Item 1. Legal Proceedings
Overview
We are, and from time to time may become, involved in various legal proceedings arising in the normal course of our business activities, such as patent infringement claims, trademark oppositions, and consumer or advertising complaints, as well as stockholder derivative actions, class action lawsuits, and other matters. The amounts that may be recovered in such matters may be subject to insurance coverage. The litigation matters described below involve issues or claims that may be of particular interest to our stockholders, regardless of whether any of these matters may be material to our financial position or operations based upon the standard set forth in the SEC’s rules.
Pursuant to the Transaction Agreement, we have agreed to indemnify IAC for matters relating to any business of Former Match Group, including indemnifying IAC for costs related to the matter described below other than the matter described under the heading “Newman Derivative and Stockholder Class Action Regarding Separation Transaction”.
Note that the official names of legal proceedings in the descriptions below (shown in italics) reflect the original names of the parties when the proceedings were filed as opposed to the current names of the parties post the separation of Match Group and IAC.
Consumer Class Action Litigation Challenging Tinder’s Age-Tiered Pricing
On May 28, 2015, a putative state-wide class action was filed against Tinder in state court in California. See Allan Candelore v. Tinder, Inc., No. BC583162 (Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles). The complaint principally alleged that Tinder violated California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act (the “Unruh Act”) by offering and charging users age 30 and over a higher price than younger users for subscriptions to its premium Tinder Plus service. The complaint sought certification of a class of California Tinder Plus subscribers age 30 and over and damages in an unspecified amount. On September 21, 2015, Tinder filed a demurrer seeking dismissal of the complaint. On October 26, 2015, the court issued an opinion sustaining Tinder’s demurrer to the complaint without leave to amend, ruling that the age-based pricing differential for Tinder Plus subscriptions did not violate California law in essence because offering a discount to users under age 30 was neither invidious nor unreasonable in light of that age group’s generally more limited financial means. On December 29, 2015, in accordance with its ruling, the court entered judgment dismissing the action. On February 1, 2016, the plaintiff filed a notice of appeal from the judgment, and the parties thereafter briefed the appeal. On January 29, 2018, the California Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District, Division Three) issued an opinion reversing the judgment of dismissal, ruling that the lower court had erred in sustaining Tinder’s demurrer because the complaint, as pleaded, stated a cognizable claim for violation of the Unruh Act. Because we believe that the appellate court’s reasoning was flawed as a matter of law and runs afoul of binding California precedent, on March 12, 2018, Tinder filed a petition with the California Supreme Court seeking interlocutory review of the Court of Appeal’s decision. On May 9, 2018, the California Supreme Court denied the petition. The case was then returned to the trial court for further proceedings.
In a related development, on June 19, 2019, in a substantially similar putative class action asserting the same substantive claims and pending in federal district court in California, the court issued an order granting final approval of a class-wide settlement, the terms of which are not material to the Company. See Lisa Kim v. Tinder, Inc., No. 18-cv-3093 (U.S. District Court, Central District of California). On June 21, 2019, the Kim court entered judgment in accordance with its prior order. Because the approved settlement class in Kim subsumes the proposed settlement class in Candelore, the judgment in Kim would effectively render Candelore a single-plaintiff lawsuit. Accordingly, on July 11, 2019, two objectors to the Kim settlement, represented by the plaintiff’s counsel in Candelore, filed a notice of appeal from the Kim judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The parties are in the process of briefing the appeal. The Ninth Circuit has scheduled oral arguments for October 9, 2020.
On September 13, 2019, Tinder filed a motion to stay the Candelore case pending the Ninth Circuit’s decision on the appeal of the court-approved settlement in the Kim case. On November 13, 2019, the court
issued an order staying the class claims in the Candelore case pending the Ninth Circuit’s decision on the Kim appeal. We believe that the allegations in the Candelore lawsuit are without merit and will continue to defend vigorously against it.
Tinder Optionholder Litigation Against Former Match Group and Match Group
On August 14, 2018, ten then-current and former employees of Match Group, LLC or Tinder, Inc. (“Tinder”), an operating business of Former Match Group, filed a lawsuit in New York state court against Former Match Group and Match Group. See Sean Rad et al. v. IAC/InterActiveCorp and Match Group, Inc., No. 654038/2018 (Supreme Court, New York County). The complaint alleges that in 2017, the defendants: (i) wrongfully interfered with a contractually established process for the independent valuation of Tinder by certain investment banks, resulting in a substantial undervaluation of Tinder and a consequent underpayment to the plaintiffs upon exercise of their Tinder stock options, and (ii) then wrongfully merged Tinder into Former Match Group, thereby depriving certain of the plaintiffs of their contractual right to later valuations of Tinder on a stand-alone basis. The complaint asserts claims for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment, interference with contractual relations (as against Former Match Group only), and interference with prospective economic advantage, and seeks compensatory damages in the amount of at least $2 billion, as well as punitive damages. On August 31, 2018, four plaintiffs who were still employed by Former Match Group filed a notice of discontinuance of their claims without prejudice, leaving the six former employees as the remaining plaintiffs. On July 13, 2020, the four former plaintiffs filed arbitration demands asserting the same valuation claims.
On October 9, 2018, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on various grounds, including that the 2017 valuation of Tinder by the investment banks was an expert determination any challenge to which is both time-barred under applicable law and available only on narrow substantive grounds that the plaintiffs have not pleaded in their complaint; the plaintiffs opposed the motion. On June 13, 2019, the court issued a decision and order (i) granting the motion to dismiss the claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and for unjust enrichment, (ii) granting the motion to dismiss the merger-related claim for breach of contract as to two of the remaining six plaintiffs, and (iii) otherwise denying the motion to dismiss. On June 21, 2019, the defendants filed a notice of appeal from the trial court’s partial denial of their motion to dismiss, and the parties thereafter briefed the appeal. On October 29, 2019, the Appellate Division, First Department, issued an order affirming the lower court’s decision. On November 22, 2019, the defendants filed a motion for reargument or, in the alternative, leave to appeal the Appellate Division’s order to the New York Court of Appeals; the plaintiffs opposed the motion. On May 21, 2020, the Appellate Division, First Department, granted the motion for reargument, and upon reargument, substituted a new order which also affirmed the lower court’s decision. On June 5, 2020, the defendants filed a motion for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals. On July 24, 2020, the Appellate Division, First Department, denied the motion for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals.
On June 3, 2019, the defendants filed a second motion to dismiss based upon certain provisions of the plaintiffs’ agreement with a litigation funding firm; the plaintiffs opposed the motion, which remains pending. On July 15, 2019, the defendants filed an answer denying the material allegations of the complaint, as well as counterclaims against Sean Rad for breach of contract and unjust enrichment based upon his alleged misappropriation of confidential company information. On September 13, 2019, the defendants filed an amended answer and counterclaims, adding claims based on Rad’s alleged unauthorized recording of conversations with company employees. On November 21, 2019, the defendants filed a second amended answer and counterclaims, adding claims based on Rad’s alleged unauthorized destruction of company information and breach of his non-solicitation obligations. On the same day, Rad filed a revised consolidated motion to dismiss. On June 1, 2020, the court issued its decision, dismissing the request for damages, a claim for breach of contract occuring after Rad’s termination, and an unjust enrichment claim, but denying dismissal as to all other claims.
Document discovery in the case is substantially complete; deposition discovery resumed after a temporary pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On January 30, 2020, the parties participated in a mediation that did not result in resolution of the matter. We believe that the allegations against Former Match Group and Match Group in this lawsuit are without merit and will continue to defend vigorously against it.
FTC Lawsuit Against Former Match Group
In March 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) requested information and documents in connection with a civil investigation regarding certain business practices of Match.com. The FTC raised potential claims relating to Match.com’s marketing, chargeback, and online cancellation practices. In November 2018, the FTC proposed to resolve its potential claims via a consent judgment requiring certain changes in those practices, as well as a $60 million payment. Ensuing discussions between the Company and the FTC ended without resolution.
On August 7, 2019, the FTC voted to assert claims against the Company and referred the matter to the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”). The DOJ subsequently declined to pursue a civil case against the Company and referred the matter back to the FTC.
On September 25, 2019, the FTC filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas against Former Match Group. See FTC v. Match Group, Inc., No. 3:19:cv-02281-K (N.D. Tex.). The complaint alleges that, prior to mid-2018, for marketing purposes Match.com told non-paying users that other users were trying to communicate with them, even though Match.com had identified those subscriber accounts as potentially fraudulent, thereby inducing non-paying users to subscribe and exposing them to the risk of fraud should they subscribe. The complaint also challenges the adequacy of Match.com’s disclosure of the terms of its six-month guarantee, the efficacy of its cancellation process, and its handling of chargeback disputes. The complaint seeks among other things permanent injunctive relief, civil penalties, restitution, disgorgement, and costs of suit. On October 17, 2019, the Company filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. The FTC opposed the motion. On April 22, 2020, the court stayed the case pending a ruling on the motion to dismiss, which remains pending. On July 17, 2020, the Company filed a motion for leave to request a stay until the United States Supreme Court issues a decision in Fed. Trade Comm’n v. Credit Bureau Ctr., in which it granted certiorari on July 9, 2020.
