Still, with no sell ratings on the stock so far, many on Wall Street have continued to keep faith the company and its online dating peers despite their dwindling valuation, pinning hopes on further product upgrades in 2024 and the addressable market’s size
Match rival Bumble Inc. has fared even worse, with its stock dropping 30% in the past 12 months. Its shares neared a record low in November after reporting worse-than-expected revenue outlook and news of founder Whitney Wolfe Herd stepping down as chief executive officer and transitioning into the role of executive chair.
Following frequent executive changes at Match Group and at its biggest brand, Tinder, the company has been hoping to deliver on a turnaround with the appointment of veteran mobile gaming executive Bernard Kim to the top job in 2022
Kim introduced a series of management and organizational changes to improve product execution and reverse losses. vice president of product to become chief technology officer of the parent firm. Kim, himself a product-driven executive, became interim CEO of Tinder, a post he still holds.
Last year, Match introduced splashy ad campaigns, new pricing plans – including the ultra-premium tier – and new features across its apps to attract new users and Gen Zs, which helped it earn more from each paying user on average. However, it has seen its subscriber numbers decline for each of the last four quarters, leading many analysts to cut their financial estimates on the slower-than-expected recovery.
Following frequent executive changes at Match Group and at its biggest brand, Tinder, the company has been hoping to deliver on a turnaround with the appointment of veteran mobile gaming executive Bernard Kim to the top job in 2022
While Bumble is boppin’ (shoutout to the campus Bumble ambassadors and their free Mel’s drink tickets), Tinder still remains ever-present at Columbia. Because, as Pitbull sings in the song “Timber” (which Bwog thinks should be called Tinder), who wouldn’t want to make a night you don’t remember with a person you don’t forget (but want to forget)?!
As we all know, our college population (especially undergrad) isn’t the largest, which increases the probability that you’ll physically run into any person you match with on a dating app. In fact, Tinder’s new “Tinder U” feature is only available to college students, decreasing your chances of making it through college unscathed. As such, Bwog decided to ask Columbia students about their cringiest Tinder run-in’s to determine what scenario was the cringiest of them all! Here are their responses:
- “My alumni interviewer and I had matched on Tinder the day before and he began the interview by asking me if he knew me from somewhere while I proceeded to run to the bathroom and unmatch him.”
- “In the first week of freshman year I matched with unnamed Beta guy on Tinder and he asked me to their party so I went but he was being boring so I asked another Tinder match to come…TURNS OUT THEY WERE SUITEMATES! The other guy came and introduced me to the first Tinder match and I was like yes…I know him.”
- “I have three matches in my CC class…talk about constant cringe.”
- “Last Saturday night, I saw a Tinder match from freshman year on a random roof in Chinatown.”
- “Matched with a girl on Tinder the first night I arrived…guess who turned out to be my RA?”
- “A guy on my floor and I had matched and we both didn’t acknowledge it until he started drunk calling me, drunk Tinder messaging me, and knocking on my door within the span of an hour.”
- “In Butler after studying next to each other for three hours…he tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I was his Tinder match…now I’m scared every time I go to Butler.”