The Match Group, which owns Match, OkCupid, Tinder, and other dating services, filed for an initial public offering today.
The company says it has 59 million active users with around 4.7 million paid ones. "Whether it's a good date, a meaningful relationship or an enduring marriage, romantic connectivity lifts the human spirit," the company says in its filing. "Our mission is to increase romantic connectivity worldwide."
Oh, and also, unlike some other startups that file for IPOs, Match is profitable, earning more than $49 million in the first half of the year and $177 million in the twelve months leading up to June 30, 2015.
For Match, its online dating services continue to prove fruitful, but, as with most Internet giants, its business model has its risks. In a section outlining some of the possible future dangers, Match highlights that it's increasingly becoming dependent on app stores, like Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, to reach consumers as more mate-seekers use its services on their phones.
Both Apple and Google have broad discretion to change their terms and conditions in ways that could limit or eliminate its ability to distribute its apps, the company says in its filing.
In other words, Apple and Google are the gatekeepers of Match's increasingly important mobile business. If say Match wanted to launch a section within Tinder that had a more X-rated component, Apple and Google may determine that it wouldn't meet their content guidelines. Apple's guidelines, for example, are vague, such as this rule, "Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected." More broadly, it's Apple's store; Apple has discretion to decide what is or is not allowed.
Facebook too is a worry, Match says, as Tinder, the mobile-only dating service, relies on pairing its users to their real Facebook selves. Like Apple or Google, Facebook could change its terms and conditions to no longer allow Tinder that kind of access to verify identity.
The company's revenue is also affected by the app stores. Match pays Apple and Google 30 percent of the revenue for any paid memberships and "certain à la carte features" purchased through apps downloaded from the tech giants' app stores. If those fees increase, that hits Match's bottom line.
For Match, mobile isn't everything. But as it becomes increasingly the way users reach its services, it may become more beholden to others more than it would like.