On September 26, 2019, the Company received a grand-jury subpoena from the DOJ for documents relating to certain of the marketing-related claims in the FTC’s complaint. The Company has cooperated with the DOJ in responding to its subpoena. On April 22, 2020, the court stayed the case pending a ruling on the motion to dismiss.
We believe that the FTC’s claims regarding Match.com’s practices, policies, and procedures are without merit and will defend vigorously against them.
Securities Class Action Lawsuit Against Former Match Group
On October 3, 2019, a Former Match Group shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit in federal court in Texas against Former Match Group, its CEO, and its CFO, on behalf of a class of acquirers of Former Match Group securities between August 6, 2019 and September 25, 2019. See Phillip R. Crutchfield v. Match Group, Inc., Amanda W. Ginsberg, and Gary Swidler, No. 3:19-cv-02356-C (Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division). Invoking the allegations in the FTC lawsuit described above, the complaint alleges (i) that Defendants failed to disclose to investors that Former Match Group induced customers to buy and upgrade subscriptions using misleading advertisements, that Former Match Group made it difficult for customers to cancel their subscriptions, and that, as a result, Former Match Group was likely to be subject to regulatory scrutiny; (ii) that Former Match Group lacked adequate disclosure controls and procedures; and (iii) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ positive statements about Former Match Group’s business, operations, and prospects, were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. On January 6, 2020, the court approved a stipulation appointing two lead plaintiffs as well as co-lead counsel. On April 14, 2020, Plaintiffs filed their amended complaint. Former Match Group filed a motion to dismiss on June 12, 2020. We believe that the allegations in this lawsuit are without merit and will defend vigorously against them.
Derivative Complaint against Former Match Group
On February 28, 2020, a Former Match Group shareholder filed a shareholder derivative complaint in federal court in Delaware against Former Match Group and its board of directors seeking to recover unspecified monetary damages on behalf of the Company, as well seeking to require the Company to implement and maintain unspecified internal controls and corporate governance practices and procedures. See Michael Rubin et al. v. Match Group, Inc. et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-00299 (District of Delaware). Invoking the allegations of the FTC lawsuit and Crutchfield securities class action lawsuit described above, the complaint alleges that the defendants caused or failed to prevent the alleged issues giving rise to the FTC complaint, received or approved compensation tied to the alleged wrongful conduct and sold Former Match Group stock with inside knowledge
of the purported conduct. The parties filed a proposed stipulation and order staying the case until the motion to dismiss is decided in the Crutchfield litigation. The court granted the stay on April 9, 2020.
House Oversight Committee Investigation of Online Dating
On January 30, 2020, Former Match Group received a letter from the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy (the “Oversight Committee”) regarding its inquiry into underage use of online dating services and efforts by those services to remove registered sex offenders from their platforms. The Oversight Committee is also inquiring under what circumstances online dating services share or sell sensitive user information with third parties. The Oversight Committee has requested documents and information related to its inquiry. The Company is cooperating with the investigation.
Irish Data Protection Commission Inquiry Regarding Tinder’s Practices
On February 3, 2020, we received a letter from the Irish Data Protection Commission (the “DPC”) notifying us that the DPC has commenced an inquiry examining Tinder’s compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, focusing on Tinder’s processes for handling access and deletion requests and Tinder’s user data retention policies. We are fully cooperating with the DPC in connection with this inquiry.
Newman Derivative and Stockholder Class Action Regarding Separation Transaction
On June 24, 2020, a Former Match Group shareholder filed a complaint in Delaware Court of Chancery against Former Match Group and its board of directors, as well as Match Group, IAC Holdings, Inc., and Barry Diller seeking to recover unspecified monetary damages on behalf of the Company and directly as a result of his ownership of Former Match Group stock in relation to the separation of Former Match Group from its former majority shareholder, Match Group. See David Newman et al. v. IAC/Interactive Corp. et al., C.A. No. 2020-0505-MTZ (Delaware Court of Chancery). The complaint alleges that that the special committee established by Former Match Group’s board of directors to negotiate with Match Group regarding the separation transaction was not sufficiently independent of control from Match Group and Mr. Diller and that Former Match Group board members failed to adequately protect Former Match Group’s interest in negotiating the separation transaction, which resulted in a transaction that was unfair to Former Match Group and its shareholders. The Defendants’ filed their motions to dismiss on August 6, 2020. We believe that the allegations in this lawsuit are without merit and will defend vigorously against it.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
This quarterly report on Form 10-Q contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements.” The use of words such as “anticipates,” “estimates,” “expects,” “plans,” and “believes,” among others, generally identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, among others, statements relating to: Match Group’s future financial performance, Match Group’s business prospects and strategy, anticipated trends, the effects of the separation of Match Group from IAC, and other similar matters. These forward-looking statements are based on Match Group management’s current expectations and assumptions about future events as of the date of this quarterly report, which are inherently subject to uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict.
Actual results could differ materially from those contained in these forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons, including, among others: competition, our ability to maintain user rates on our higher monetizing dating products, our ability to attract users to our dating products through cost-effective marketing and related efforts, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, our ability to distribute our dating products through third parties and offset related fees, the integrity and scalability of our systems and infrastructure (and those of third parties) and our ability to adapt ours to changes in a timely and cost-effective manner, our ability to protect our systems from cyberattacks and to protect personal and confidential user information, risks relating to certain of our international operations and acquisitions, certain risks relating to our relationship with IAC, the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus, and the risks inherent in separating Match Group from IAC, including uncertainties related to, among other things, the costs and expected benefits of the proposed transaction, any litigation arising out of or relating to the transaction, the expected tax treatment of the transaction, and the impact of the transaction on the businesses of Match Group.
Certain of these and other risks and uncertainties are discussed in Match Group’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other unknown or unpredictable factors that could also adversely affect Match Group’s business, financial condition, and results of operations may arise from time to time. In light of these risks and uncertainties, these forward-looking statements discussed in this quarterly report may not prove to be accurate. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which only reflect the views of Match Group management as of the date of this quarterly report. Match Group does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.
Because of the changes to our business resulting from the separation of Match Group from IAC, we are restating in full our risk factors below, which updates and replaces the risk factors disclosed in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.
Risks relating to our business
The dating industry is competitive, with low switching costs and a consistent stream of new products and entrants, and innovation by our competitors may disrupt our business.
The dating industry is competitive, with a consistent stream of new products and entrants. Some of our competitors may enjoy better competitive positions in certain geographical regions, user demographics or other key areas that we currently serve or may serve in the future. These advantages could enable these competitors to offer products that are more appealing to users and potential users than our products or to respond more quickly and/or cost-effectively than us to new or changing opportunities.
In addition, within the dating industry generally, costs for consumers to switch between products are low, and consumers have a propensity to try new approaches to connecting with people and to use multiple dating products at the same time. As a result, new products, entrants and business models are likely to continue to emerge. It is possible that a new product could gain rapid scale at the expense of existing brands through harnessing a new technology or a new or existing distribution channel, creating a new or different approach to connecting people or some other means.
Potential competitors include larger companies that could devote greater resources to the promotion or marketing of their products and services, take advantage of acquisition or other opportunities more readily or develop and expand their products and services more quickly than we do. Potential competitors also include established social media companies that may develop products, features, or services that may compete with ours or operators of mobile operating systems and app stores. For example, Facebook has introduced a dating feature on its platform, which it has rolled out in North America and other markets and has stated it plans to roll out globally. These social media and mobile platform competitors could use strong or dominant positions in one or more markets, and ready access to existing large pools of potential users and personal information regarding those users, to gain competitive advantages over us, including by offering different product features or services that users may prefer or offering their products and services to users at no charge, which may enable them to acquire and engage users at the expense of our user growth or engagement.
If we are not able to compete effectively against our current or future competitors and products that may emerge, the size and level of engagement of our user base may decrease, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The limited operating history of our newer dating brands and products makes it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects.
We seek to tailor each of our dating brands and products to meet the preferences of specific communities of users. Building a given brand or product is generally an iterative process that occurs over a meaningful period of time and involves considerable resources and expenditures. Although certain of our newer brands and products have experienced significant growth over relatively short periods of time, the historical growth rates of these brands and products may not be an indication of future growth rates for such products or our newer brands and products generally. We have encountered, and may continue to encounter, risks and difficulties as we build our newer brands and products. The failure to successfully address these risks and difficulties could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Each of our dating products monetizes users at different rates. If a meaningful migration of our user base from our higher monetizing dating products to our lower monetizing dating products were to occur, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our portfolio companies own, operate, and manage a diverse variety of dating products. Each dating product has its own mix of free and paid features designed to optimize the user experience and revenue generation from that product’s community of users. In general, the mix of features for the various dating products within our more established brands leads to higher monetization rates per user than the mix of features for the various dating products within our newer brands. Over time, users of our newer brands with lower monetization rates per user comprise an increasingly larger percentage of our user base. If this trend leads to a significant portion of users of our brands with higher monetization rates migrating to our less profitable brands or we are unable to increase the level of monetization at these brands, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. See “Part I, Item 2—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
Our growth and profitability rely, in part, on our ability to attract and retain users through cost-effective marketing efforts. Any failure in these efforts could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Attracting and retaining users for certain of our dating products involve considerable expenditures for online and offline marketing. Historically, we have had to increase our marketing expenditures over time in order to attract and retain users and sustain our growth.
