Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

Bumble's First Acquisition Raises 3 Red Flags

THE MOTLEY FOOL - Bumble recently agreed to buy Fruitz, a French dating app that lets its users express their intentions with four fruit-based metaphors: cherries, grapes, watermelons, and peaches. On the surface, Bumble's acquisition makes sense. It only operates two main apps, Bumble and Badoo. However, the deal also raises three red flags about Bumble that can't be ignored.

1. Bumble needed to buy more growth
   Bumble ended Q3 of 2021 with 2.89M paying users across its two main apps, which represented 5% YOY growth. By comparison, Match's paying users rose 16% YOY to 16.3M.
2. Fruitz probably won't add many paid users
   Fruitz has been downloaded ~5.6M times globally for iOS and Android devices, according to Sensor Tower. And we don't know how many paid users it actually has.
3. Selling Badoo makes more sense
   Bumble generated more than twice as much average revenue per paying user than Badoo. Instead of acquiring another European-oriented app to offset Badoo's slowdown, it would have arguably made more sense to sell Badoo and reinvest that cash into Bumble's overseas expansion.

by Leo Sun
See full article at The Motley Fool

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Bumble & Match Pursuing Metaverse Ambitions

THE MOTLEY FOOL - Bumble plans to relaunch BFF as a metaverse platform. Plans are vague. (Bumble stock declined ~40% the past month, trading ~20% below its IPO price of $43/share. Bumble beat top line estimates but missed profit estimates and lost paid users). CEO, Whitney Wolfe Herd said BFF was already "built on blockchain tech," and that it was designed to encourage users to create their own communities. BFF is to enable members to "own their experience on Bumble" via the "communities they build, the virtual goods and experiences they acquire, or through new ways of owning their identity as they navigate the metaverse." In August, 10% of users were using BFF and Bumble had 12.3m MAUs in September. Match also mentioned metaverse on its latest conference call and has been testing out a new feature called "Singletown" across college campuses in Seoul, which enables its users to communicate with each other through digital avatars in a virtual piano bar. CEO Shar Dubey said it was seeing "encouraging early signals" for Gen Z engagement.

by Leo Sun
See full article at The Motley Fool

Mark Brooks: Want to learn more about Metaverse? The next LTR online conference is covering an intro to Metaverse, courtesy of David Siegel. See ltr13.splashthat.com.

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Where Will Bumble Stock Be in 5 Years?

THE MOTLEY FOOL - Bumble went public in February at $43 per share. The stock opened at $76 a share on the first trading day, peaked at $84.80 a few days later, but lost its momentum and dropped below its IPO price in May. The stock now trades in the low $50s, but it's volatile debut burned many investors. It could still double or triple within the next five years if its revenue continues to rise 20% annually. Bumble's biggest near-term challenge is the pandemic. Its revenue increased 36% in 2019, but it grew just 19% in 2020 as more people stayed at home. Growth accelerated again in the H1 of 2021 as people started to go out again, and it expects its revenue to increase 29% to 31% for the full year. Next year, analysts expect Bumble's revenue to rise 24% to $943M. Over the next five years, Bumble will likely continue to grow. It might acquire more apps to gain new users, but it could also expand Bumble's non-dating features to become a female-oriented social network.

by Leo Sun
See full article at The Motley Fool

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Will Bumble Be Worth More Than Match Group by 2030?

THE MOTLEY FOOL - July 19 - Enthusiasm for Bumble waned after its IPO but, Bumble has been growing faster than Match. Revenue rose 36% to $489m in 2019, then +19% to $582m in 2020. Bumble had slower growth in paid users during the pandemic, but expects revenue to grow ~25% in 2021. Meanwhile, Match's revenue rose 19% to $2.1B in 2019 and +17% to $2.4B in 2020. Analysts expect revenue to increase 22% this year. Bumble and Match trade at 12x and 15x sales. Bumble's+Badoo's paying users rose 22% to 2.5m in 2020, and +30% YOY to 2.8m in Q1 2021. Bumble had 1.35m users, while Badoo had 1.45m. Bumble generates 2x the ARPU of Badoo. Match's paid subs rose 12% to 10.9m in 2020, then +12% YOY to 11.1m in Q1 2021. The global online dating market could grow at a CAGR of 8.3% between 2019 and 2025, according to Allied Market Research.

Conclusion: Bumble could monetize Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz and become a social network. Bumble is highly unlikely to be worth more than Match in ten years but, it could still be a promising growth stock to own for the next decade.

by Leo Sun
See full article at Nasdaq

Mark Brooks: If you're going to invest in dating and social stocks, Bumble should be in the mix. I've learned not to underestimate Bumble. This company is going places! FULL DISCLOSURE: I own Match Group stock...and not Bumble, but will fix this omission this week!

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Momo Has 4 Plans for Future Growth

THE MOTLEY FOOL - Dec 31 - Momo is often called the "Tinder of China" because it owns two top dating apps: its eponymous app and Tantan, a Tinder clone it acquired in 2018. Most of Momo's revenue comes from its core app's live video streaming platform, which lets viewers buy virtual gifts for their favorite broadcasters. A smaller percentage comes from ads, mini-games, and premium dating services. Momo's stock rallied ~50% over the past 12 months, even as it faced Tantan's temporary suspension from Chinese app stores.

1. Growing its users and engagement rates
   Its monthly active users (MAUs) on its core app rose 3% annually to 114.1M last quarter, marking a slowdown from previous quarters. To bring in more users, Momo launched a new version of its app in August.
2. Supporting the "healthy" growth of its live videos
   Momo is closely monitoring its live video platform to avoid a crackdown by China's cyberspace regulators.
3. Growing its base of paid users
   Its number of paid users, including Tantan, grew 7% annually to 13.4M last quarter. That represents just a tiny slice of its total MAUs, but it's implementing fresh strategies to boost that percentage.
4. The monetization of Tantan
   Tantan grew its paid users 41% annually to 4.5M last quarter. These users pay for premium features like unlimited swipes and more matches. Tantan's total revenue rose 89% annually to 310M yuan ($44M), or 7% of Momo's top line.

by Leo Sun
See full article at The Motley Fool

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The U.S. Dating App Market Is Peaking

THE MOTLEY FOOL - July 2 - Tinder surged in popularity in recent years. However, the market's growth will decelerate over the next three years, according to projections from eMarketer, as fewer new users sign up and users drift between existing apps.

Match Group is preparing for that slowdown with three key strategies: increasing its revenue per subscriber with new premium tiers, acquiring niche challengers like Hinge, and expanding into overseas markets.

by Leo Sun
See full article at The Motley Fool

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