The big number: US$40 billion

Over the years, investors have begun to swipe left on dating apps. As the platforms have struggled to appeal to younger users and increase their subscription and advertising sales, Match Group and Bumble, which make up nearly the entire industry by market share, have lost more than US$40 billion in market value since 2021.

Millennials, previously blamed for killing department stores and casual dining chains such as Applebee’s, may be partly responsible for the apps’ slow decline. They were prime dating age when apps such as Tinder arrived on the scene, but many of them have since married and left the platforms.

Now Gen Z-ers – one of whom recently told The New York Times that the idea of paying for a dating-app subscription gave her the “ick” – make up the apps’ primary user base. People in this age group say that they have more luck finding love elsewhere, such as on TikTok or Snapchat, or that they are not looking for romantic connections at all.

As Match Group and Bumble have tried to stay relevant, both companies have changed their leadership and announced moves to revamp the platforms in an effort to capture the younger demographic.

Bumble’s new chief executive officer Lidiane Jones said last month that the company would be adding “personalisation and flexibility” to the app experience.

But experts say investors are most eager to see the dating-app companies persuade young users to pay for the platforms.

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“Wall Street loves subscription models,” said Youssef Squali, an analyst at Truist Securities, “because it gives them the comfort of recurring revenues.” NYTIMES