Evolving consumer behavior can affect the availability of profitable marketing opportunities. For example, as traditional television viewership declines and as consumers spend more time on mobile devices rather than desktop computers, the reach of many of our traditional advertising channels is contracting. Similarly, as consumers communicate less via email and more via text messaging, messaging apps and other virtual means, the reach of email campaigns designed to attract new and repeat users (and retain current users) for our dating products is adversely impacted. To continue to reach potential users and grow our businesses, we must identify and devote more of our overall marketing expenditures to newer advertising channels, such as mobile and online video platforms, as well as targeted campaigns in which we communicate directly with potential, former and current users via new virtual means. Generally, the opportunities in and sophistication of newer advertising channels are relatively undeveloped and unproven, making it difficult to assess returns on investment associated with such advertising channels, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to continue to appropriately manage and fine-tune our marketing efforts in response to these and other trends in the advertising industry. Any failure to do so could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business and results of operations have been and may continue to be adversely affected by the recent COVID-19 outbreak or other similar outbreaks.
Our business could be materially and adversely affected by the outbreak of a widespread health epidemic or pandemic, including the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has been declared a “pandemic” by the World Health Organization. The COVID-19 outbreak has reached across the globe, resulting in the implementation of significant governmental measures, including lockdowns, closures, quarantines, and travel bans, intended to control the spread of the virus. While some of these measures have been relaxed over the past few months in certain parts of the world, ongoing social distancing measures, and future prevention and mitigation measures, as well as the potential for some of these measures to be reinstituted in the event of repeat waves of the virus, are likely to have an adverse impact on global economic conditions and consumer confidence and spending, and could materially adversely affect demand, or users’ ability to pay, for our products and services.
A public health epidemic, including COVID-19, poses the risk that Match Group or its employees, contractors, vendors, and other business partners may be prevented or impaired from conducting ordinary course business activities for an indefinite period of time, including due to shutdowns necessitated for the health and wellbeing of our employees, the employees of business partners, or shutdowns that may be requested or mandated by governmental authorities. For example, early on in the pandemic, certain of our customer support vendors were impacted by government mandated shutdowns which adversely impacted the capability of the affected brands to respond timely and effectively to user inquiries and requests. In addition, in response to the
COVID-19 outbreak, we have taken several precautions that may adversely impact employee productivity, such as requiring employees to work remotely, imposing travel restrictions, and temporarily closing office locations.
A widespread epidemic, pandemic or other health crisis could also cause significant volatility in global markets. The COVID-19 outbreak has adversely impacted U.S. equity markets, including the trading price of our common stock. The COVID-19 outbreak has also caused disruption in financial markets, which if it continues or intensifies, could reduce our ability to access capital and thereby negatively impact our liquidity.
We intend to continue to execute on our strategic plans and operational initiatives during the COVID-19 outbreak; however, the aforementioned uncertainties may result in delays or modifications to these plans and initiatives. Part of our growth strategy includes increasing the number of international users and expanding into additional geographies, including in Asia. The timing and success of our international expansion, especially in China and other parts of Asia, may be negatively impacted by COVID-19, which could impede our anticipated growth.
While it is premature to accurately predict the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, our results for the year ending December 31, 2020 could ultimately be adversely impacted with potential continuing, adverse impacts thereafter.
The ultimate extent of the impact of any epidemic, pandemic, or other health crisis on our business will depend on multiple factors that are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including its severity, location and duration, and actions taken to contain or prevent further its spread. Additionally, the COVID-19 outbreak could increase the magnitude of many of the other risks described in this quarterly report, and have other adverse effects on our operations that we are not currently able to predict. If our business and the markets in which we operate experience a prolonged occurrence of adverse public health conditions, such as COVID-19, it could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Communicating with our users via email is critical to our success, and any erosion in our ability to communicate in this fashion that is not sufficiently replaced by other means could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Historically, one of our primary means of communicating with our users and keeping them engaged with our products has been via email communication. Our ability to communicate via email enables us to keep our users updated on activity with respect to their profile, present or suggest new or interesting users from the community, invite users to offline events and present discount and promotional offers, among other things. As consumer habits evolve in the era of web-enabled mobile devices and messaging/social networking apps, usage of email, particularly among our younger users, has declined. In addition, deliverability and other restrictions imposed by third party email providers, app stores, industry standards and/or applicable law could limit or prevent our ability to send emails to our users. A continued and significant erosion in our ability to communicate successfully with our users via email could have an adverse impact on user experience, levels of user engagement and the rate at which non-paying users become Subscribers.
While we continually work to find new means of communicating and connecting with our users (for example, through push notifications), there is no assurance that such alternative means of communication will be as effective as email has been. Any failure to develop or take advantage of new means of communication or limitations on those means of communications imposed by laws, device manufacturers, app stores, industry standards or other sources could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations could adversely affect our results of operations.
We operate in various international markets, primarily in various jurisdictions within the European Union (which we refer to as the “EU”) and Asia. During the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019 and for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, 53%, 52%, 53% and 50% of our total revenues, respectively, were international revenues. We translate international revenues into U.S. dollar-denominated operating results and during periods of a strengthening U.S. dollar, our international revenues will be reduced when translated into U.S. dollars. In addition, as foreign currency exchange rates fluctuate, the translation of our international revenues into U.S. dollar-denominated operating results affects the period-over-period comparability of such results and can result in foreign currency exchange gains and losses.
We have exposure to foreign currency exchange risk related to transactions carried out in a currency other than the U.S. dollar, and investments in foreign subsidiaries with a functional currency other than the U.S. dollar. Our exposure is primarily related to the Euro, and to a lesser extent, the British Pound (which we refer to as “GBP”). The average GBP and Euro exchange rates strengthened against the U.S. dollar by 4% and 5%, respectively, in 2019 compared to 2018. See “Part I, Item 3—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk—Foreign Currency Exchange Risk.”
The departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” has caused, and may continue to cause, volatility in currency exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the GBP and the full impact of Brexit remains uncertain. To the extent that the U.S. dollar strengthens relative to either the Euro, the GBP or both, the translation of our international revenues into U.S. dollars will reduce our U.S. dollar denominated operating results and will affect their period-over-period comparability. For the impact of foreign exchange effects on our revenues in the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, see ‘‘Part I, Item 2—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Principles of Financial Reporting.’’
Historically, we have not hedged any foreign currency exposures. The continued growth and expansion of our international operations into new countries increases our exposure to foreign exchange rate fluctuations. Significant foreign exchange rate fluctuations, in the case of one currency or collectively with other currencies, could adversely affect our future results of operations.
Distribution and marketing of, and access to, our dating products depends, in significant part, on a variety of third-party publishers, platforms and, in particular, mobile app stores. If these third parties limit, prohibit or otherwise interfere with or change the terms of the distribution, use or marketing of our dating products in any material way, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We market and distribute our dating products (including related mobile applications) through a variety of third-party publishers and distribution channels, including Facebook, which has rolled out its own dating product. Our ability to market our brands on any given property or channel is subject to the policies of the relevant third party. Certain publishers and channels have, from time to time, limited or prohibited advertisements for dating products for a variety of reasons, including poor behavior by other industry participants. There is no assurance that we will not be limited or prohibited from using certain current or prospective marketing channels in the future. If this were to happen in the case of a significant marketing channel and/or for a significant period of time, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Additionally, our mobile applications are almost exclusively accessed through and depend on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Both Apple and Google have broad discretion to change the manner in which their mobile operating systems function and their respective terms and conditions applicable to the distribution of our applications, including the amount of, and requirement to pay, certain fees associated with purchases required to be facilitated by Apple and Google through our applications, and to interpret their respective terms and conditions in ways that may limit, eliminate or otherwise interfere with our ability to distribute our applications through their stores, our ability to update our applications, including to make bug fixes or other feature updates or upgrades, the features we provide, the manner in which we market our in-app products, our ability to access native functionality or other aspects of mobile devices, and our ability to access information about our users and subscribers that they collect. Apple or Google could also make changes to their operating systems or payment services that could negatively impact our business. There is no assurance that Apple or Google will not limit, eliminate or otherwise interfere with the distribution of our products, our ability to update them, including to implement bug fixes or other feature updates or upgrades, the features we provide, the manner in which we market our in-app products within our applications or through other applications and services, our ability to access native functionality and other aspects of mobile devices and our ability to access information about our users and subscribers that they collect. To the extent either or both of them do so, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Additionally, Apple and Google are known to retaliate against app developers who publicly or privately challenge their app store rules and policies, and such retaliation has and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Lastly, in the case of Tinder, Hinge, and certain of our other products, many users historically registered for (and logged into) the application exclusively through their Facebook profiles. While we have alternate authentication methods to allow users to register for (and log into) Tinder, Hinge, and our other products using their mobile phone number, no assurances can be provided that users will no longer register for (and log into) these products through their Facebook profiles. Facebook has broad discretion to change its terms and conditions applicable to the data collected by its platform and its use thereof and to interpret its terms and conditions in ways that could limit, eliminate or otherwise interfere with our ability to use Facebook as an authentication method or to allow Facebook to use such data to gain a competitive advantage. If Facebook did so, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The success of our products will depend, in part, on our ability to access, collect, and use personal data about our users and subscribers.
