has also caused major players like Tinder to introduce new services, reportedly developing a “Choose Your Own Adventure” game that will let people find matches based on their choices in the game.