Tinder Owner Match Group's Profit Falls

Match Group Inc. reported a decline in profit and weaker-than-expected revenue in its first quarter as a publicly traded company despite growth at its Tinder dating app brand.

Shares fell 3.2% in after-hours trading.

The owner of online dating apps and sites including Match.com and OkCupid went public in November, looking to capitalize on the booming market for dating sites in the U.S.

Match shares closed at $12.19 on Tuesday, just slightly above its IPO price of $12 a share.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Match said its earnings fell to $35.6 million, or 16 cents a share, from $48.3 million, or 29 cents a share, a year earlier.

Match cited higher stock-based compensation and interest expense for the year-over-year decline in profit.

Excluding special items, per-share earnings were 24 cents, while analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast adjusted earnings of 20 cents a share.

Revenue rose 12% to $267.6 million, but came in below analysts' forecast for revenue of $277.3 million.

Match said its dating revenue rose 14% to $241.5 million, driven by a 30% jump in paid members. Match cited "significant" growth at Tinder and its acquisition of PlentyOfFish, which closed in late October.

But average revenue per paying user fell 14% to 53 cents. Match said the decline reflects the shifting of its business toward lower-paying brands such as Tinder and OkCupid.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2016 18:05 ET (23:05 GMT)

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