We depend on mobile app stores, in particular, the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, to market, distribute and monetize our mobile applications. Our users and subscribers engage with these platforms directly and may be subject to requirements regarding the use of their payment systems for various transactions. As a result, these platforms may receive personal data about our users and subscribers that we would otherwise receive if we transacted with our users and subscribers directly. These platforms have restricted our access to personal data about our users and subscribers obtained through their platforms. If these platforms continue to limit or increasingly limit, eliminate, or otherwise interfere with our ability to access, collect, and use personal data about our users and subscribers that they have collected, the ability of our products to identify and communicate with a meaningful portion of our users and subscriber bases may be adversely impacted. If so, our customer relationship management efforts, our ability to identify, target, and reach new segments of our user and subscriber bases and the population generally, the efficiency of our paid marketing efforts, the rates we are able to charge advertisers seeking to reach users and subscribers on our various properties, and our ability to identify and exclude users and subscribers whose access would violate applicable terms and conditions, including underage individuals and registered sex offenders, may be negatively impacted. There is no assurance that the mobile app stores upon which we rely will not limit or increasingly limit, eliminate, or otherwise interfere with our ability to access, collect, and use personal data about our users and subscribers that they have collected. To the extent that they do so, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
As the distribution of our dating products through app stores increases, in order to maintain our profit margins, we may need to offset increasing app store fees by decreasing traditional marketing expenditures, increasing user volume or monetization per user or by engaging in other efforts to increase revenue or decrease costs generally, or our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We rely on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store to distribute our mobile applications and related in-app products. While our mobile applications are generally free to download from these stores, we offer our users the opportunity to purchase subscriptions and certain à la carte features through these applications. We determine the prices at which these subscriptions and features are sold; however, purchases of these subscriptions and features via our mobile applications are required to be processed through the in-app payment systems provided by Apple and Google. Due to these requirements, we pay Apple and Google, as applicable, a meaningful share (generally 30%) of the revenue we receive from these transactions. While we are constantly innovating on and creating our own payment systems and methods, given the ever increasing distribution of our dating products through app stores and the strict requirements to use the in-app payments systems tied into Apple’s and Google’s distribution services, we may need to offset these increased app store fees by decreasing traditional marketing expenditures as a percentage of revenue, increasing user volume or monetization per user, or by engaging in other efforts to increase revenue or decrease costs generally, or our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. From time to time, including again during the third quarter of 2020, Google has indicated that it would require us to process purchases of subscriptions and features entirely through their in-app payment system. To date, Google has not enforced such a requirement, but if Google were to do so, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We depend on our key personnel.
Our future success will depend upon our continued ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly skilled individuals across the globe, with the continued contributions of our senior management being especially critical to our success. Competition for well-qualified employees across Match Group and its various businesses is intense and our continued ability to compete effectively depends, in part, upon our ability to attract new employees. While we have established programs to attract new employees and provide incentives to retain existing employees, particularly our senior management, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to attract new employees or retain the services of our senior management or any other key employees in the future. Effective succession planning is also important to our future success. If we fail to ensure the effective transfer of senior management knowledge and smooth transitions involving senior management across our various businesses, our ability to execute short and long term strategic, financial and operating goals, as well as our business, financial condition and results of operations generally, could be adversely affected.
Our success depends, in part, on the integrity of our systems and infrastructures and on our ability to enhance, expand and adapt these systems and infrastructures in a timely and cost-effective manner.
In order for us to succeed, our systems and infrastructures must perform well on a consistent basis. We have in the past, and we may from time to time in the future, experience system interruptions that make some or all of our systems or data unavailable and prevent our products from functioning properly for our users; any such interruption could arise for any number of reasons. Further, our systems and infrastructures are vulnerable to damage from fire, power loss, telecommunications failures, acts of God and similar events. While we have backup systems in place for certain aspects of our operations, not all of our systems and infrastructures are fully redundant, disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for all eventualities and our property and business interruption insurance coverage may not be adequate to compensate us fully for any losses that we may suffer. Any interruptions or outages, regardless of the cause, could negatively impact our users’ experiences with our products, tarnish our brands’ reputations and decrease demand for our products, any or all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We also continually work to expand and enhance the efficiency and scalability of our technology and network systems to improve the experience of our users, accommodate substantial increases in the volume of traffic to our various products, ensure acceptable load times for our products and keep up with changes in technology and user preferences. Any failure to do so in a timely and cost-effective manner could adversely affect our users’ experience with our various products and thereby negatively impact the demand for our products, and could increase our costs, either of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may not be able to protect our systems and infrastructures from cyberattacks and may be adversely affected by cyberattacks experienced by third parties.
We are regularly under attack by perpetrators of random or targeted malicious technology-related events, such as cyberattacks, computer viruses, worms, bot attacks or other destructive or disruptive software, distributed denial of service attacks and attempts to misappropriate customer information, including credit card information and account login credentials. While we have invested (and continue to invest) in the protection of our systems and infrastructures, in related personnel and training and in employing a strategy of data minimization, where appropriate, there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent significant breaches in our systems or other such events from occurring. Some of our systems have experienced past security incidents, and, although they did not have a material adverse effect on our operating results, there can be no assurance of a similar result in the future. Any cyber or similar attack we are unable to protect ourselves against could damage our systems and infrastructures, prevent us from providing our products, erode our reputation and brands, result in the disclosure of confidential or sensitive information of our users and/or be costly to remedy, as well as subject us to investigations by regulatory authorities and/or litigation that could result in liability to third parties.
The impact of cyber security events experienced by third parties with whom we do business (or upon whom we otherwise rely in connection with our day-to-day operations) could have a similar effect on us. Moreover, even cyber or similar attacks that do not directly affect us or third parties with whom we do business may result in widespread access to user account login credentials that such users have used across multiple internet sites, including our sites, or a loss of consumer confidence generally, which could make users less likely
to use or continue to use online products generally, including our products. The occurrence of any of these events could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our success depends, in part, on the integrity of third-party systems and infrastructures.
We rely on third parties, primarily data center service providers and cloud-based, hosted web service providers, such as Amazon Web Services, as well as third party computer systems, broadband and other communications systems and service providers, in connection with the provision of our products generally, as well as to facilitate and process certain transactions with our users. We have no control over any of these third parties or their operations.
Problems experienced by third-party data center service providers and cloud-based, hosted web service providers, such as Amazon Web Services, upon whom we rely, the telecommunications network providers with whom we or they contract or with the systems through which telecommunications providers allocate capacity among their customers could also adversely affect us. Any changes in service levels at our data centers or hosted web service providers, such as Amazon Web Services, or any interruptions, outages or delays in our systems or those of our third party providers, or deterioration in the performance of these systems, could impair our ability to provide our products or process transactions with our users, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If the security of personal and confidential or sensitive user information that we maintain and store is breached or otherwise accessed by unauthorized persons, it may be costly to mitigate the impact of such an event and our reputation could be harmed.
We receive, process, store, and transmit a significant amount of personal user and other confidential or sensitive information, including credit card information and user-to-user communications, and enable our users to share their personal information with each other. In some cases, we engage third party vendors to store this information. We continuously develop and maintain systems to protect the security, integrity and confidentiality of this information, but we have experienced past incidents and cannot guarantee that inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure will not occur in the future or that third parties will not gain unauthorized access to this information despite our efforts. When such events occur, we may not be able to remedy them, we may be required by law to notify regulators and individuals whose personal information was used or disclosed without authorization, we may be subject to claims against us, including government enforcement actions, fines and litigation, and we may have to expend significant capital and other resources to mitigate the impact of such events, including developing and implementing protections to prevent future events of this nature from occurring. When breaches of security (or the security of our vendors and partners) occur, the perception of the effectiveness of our security measures, the security measures of our partners and our reputation may be harmed, we may lose current and potential users and the recognition of our various brands and their competitive positions may be diminished, any or all of which might adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and international laws and regulations. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or declines in user growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.
We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States and abroad that involve matters that are important to or may otherwise impact our business, including, among others, broadband internet access, online commerce, advertising, user privacy, data protection, intermediary liability, protection of minors, consumer protection, general safety, sex-trafficking, taxation and securities law compliance. The introduction of new products, expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions, or other actions that we may take may subject us to additional laws, regulations or other government scrutiny. In addition, foreign laws and regulations can impose different obligations or be more restrictive than those in the United States.
These U.S. federal, state, and municipal and foreign laws and regulations, which in some cases can be enforced by private parties in addition to government entities, are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change. As a result, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate, and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from state to state and country to country and inconsistently with our
current policies and practices. These laws and regulations, as well as any associated inquiries or investigations or any other government actions, may be costly to comply with and may delay or impede the development of new products, require that we change or cease certain business practices, result in negative publicity, increase our operating costs, require significant management time and attention, and subject us to remedies that may harm our business, including fines or demands or orders that we modify or cease existing business practices.
