Grindr stock: GRND share value doubles as it goes public
By Jenny McCall
Updated
It’s the hook up of the year and investors seem to be swiping yes, as the world’s most-popular gay dating platform has gone public. Like its fellow online dating sites, Match Group (MTCH), Bumble (BMBL) and Tinder (owned by MTCH), Grindr, which is now trading under stock ticker 'GRND' and its stock price soared 213% on Friday.
GRND began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at $16.90 per share on Friday and by market close it's share price had more than doubled and leaped to a high of $36.50.
A merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Tiga Acquisition (TINV) was announced back in May and it valued Grindr at $2.1bn (£1.85bn).
Match Group (MTCH) share price
On Friday, the day of GRND listing, it wasn't just traders and tourists that graced the doors of Wall Street, Drag queens also made an apparance and appaered on a rainbow stage set in the front of the NYSE.
Grindr’s key competitors include dating apps such as Match Group (MTCH), whose share price has fallen 67% this year, as it deals with rising inflation and a lawsuit from Alphabet (GOOG). Other competitors include Bumble (BMBL), which has also seen a drop in share price of 68% since going public in February 2021.
The deal, which was unanimously approved by both boards of Grindr and Tiga, achieved stockholder approval and is now listed on the stock market.
James F. Lu, Chair of Grindr’s Board of Directors, said: “Bringing Grindr to the public markets with TAC furthers our mission to connect the LGBTQ+ community. This transaction is a milestone event, not only for our iconic company, our people, partners, and investors, but also for the community we serve around the world.”
“We are grateful for the resilience, courage, and creativity that are some of the LGBTQ+ community’s unifying characteristics. Lastly, we are thrilled to work with Ray Zage and Ashish Gupta and the entire TAC team and appreciate their confidence and support in this important journey.”
This is the second time the company has tried to go public. In 2016 hopes of an initial public offering (IPO) were thrown off course when Chinese company Beijing Kunlun Tech divested in shares of Grindr due to worries by the US government regarding possible blackmail by the Chinese Communist Party.
So, here are the details in full.
What is your sentiment on MTCH?
Bumble (BMBL) share price chart
How much is Grindr worth?
Pre-SPAC, Grindr is worth approximately $1.26bn (£1.066bn) and now the deal is done, it is estimated it could be worth $2.1bn.
When is the deal set to close?
The deal has closed and Grindr (GRND ) is now listed on the NYSE.
How does Grindr make money?
Like other dating apps, such as MTCH and BMBL, Grindr makes money through its in-app ads and tiered subscriptions. A subscriber can pay a certain amount each month and it removes ads, allowing users to view up to 600 nearby profiles at once, offering advanced filters.
As of December 2021, Grindr has 10.8 million active subscribers and of this, 723,000 are paying users, this is an increase of over 30% compared to 2020.
But it has not all been good news for Grindr, recently the group faced a backlash for selling location data to advertisers and was fined for it, but the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported in May 2022, that this location data collected by the dating app on its users from 2017 to 2020 is still available for people to see.
Patrick Lenihan, a Grindr spokesman told the WSJ that Grindr has now received lower revenue from advertisers, by reducing the user data shared.
Is Grindr making any profit?
For 2022, the app has forecast a rise in revenue growth between 35-40% and the company reported revenue of $147m and $77m in pre-tax earnings in 2021, an increase of 30% and 51% respectively from 2020.
How to trade Grindr stock?
If you are starting out, consider using a trading platform like Capital.com. Then you can simply open and fund your brokerage account by completing an application with your financial and personal details. Once this is done, you simply fund your account.
The next step will be to search for the stock ticker, then decide how many to buy. Once that is complete you have an investment in that company and can track how your stock is doing by looking at business performance and keeping an eye on developments within the market. You may be entitled to dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.
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