Match Group to look for love on Wall Street

[SAN FRANCISCO] The company behind online dating services Tinder, Meetic, and OkCupid notified US regulators on Friday that it plans to look for love from investors by going public on Wall Street.

The Match Group will seek to raise US$100 million in an initial public offering of shares on the Nasdaq, trading under the symbol "MTCH," it said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Match operates a portfolio of more than 45 brands, including Tinder, Twoo, and Friendscout24, each of them designed "to increase our users' likelihood of finding a romantic connection," according to the filing.

Neither the number of shares, price, or intended date of the IPO were disclosed.

Match reported in the filing that its revenue climbed from US$713.4 million in the year 2012 to US$888.3 million last year, while annual net earning rose from US$90.3 million to US$148.4 million during the same period.

Match is a subsidiary of InterActiveCorp, a US media and Internet giant at which Barry Diller is chairman.

Match boasted of offering dating products in 38 languages in 190 countries, and that approximately 59 million people use its products monthly.

Among Match's well known products is Tinder, a smartphone application that lets people swipe through photos of prospective romantic partners within close proximity.

AFP