Specifically, in the case of tax laws, positions that we have taken or will take are subject to interpretation by the relevant taxing authorities. While we believe that the positions we have taken to date comply with applicable law, there can be no assurances that the relevant taxing authorities will not take a contrary position, and if so, that such positions will not adversely affect us. Any events of this nature could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Proposed or new legislation and regulations could also adversely affect our business. For example, the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (“OECD”) is revising its recommendations on how to tax international businesses, including expanding the jurisdiction of member countries to tax businesses based on some level of digital presence and subjecting these companies to a minimum tax. Also, the European Commission, as well as several countries both inside and outside the EU, have recently adopted or considered proposals that would change various aspects of the current tax framework under which we are taxed, including proposals to change or impose new types of non-income taxes, including taxes based on a percentage of revenue. One or more of these or similar proposals could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The promulgation of new laws or regulations, or the new interpretation of existing laws and regulations, in each case that restrict or otherwise unfavorably impact the ability or manner in which we provide our services could require us to change certain aspects of our business and operations to ensure compliance, which could decrease demand for services, reduce revenues, increase costs and subject us to additional liabilities. For example, the United Kingdom published proposed legislation, which would establish a new regulatory body to establish duties of care for internet companies and to assess compliance with these duties of care. Under the proposed law, failure to comply could result in fines, blocking of services and personal liability for senior management. In the United States, legislation has been proposed in 2020, including the EARN IT Act, the PACT Act, the BAD ADS Act and others that would purport to limit or remove the protections afforded technology platforms under the Communications Decency Act. Similar proposed legislation in the EU, currently known as the Digital Services Act, also intends to limit or remove protections afforded technology platforms under the e-Commerce Directive. To the extent such new or more stringent measures are required to be implemented, or existing protections are limited or removed, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The adoption of any laws or regulations that adversely affect the popularity or growth in use of the internet or our services, including laws or regulations that undermine open and neutrally administered internet access, could decrease user demand for our service offerings and increase our cost of doing business. For example, in December 2017, the Federal Communications Commission adopted an order reversing net neutrality protections in the United States, including the repeal of specific rules against blocking, throttling or “paid prioritization” of content or services by internet service providers. To the extent internet service providers engage in such blocking, throttling, “paid prioritization” of content or similar actions as a result of this order and the adoption of similar laws or regulations, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The varying and rapidly-evolving regulatory framework on privacy and data protection across jurisdictions could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or declines in user growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.
There are numerous laws in the countries in which we operate regarding privacy and the storage, sharing, use, processing, disclosure and protection of this kind of information, the scope of which are constantly changing, and in some cases, inconsistent and conflicting and subject to differing interpretations, as new laws of this nature are proposed and adopted. For example, in 2016, the European Commission adopted the General Data Protection Act (which we refer to as “GDPR”), a comprehensive EU privacy and data protection reform that became effective in May 2018. The act applies to companies established in the EU or otherwise providing services or monitoring the behavior of people located in the EU and provides for significant penalties in case of
non-compliance as well as a private right of action for individual claimants. GDPR will continue to be interpreted by EU data protection regulators, which have and may in the future require that we make changes to our business practices, and could generate additional risks and liabilities. Brexit could result in the application of new and conflicting data privacy and protection laws and standards to our operations in the United Kingdom and our handling of personal data of users located in the United Kingdom. At the same time, many countries in which we do business have already adopted or are also currently considering adopting privacy and data protection laws and regulations. Multiple legislative proposals concerning privacy and the protection of user information have been introduced in the U.S. Congress. Various U.S. state legislatures, including those in New York and California, could consider privacy legislation in 2020-21. Other U.S. state legislatures have already passed and enacted privacy legislation, most prominent of which is the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which was signed into law in June 2018 and came into effect on January 1, 2020, with full enforcement commencing on June 30, 2020. On June 24, 2020, the California Secretary of State certified a ballot initiative for the upcoming November general election entitled “The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020”, which would expand the state’s consumer privacy laws and create a new government organization, called the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), to enforce the law. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission has increased its focus on privacy and data security practices at digital companies, as evidenced by its levying, in July 2019, of a first-of-its kind, $5 billion fine against Facebook for privacy violations.
Laws and regulations relating to privacy and data protection are changing rapidly and are subject to evolving interpretation by regulators and the courts, and therefore there is no assurance that we will not be subject to claims that we have violated applicable laws or codes of conduct, that we will be able to successfully defend against such claims or that we will not be subject to significant fines and penalties in the event of non-compliance. For example, in January 2020, the Irish Data Protection Commission commenced an investigation into certain privacy practices of our Tinder business and the Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy of the U.S. House of Representatives commenced an investigation into user safety on dating apps. The Subcommittee investigation is focused on certain safety and privacy concerns and the Subcommittee formally requested information from four online dating companies, including Match Group. The Subcommittee investigation is still ongoing. Additionally, to the extent multiple country- or state-level laws are introduced with inconsistent or conflicting standards, compliance with such laws could be difficult to achieve and we could be subject to fines and penalties in the event of non-compliance.
Any failure or perceived failure by us (or the third parties acting on our behalf and with whom we have contracted to process such information) to comply with applicable privacy and security laws, policies or related contractual obligations, or any compromise of security that results in unauthorized access, or the use or transmission of, personal user information, could result in a variety of claims against us, including governmental enforcement actions, significant fines, litigation, claims of breach of contract and indemnity by third parties, and adverse publicity. For example, following media reports in December 2019 regarding online dating safety, eleven Members of the U.S. House of Representatives cosigned a letter to Match Group requesting information about how we safeguard our users. Additionally, failure or perceived failure by online dating companies not associated with Match Group to comply with applicable privacy and security laws could cause governmental agencies and regulatory bodies to investigate the online dating industry and include us in those efforts. When such events occur, our reputation may be harmed, we may lose current and potential users and the competitive positions of our various brands might be diminished, any or all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Lastly, compliance with the numerous laws in the countries in which we operate regarding privacy and the storage, sharing, use, processing, disclosure and protection of personal data could be costly, as well as result in delays in the development of new products and features as resources are allocated to these compliance projects, particularly as these laws become more comprehensive in scope, more commonplace and continue to evolve. In addition, the varying and rapidly-evolving regulatory frameworks across jurisdictions may result in decisions to introduce products in certain jurisdictions but not others or to cease providing certain services or features globally or to users located in certain jurisdictions. If these costs or other impacts are significant, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We are subject to a number of risks related to credit card payments, including data security breaches and fraud that we or third parties experience or additional regulation, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We accept payment from our users primarily through credit card transactions and certain online payment service providers. The ability to access credit card information on a real-time basis without having to proactively reach out to the consumer each time we process an auto-renewal payment or a payment for the purchase of a premium feature on any of our dating products is critical to our success and a seamless experience for our users.
When we or a third party experiences a data security breach involving credit card information, affected cardholders will often cancel their credit cards. In the case of a breach experienced by a third party, the more sizable the third party’s customer base and the greater the number of credit card accounts impacted, the more likely it is that our users would be impacted by such a breach. To the extent our users are ever affected by such a breach experienced by us or a third party, affected users would need to be contacted to obtain new credit card information and process any pending transactions. It is likely that we would not be able to reach all affected users, and even if we could, some users’ new credit card information may not be obtained and some pending transactions may not be processed, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Even if our users are not directly impacted by a given data security breach, they may lose confidence in the ability of service providers to protect their personal information generally, which could cause them to stop using their credit cards online and choose alternative payment methods that are not as convenient for us or restrict our ability to process payments without significant cost or user effort.
Additionally, if we fail to adequately prevent fraudulent credit card transactions, we may face litigation, fines, governmental enforcement action, civil liability, diminished public perception of our security measures, significantly higher credit card-related costs and substantial remediation costs, or refusal by credit card processors to continue to process payments on our behalf, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Finally, the passage or adoption of any legislation or regulation affecting the ability of service providers to periodically charge consumers for recurring subscription payments may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, the EU’s Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which became effective in 2018, could impact our ability to process auto-renewal payments or offer promotional or differentiated pricing for users in the EU. Similar legislation or regulation, or changes to existing legislation or regulation governing subscription payments, are being considered in many U.S. states.
Inappropriate actions by certain of our users could be attributed to us and damage our brands’ reputations, which in turn could adversely affect our business.
Users of our products have been, and may in the future be, physically, financially, emotionally or otherwise harmed by other individuals that such users met or may meet through the use of one of our products. When one or more of our users suffers or alleges to have suffered any such harm, we have in the past, and could in the future, experience negative publicity or legal action that could damage our reputation and our brands. Similar events affecting users of our competitors’ products have in the past, and could in the future, result in negative publicity for the dating industry generally, which could in turn negatively affect our business.
In addition, the reputations of our brands may be adversely affected by the actions of our users that are deemed to be hostile, offensive, defamatory, inappropriate, untrue or unlawful. While we have systems and processes in place that aim to monitor and review the appropriateness of the content accessible through our products, which include, in particular, reporting tools through which users can inform us of such behavior on the platform, and have adopted policies regarding illegal, offensive or inappropriate use of our products, our users have in the past, and could in the future, nonetheless engage in activities that violate our policies. These safeguards may not be sufficient to avoid harm to our reputation and brands, especially if such hostile, offensive or inappropriate use is well-publicized.
