Business Breakdowns
Episode 133 Match Group: Swipe Right
Business Breakdowns

Episode 133: Match Group: Swipe Right

Business Breakdowns

Episode 133

Match Group: Swipe Right

George Hadjia is the founder of Bristlemoon Capital. We cover the history and major players of the dating app industry, how the company monetizes its power users, and why it has become a battleground stock.

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(00:03:10) - (First question) - George’s response since releasing his recent report on Match

(00:04:55) - A general overview of the online dating market

(00:10:55) - Comparing the different brands within the dating app industry  

(00:14:10) - The reason for the existence of so many niche brands in the market

(00:18:55) - The different avenues for these brands when it comes to monetization 

(00:21:25) - The breakdown of revenue per customer and the different tiers dating apps offer 

(00:24:10) - Customer turnover due to the nature of dating and how the retention rate differs between the different apps

(00:28:40) - A snapshot of how the industry has been growing over recent years

(00:29:50) - Determining normalized earning profiles and margins when taking into account the lack of marketing spend historically

(00:32:40) - The historical percentage of revenue that goes into marketing expenses

(00:35:10) - How Bumble’s advertising expenditure differs from Match Group brands

(00:36:40) - Price competition between different brands and a look at Tinder’s introduction of premium monetization tiers

(00:39:20) - Dissecting top-line growth and the percentage due to recent price increases 

(00:40:10) - An overview of the business’ capital allocation and how they intend to invest in the growth of the business

(00:42:50) - The new management team’s strategy and how it differs from the previous regimes

(00:46:25) - Potential changes to Apple app store fees and how it could affect the business 

(00:51:10) - A forward outlook at where George expects the business to go in the coming years

(00:54:40) - The key risks to the business moving forward

(00:57:20) - The threat that Facebook poses in terms of its entry into the market 

(01:02:20) - The lessons learned from researching Match

 

Match Group: Swipe Right

Introduction

Matt
This is Matt Reustle and today, we are breaking down the giant of online dating Match Group. Now even if you found love the old-fashioned way, you're likely familiar with the match brands like Tinder and Hinge amongst many others. To break down Match, I'm joined by George Hadjia, Founder of Bristlemoon Capital. And on Business Breakdowns, we typically try to focus 90% plus of the conversation on the business itself.

We'll ask guests about valuation framework for a business, but we try to avoid stock-specific conversations. In this case, Match is a battleground stock. And it was a great opportunity to expand the concept of Business Breakdowns or evolve the concept of Business Breakdowns and start to incorporate more discussion on why the stock went from this tech darling to quite hated.

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