Match Group Inc., the division of Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp that includes the online-dating sites Tinder, Match and OkCupid, filed for an initial public offering.
The company filed regulatory documents Friday with an offering size of $ 100 million, a placeholder amount used to calculate fees that will probably change. IAC said in June it expected Match Group to issue less than 20 percent of its common stock in an IPO.
Match Group reported profit of $ 126.6 million in 2013 on revenue of $ 803.1 million and a $ 148.4 million profit on $ 888.3 million in sales in 2014, according to the IPO documents.
The decision to spin off Match Group has been expected for about two years, since Diller combined the dating sites into a separate business. The company has seen its user base shift toward mobile users, increasing the importance of its Tinder brand. Sixty-eight percent of new registrations came from mobile devices in the first six months of this year, the company said in the documents.
Swipe to Like
Tinder, the buzzy millennial-minded brand started in 2012, brought back co-founder Sean Rad as chief executive officer in August, less than a year after he stepped down. The dating site, known for its easy smartphone interface that lets users swipe right if they like a potential match or swipe left if they don't, has captured the cultural zeitgeist, generating articles analyzing its impact in publications including Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair.
IAC agreed in July to acquire the Canadian Internet dating service PlentyofFish for $ 575 million, shoring up its control over online dating. The company claimed to have 20 percent of the Internet match-making market before the acquisition.
Match Group operates more than 45 brands, covering 190 countries and 38 languages. The company claims 59 million monthly active users collectively and 4.7 million paid members, as of Sept. 30.
Brand Promotion
In the filing, the company says its "multi-brand approach" to acquiring new customers helps recruit new people more cheaply. Cross-brand promotion accounted for 11 percent of new registrants in the first six months of this year, the company said.
While the company has traditionally focused on making money by charging for subscriptions, Match Group plans to make more of its revenue from ads. The company said that less than 2 percent of the space available on Tinder is being put to use.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Allen & Co. and Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch will lead the offering.
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