Concerns about harms and the use of dating products and social networking platforms for illegal conduct, such as romance scams, promotion of false or inaccurate information, financial fraud, and sex-trafficking, have produced and could continue to produce future legislation or other governmental action. For example, in January 2020, the Committee on Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy of the U.S. House
of Representatives launched an investigation into the online dating industry’s user safety policies, including certain practices of Match Group’s businesses relating to the identification and removal of registered sex offenders and underage individuals from our platforms. The EU and the United Kingdom are also considering new legislation on this topic, with the United Kingdom having released its Online Harms White Paper and the EU contemplating introducing proposed legislation, currently referred to as the Digital Services Act, which in each case, would expose platforms to similar or more expansive liability. In addition, in the United States, legislation has been proposed in 2020, including the EARN IT Act, the PACT Act, the BAD ADS Act and others that would purport to limit or remove the protections afforded technology platforms under the Communications Decency Act. Similar proposed legislation in the EU, currently known as the Digital Services Act, also intends to limit or remove protections afforded technology platforms under the e-Commerce Directive. If these proposed laws are passed, or if future legislation or governmental action is proposed or taken to address concerns regarding such harms, changes could be required to our products that could restrict or impose additional costs upon the conduct of our business generally or cause users to abandon our products.
We may fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or may be accused of infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties.
We rely heavily upon our trademarks and related domain names and logos to market our brands and to build and maintain brand loyalty and recognition. We also rely upon patented and patent-pending proprietary technologies and trade secrets relating to matching process systems and related features and products.
We also rely on a combination of laws, and contractual restrictions with employees, customers, suppliers, affiliates and others, to establish and protect our various intellectual property rights. For example, we have generally registered and continue to apply to register and renew, or secure by contract where appropriate, trademarks and service marks as they are developed and used, and reserve, register and renew domain names as we deem appropriate. Effective trademark protection may not be available or may not be sought in every country in which our products are made available, and contractual disputes may affect the use of marks governed by private contract. Similarly, not every variation of a domain name may be available or be registered, even if available.
We also generally seek to apply for patents or for other similar statutory protections as and if we deem appropriate, based on then-current facts and circumstances, and will continue to do so in the future. No assurances can be given that any patent application we have filed or will file will result in a patent being issued, or that any existing or future patents will afford adequate protection against competitors and similar technologies. In addition, no assurances can be given that third parties will not create new products or methods that achieve similar results without infringing upon patents we own.
Despite these measures, our intellectual property rights may still not be protected in a meaningful manner, challenges to contractual rights could arise, third parties could copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property without authorization, or laws and interpretations of laws regarding the enforceability of existing intellectual property rights may change over time in a manner that provides less protection. The occurrence of any of these events could result in the erosion of our brands and limit our ability to market our brands using our various domain names, as well as impede our ability to effectively compete against competitors with similar technologies, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
From time to time, we have been subject to legal proceedings and claims, including claims of alleged infringement of trademarks, copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights held by third parties. In addition, litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets and patents or to determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights claimed by others. For example, in June 2020, we settled our longstanding litigation with Bumble Trading Inc. for patent and trademark infringement, as well as trade secret misappropriation. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management and technical resources, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. For more information, see “Part II, Item 1—Legal Proceedings.”
We operate in various international markets, including certain markets in which we have limited experience. As a result, we face additional risks in connection with certain of our international operations.
Our brands are available in over 40 different languages all over the world. Our international revenue represented 53%, 52%, 53% and 50% of our total revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019 and for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Operating internationally, particularly in countries in which we have limited experience, exposes us to a number of additional risks, including:
•operational and compliance challenges caused by distance, language and cultural differences;
•difficulties in staffing and managing international operations;
•differing levels of social and technological acceptance of our dating products or lack of acceptance of them generally;
•foreign currency fluctuations;
•restrictions on the transfer of funds among countries and back to the United States and costs associated with repatriating funds to the United States;
•differing and potentially adverse tax laws;
•multiple, conflicting and changing laws, rules and regulations, and difficulties understanding and ensuring compliance with those laws by both our employees and our business partners, over whom we exert no control;
•compliance challenges due to different laws and regulatory environments, particularly in the case of privacy, data security, and intermediary liability;
•competitive environments that favor local businesses;
•limitations on the level of intellectual property protection; and
•trade sanctions, political unrest, terrorism, war and epidemics or the threat of any of these events (such as COVID-19).
The occurrence of any or all of the events described above could adversely affect our international operations, which could in turn adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may experience operational and financial risks in connection with acquisitions.
We have made numerous acquisitions in the past and we continue to seek potential acquisition candidates. We may experience operational and financial risks in connection with historical and future acquisitions if we are unable to:
•properly value prospective acquisitions, especially those with limited operating histories;
•accurately review acquisition candidates’ business practices against applicable laws and regulations and, where applicable, implement proper remediation controls, procedures, and policies;
•successfully integrate the operations, as well as the accounting, financial controls, management information, technology, human resources and other administrative systems, of acquired businesses with our existing operations and systems;
•successfully identify and realize potential synergies among acquired and existing businesses;
•fully identify potential risks and liabilities associated with acquired businesses;
•retain or hire senior management and other key personnel at acquired businesses; and
•successfully manage acquisition-related strain on our management, operations and financial resources and those of the various brands in our portfolio.
Furthermore, we may not be successful in addressing other challenges encountered in connection with our acquisitions. The anticipated benefits of one or more of our acquisitions may not be realized or the value of goodwill and other intangible assets acquired could be impacted by one or more continuing unfavorable events or trends, which could result in significant impairment charges. In addition, such acquisitions can result in material diversion of management’s attention or other resources from our existing businesses. The occurrence of any these events could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to litigation, and adverse outcomes in such litigation could have an adverse effect on our financial condition.
We are, and from time to time may become, subject to litigation and various legal proceedings, including litigation and proceedings related to intellectual property matters, privacy and consumer protection laws, as well as stockholder derivative suits, class action lawsuits and other matters, that involve claims for substantial amounts of money or for other relief or that might necessitate changes to our business or operations. The defense of these actions is time consuming and expensive. We evaluate these litigation claims and legal proceedings to assess the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes and to estimate, if possible, the amount of potential losses. Based on these assessments and estimates, we may establish reserves and/or disclose the relevant litigation claims or legal proceedings, as and when required or appropriate. These assessments and estimates are based on information available to management at the time of such assessment or estimation and involve a significant amount of judgment. As a result, actual outcomes or losses could differ materially from those envisioned by our current assessments and estimates. Our failure to successfully defend or settle any of these litigations or legal proceedings could result in liability that, to the extent not covered by our insurance, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks relating to our indebtedness
Our indebtedness may affect our ability to operate our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. We and our subsidiaries may incur additional indebtedness, including secured indebtedness.
As of June 30, 2020, we had total debt outstanding of approximately $3.9 billion and borrowing availability of $730 million under our revolving credit facility.
Our indebtedness could have important consequences, such as:
•limiting our ability to obtain additional financing to fund our working capital needs, acquisitions, capital expenditures or other debt service requirements or for other purposes;
•limiting our ability to use operating cash flow in other areas of our business because we must dedicate a substantial portion of these funds to service debt;
•limiting our ability to compete with other companies who are not as highly leveraged, as we may be less capable of responding to adverse economic and industry conditions;
•restricting us from making strategic acquisitions, developing properties or exploiting business opportunities;
•restricting the way in which we conduct our business because of financial and operating covenants in the agreements governing our and certain of our subsidiaries’ existing and future indebtedness, including, in the case of certain indebtedness of subsidiaries, certain covenants that restrict the ability of subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us;
•exposing us to potential events of default (if not cured or waived) under financial and operating covenants contained in our or our subsidiaries’ debt instruments that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results;
•increasing our vulnerability to a downturn in general economic conditions or in pricing of our products; and
•limiting our ability to react to changing market conditions in our industry and in our customers’ industries.
In addition to our debt service obligations, our operations require substantial investments on a continuing basis. Our ability to make scheduled debt payments, to refinance our obligations with respect to our indebtedness and to fund capital and non-capital expenditures necessary to maintain the condition of our operating assets and properties, as well as to provide capacity for the growth of our business, depends on our financial and operating performance, which, in turn, is subject to prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, competitive, legal and other factors.
Subject to the restrictions in our credit agreement (which includes our revolving credit facility and term loan) and the restrictions included in the indentures related to our 5.00% Senior Notes due 2027, 5.625% Senior Notes due 2029, 4.625% Senior Notes due 2028, and 4.125% Senior Notes due 2030 (the “Match Group Senior Notes”), we and our subsidiaries may incur significant additional indebtedness, including additional secured
indebtedness. Although the terms of our credit agreement and the indentures related to the Match Group Senior Notes contain restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions, and additional indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be significant. If new debt is added to our and our subsidiaries’ current debt levels, the risks described above could increase.
We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness that may not be successful.
Our ability to satisfy our debt obligations will depend upon, among other things:
•our future financial and operating performance, which will be affected by prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, regulatory and other factors, many of which are beyond our control; and
•our future ability to borrow under our revolving credit facility, the availability of which will depend on, among other things, our complying with the covenants in the then-existing agreements governing our indebtedness.
There can be no assurance that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations, or that we will be able to draw under our revolving credit facility or otherwise, in an amount sufficient to fund our liquidity needs.
If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to service our indebtedness, we may be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures, sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. Our ability to restructure or refinance our debt will depend on the condition of the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. Any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. In addition, the terms of existing or future debt agreements may restrict us from adopting some of these alternatives. In the absence of such operating results and resources, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations, sell equity, and/or negotiate with our lenders to restructure the applicable debt, in order to meet our debt service and other obligations. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions for fair market value or at all. Our credit agreement and the indentures related to the Match Group Senior Notes may restrict, or market or business conditions may limit, our ability to avail ourselves of some or all of these options.
Furthermore, any proceeds that we could realize from any such dispositions may not be adequate to meet our debt service obligations then due.
Our debt agreements contain restrictions that will limit our flexibility in operating our business.
Our credit agreement and the indentures related to the Match Group Senior Notes contain, and any instruments governing future indebtedness of ours may contain, a number of covenants that will impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us, including restrictions on our ability to, among other things:
•create liens on certain assets;
•incur additional debt;
•make certain investments and acquisitions;
•consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets;
•designate unrestricted subsidiaries;
•sell certain assets;
•pay dividends on or make distributions in respect of our capital stock or make restricted payments;
•enter into certain transactions with our affiliates; and
•cause our subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us.
Any of these restrictions could limit our ability to plan for or react to market conditions and could otherwise restrict corporate activities. Any failure to comply with these covenants could result in a default under our credit agreement and/or the indentures related to the Match Group Senior Notes or any instruments governing future indebtedness of ours. Upon a default, unless waived, the lenders under our credit agreement could elect to terminate their commitments, cease making further loans, foreclose on our assets pledged to such
lenders to secure our obligations under our credit agreement and force us into bankruptcy or liquidation. Holders of the Match Group Senior Notes also have the ability to force us into bankruptcy or liquidation in certain circumstances, subject to the terms of the related indentures. In addition, a default under our credit agreement or the indentures related to the Match Group Senior Notes may trigger a cross default under our other agreements and could trigger a cross default under the agreements governing our future indebtedness. Our operating results may not be sufficient to service our indebtedness or to fund our other expenditures and we may not be able to obtain financing to meet these requirements.
Variable rate indebtedness that we have incurred or may incur under our credit agreement will subject us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.
As of June 30, 2020, we had $20 million and $425 million of indebtedness outstanding under our revolving credit facility and term loan, respectively. Borrowings under the revolving credit facility and term loan are at variable rates of interest. Indebtedness that bears interest at variable rates exposes us to interest rate risk. At June 30, 2020, our revolving credit facility and term loan bore interest at LIBOR plus 1.375% and LIBOR plus 1.75%, respectively. As of June 30, 2020, the rates in effect were 1.48% and 2.18%, respectively. If LIBOR were to increase or decrease by 100 basis points, then the annual interest expense and payments on the credit facility and term loan would increase or decrease by $0.2 million and $4.3 million, respectively, based upon the outstanding balances on each at June 30, 2020. See also “Part I, Item 3—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk—Interest Rate Risk.”
Exchange of the exchangeable notes may dilute the ownership interests of existing stockholders or may otherwise depress the price of our common stock.
We are obligated as a guarantor under the indentures relating to the exchangeable notes. The exchangeable notes are exchangeable into shares of Match Group common stock in certain circumstances. The exchange of some or all of the exchangeable notes may dilute the ownership interests of Match Group stockholders to the extent we deliver shares upon exchange of any of the exchangeable notes. While the exchangeable note hedges are expected to reduce the potential dilutive effect on our common stock upon any exchange of exchangeable notes and/or offset any cash payment the issuers of the exchangeable notes would be required to make in excess of the principal amount of the exchanged notes, the warrants have a dilutive effect to the extent that the market price per share of our common stock exceeds the strike price of the warrants. Any sales in the public market of our common stock issuable upon such exchange could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock. In addition, the existence of the exchangeable notes may encourage short selling of our common stock by market participants because the exchange of the exchangeable notes could be used to satisfy short positions. In addition, the anticipated exchange of the exchangeable notes could depress the price of our common stock.
Risks relating to the Separation
We may be unable to achieve some or all of the benefits that we expect to achieve through the Separation.
We believe that the intended strategic and financial benefits of the Separation should be achieved. However, there can be no assurance of this or that we will be able to attract transaction partners using our capital stock as acquisition currency and that analysts and investors will regard our new corporate structure as more clear and simple than our former corporate structure.
If the Transactions, including the Separation and Former Match Group’s merger, were to fail to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we and our stockholders could suffer material adverse consequences.
Following the completion of the Separation and the merger of Former Match Group into a wholly-owned subsidiary (“Merger Sub”) of Former IAC (the “Merger”), Former Match Group’s successor became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Match Group and most of Former IAC’s existing other subsidiaries came to be held under a separate public company. Pursuant to the Transaction Agreement, Former IAC, and IAC received opinions of Former IAC’s outside counsel, among other things, to the effect that the Separation and related transactions taken together, and the Merger, were tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The opinions of counsel were based upon and rely on, among other things, various facts and assumptions, as well as certain representations, statements and undertakings of Former IAC, Former Match Group, and IAC, including those
relating to the past and future conduct of Former IAC, Former Match Group, and IAC. If any of these representations, statements or undertakings is, or becomes, inaccurate or incomplete, or if any of the representations or covenants contained in any of the transaction-related agreements and documents or in any document relating to the opinions of counsel is, or becomes, inaccurate or is not complied with by Former IAC, Former Match Group, IAC, or any of their respective subsidiaries, the opinions of counsel may be invalid and the conclusions reached therein could be jeopardized.
Notwithstanding receipt of the opinions of counsel regarding the transactions, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) could determine that some or all of the transactions effected in connection with the Transactions should be treated as taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes if it determines that any of the representations, assumptions or undertakings upon which the opinions of counsel were based are inaccurate or have not been complied with. Moreover, even if the foregoing representations, assumptions or undertakings are accurate and have been complied with, the opinions of counsel merely represent the judgment of such counsel and are not binding on the IRS or any court, and the IRS or a court may disagree with the conclusions in the opinions of counsel. Accordingly, notwithstanding receipt of the opinions of counsel, there can be no assurance that the IRS will not assert that the transactions effected in connection with the Transactions do not qualify for tax-free treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes or that a court would not sustain such a challenge. In the event the IRS were to prevail with such a challenge, parties to the Transactions, including Match Group could be subject to tax with respect to the Transactions.
For example, if the transactions effected in connection with the Separation were to fail to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as amended, the “Code), in general, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we would recognize a taxable gain as if the distribution of New IAC stock in connection with the Transactions had been sold in a taxable sale for its fair market value. Even if the transactions effected in connection with the Separation were to otherwise qualify as a tax-free transaction under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Code, taxable gain may be triggered under Section 355(e) of the Code if the transactions effected in connection with the Separation were, or later transactions are, deemed to be part of a plan (or series of related transactions) pursuant to which one or more persons acquire, directly or indirectly, shares representing a 50 percent or greater interest (by vote or value) in us or IAC. For this purpose, any acquisitions of Former IAC stock before the Merger (or Match Group stock after the Merger) or IAC stock within the period beginning two years before the Separation and ending two years after the Separation are presumed to be part of such a plan, although we or IAC may be able to rebut that presumption.
In addition to potential tax liabilities relating to Former Match Group, we and our subsidiaries could be liable to satisfy any tax liabilities relating to Former IAC with respect to the Transactions if their tax-free treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes were successfully challenged by the IRS. While, in some cases, IAC may be obligated under the Tax Matters Agreement to indemnify us for some or all of such taxes, even in those cases, there is no assurance that they will in fact indemnify us.
In addition, if the Merger were determined to be taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we would be subject to tax on the transfer of the assets of Former Match to Merger Sub. Although, as discussed above, we expect that the Transactions will be respected as tax-free, there can be no assurance in this regard. If we or our subsidiaries were required to pay taxes imposed on us with respect to the Transactions, our cash flows could be adversely affected.
We may not be able to engage in desirable capital-raising or strategic transactions following the Separation.
We believe we will generally be able to engage in desirable capital-raising or strategic transactions. However, under current U.S. federal income tax law, a distribution that otherwise qualifies for tax-free treatment can be rendered taxable to the distributing corporation and its stockholders as a result of certain post-distribution transactions, including certain acquisitions of shares or assets of both the distributing corporation and the corporation the stock of which is distributed. To preserve the tax-free treatment of the transactions effected in connection with the Separation, the Tax Matters Agreement imposes certain restrictions on us and our subsidiaries during the two-year period following the Separation. Except in specific circumstances, we are generally restricted from (1) ceasing to actively conduct certain of our businesses; (2) entering into certain transactions or series of transactions pursuant to which all or a portion of our shares of common stock would be acquired, whether by merger or otherwise; (3) liquidating or merging or consolidating with any other
person; (4) issuing equity securities beyond certain thresholds; (5) repurchasing shares of our common stock, other than in certain open-market transactions; or (6) taking or failing to take any other action that would cause the transactions effected in connection with the Separation to fail to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Code. These restrictions may limit our ability to pursue certain equity issuances, strategic transactions, repurchases or other transactions that we may otherwise believe to be in the best interests of our stockholders or that might increase the value of our business.
Actual or potential conflicts of interest may develop between our management and directors, on the one hand, and the management and directors of IAC, on the other hand.
Certain of our directors and executive officers and directors of IAC own both Match Group common stock and IAC common stock. In addition, two of our directors are executives, and in one case, a director, of IAC. This ownership overlap could create, or appear to create, potential conflicts of interest when Match Group’s directors and IAC’s executive officers and directors face decisions that could have different implications for Match Group and IAC. For example, potential conflicts of interest could arise in connection with the resolution of any dispute between Match Group and IAC regarding the terms of the agreements governing the Separation and the relationship between Match Group and IAC thereafter, including the Transaction Agreement, the Employee Matters Agreement, the Tax Matters Agreement, the Transition Services Agreement, or any commercial agreements between the parties or their affiliates. Potential conflicts of interest could also arise if Match Group and IAC enter into any commercial arrangements in the future.
In addition, Joseph Levin serves as the executive chairman of our board of directors, while also serving as the Chief Executive Officer and a director of IAC, Glenn H. Schiffman serves as a director of Match Group while also serving as an executive officer of IAC, and Alan G. Spoon serves as a director of each of Match Group and IAC. We believe that having a limited number of senior IAC management members serve on our Board for a transitional period will be beneficial to us. However, the fact that Messrs. Levin, Schiffman, and Spoon hold positions with both Match Group and IAC could create, or appear to create, potential conflicts of interest for each of them when facing decisions that may affect both Match Group and IAC, and each of them also faces conflicts of interest with regard to the allocation of his time between Match Group and IAC.
We may incur increased expenses if the Transition Services Agreement with IAC is terminated.
In connection with the Separation, we entered into the Transition Services Agreement and various other agreements with IAC, pursuant to which IAC provides us with certain specified services on a transitional basis following the Separation. Depending on the particular service being provided, the agreements extend for up to twelve months after the Separation, but may be terminated earlier under certain circumstances, including a default. If the Transition Services Agreement is terminated, we may be required to obtain such services from a third party. This may be more expensive than the fees that we are required to pay under the agreements with IAC.
Our certificate of incorporation could prevent us from benefiting from corporate opportunities that might otherwise have been available to us.
Our certificate of incorporation includes a “corporate opportunity” provision in which Match Group and its affiliates renounce any interests or expectancy in corporate opportunities which become known to any of Match Group’s directors or officers who are also officers or directors of IAC.
Generally, Match Group’s officers or directors who are also IAC’s officers or directors will not be liable to Match Group or its stockholders for breach of any fiduciary duty because such person fails to communicate or offer to Match Group a corporate opportunity that has been communicated or offered to IAC, that may also be a corporate opportunity of Match Group or because such person communicates or offers to IAC any corporate opportunity that may also be a corporate opportunity of Match Group. In order for any Match Group director or officer who is also an IAC director or officer not to be liable to Match Group or its stockholders, such opportunity cannot become known to the officer or director in his or her capacity as a Match Group director or officer and cannot be presented to any party other than IAC. In addition, such officer or director cannot pursue such opportunity in his or her individual capacity. The corporate opportunity provision may exacerbate conflicts of interest between Match Group and IAC because the provision effectively permits any of Match Group’s directors
or officers who also serve as an officer or director of IAC to choose to direct a corporate opportunity to IAC instead of to Match Group.
Risks relating to ownership of our common stock
The price of our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
The market price of our common stock has been and may continue to be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. These fluctuations could cause you to lose part of your investment in our common stock if you are unable to sell your shares at or above the price you paid to acquire them. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the market price of our common stock include the following:
•price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;
•volatility in the market prices and trading volumes of technology stocks generally, or those in our industry in particular;
•changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other technology companies generally, or those in our industry in particular;
•sales of shares of our stock by us and/or our directors, executive officers, employees and stockholders;
•the failure of securities analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by securities analysts who follow our company or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;
•the financial projections we may provide to the public, and any changes in those projections or our failure to meet those projections;
•announcements by us or our competitors of new brands, products or services;
•the public’s reaction to our earnings releases, other public announcements and filings with the SEC;
•rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;
•actual or anticipated changes or fluctuations in our operating results;
•actual or anticipated developments in our business, our competitors’ businesses or the competitive landscape generally;
•litigation involving us, our industry or both, or investigations by regulators into our operations or those of our competitors;
•developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or other proprietary rights;
•announced or completed acquisitions of businesses or technologies by us or our competitors;
•new laws or regulations or new interpretations of (or changes to) existing laws or regulations applicable to our business;
•changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations or principles;
•any significant change in our management or our board composition; and
•general economic conditions and slow or negative growth in any of our significant markets.
In addition, in the past, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against companies following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of their securities. We currently are, and in the future may be, the target of this type of litigation. See “Part II, Item 1—Legal Proceedings.” Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.
You may experience dilution due to the issuance of additional securities in the future.
Our dilutive securities consist of vested and unvested options to purchase shares of our common stock, restricted stock unit awards, equity awards denominated in the equity of our non-public subsidiaries but settleable in shares of our common stock, the exchangeable notes and the exchangeable note warrants.
These dilutive securities are reflected in our dilutive earnings per share calculation contained in our financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020. For more information, see “Note 8—Earnings per Share” to the consolidated financial statements included in “Part I, Item 1—Consolidated Financial Statements”. Intra-quarter movements in our stock price, could lead to more or less dilution than reflected in these calculations.
Our quarterly results or operating metrics could fluctuate significantly, which could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline.
Our quarterly results and operating metrics have fluctuated historically, and we expect that they could continue to fluctuate in the future as a result of a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control and may be difficult to predict, including:
•the timing, size and effectiveness of our marketing efforts;
•fluctuations in the rate at which we attract new users, the level of engagement of such users and the propensity of such users to subscribe to our brands or to purchase à la carte features;
•increases or decreases in our revenues and expenses caused by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;
•the timing, size and effectiveness of non-marketing operating expenses that we may incur to grow and expand our operations, develop new products and remain competitive;
•the performance, reliability and availability of our technology, network systems and infrastructure and data centers;
•operational and financial risks we may experience in connection with historical and potential future acquisitions and investments;
•legal costs and settlements; and
•general economic conditions in either domestic or international markets.
The occurrence of any one of these factors, as well as other factors, or the cumulative effect of the occurrence of one or more of such factors could cause our quarterly results and operating metrics to fluctuate significantly. As a result, quarterly comparisons of results and operating metrics may not be meaningful.
In addition, the variability and unpredictability of our quarterly results or operating metrics could result in our failure to meet our expectations, or those of any of our investors or of analysts that cover our company, with respect to revenues or other operating results for a particular period. If we fail to meet or exceed such expectations for these or any other reasons, the market price of our common stock could fall substantially.
We do not expect to declare any regular cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
We have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our common stock. Instead, we anticipate that all of our future earnings will be retained to support our operations and to finance the growth and development of our business. Any future determination relating to our dividend policy will be made by our board of directors and will depend on a number of factors, including:
•our historical and projected financial condition, liquidity and results of operations;
•our capital levels and needs;
•tax considerations;
•any acquisitions or potential acquisitions that we may consider;
•statutory and regulatory prohibitions and other limitations;
•the terms of any credit agreements or other borrowing arrangements that restrict our ability to pay cash dividends, including the Match Group Credit Agreement and the indentures relating to the Match Group Senior Notes;
•general economic conditions; and
•other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors.
We are not obligated to pay dividends on our common stock. Consequently, investors may need to rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment. Investors seeking regular cash dividends should not purchase our common stock.
Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws or Delaware law may discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our common stock.
Delaware corporate law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our company may deem advantageous, including provisions which:
•authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that our board of directors could issue to increase the number of outstanding shares and to discourage a takeover attempt;
•establish a classified board of directors, as a result of which our board is divided into three classes, with each class serving for staggered three-year terms, which prevents stockholders from electing an entirely new board of directors at an annual meeting;
•prohibit stockholder action by written consent, thereby requiring all actions to be taken at a meeting of the stockholders;
•eliminate the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders;
•provide that certain litigation against us can be brought only in Delaware (subject to certain exceptions); and
•provide that the board of directors is expressly authorized to make, alter or repeal our bylaws.
Any provision of our certificate of incorporation, our bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities
The Company did not issue or sell any shares of its common stock or any other equity securities pursuant to unregistered transactions during the quarter ended June 30, 2020.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The Company did not purchase any shares of its common stock during the quarter ended June 30, 2020. In connection with the separation of Match Group and IAC, the remaining authorization to purchases shares of Former IAC common stock under the Company’s previously announced May 2016 repurchase authorization was terminated.