Some financial experts say if you want to invest your money in the stock market, you should buy stock in companies you use and like.
With that in mind, it might be of interest to know Grindr, the gay dating app, has announced plans for an IPO (Initial Public Offering).
The BBC is reporting that Grindr’s Chinese parent company, Kunlun Group, has given its approval for the offering although the plan still needs approval by the shareholder board. The company said in a public filing that taking the stock public would “strengthen” its competitiveness.
Launched in 2009 in New York, the Chinese tech company bought a 61.5% majority ownership in 2016 for $93 million, and then took over completely this past January purchasing the remaining shares for $152 million.
Based in West Hollywood, California, the popular dating app has over 27 million LGBT users around the world.
Interestingly, although owned by a Chinese firm, Grindr has not been made available to China. According to the South China Morning Post, the most popular dating app there is Beijing-based Blued which claims to have 40 million registered users.
SCMP reports the timing of the listing will be dependent on international capital market conditions and approval from regulators.
Like other internet-based services this year, however, there have been some issues raised regarding potential privacy violations.
Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence experts have expressed concern that the app could be used to mine data from its millions of customers by the Chinese government.
Grindr has stated that data sharing is a common practice and that it has safe guards in place to protect its private information.
As many of Instinct readers may know (from experience?), Grindr has millions of active users each day.
The Irish Times says an average of 228 million messages and 20 million photos are shared on Grindr every single day.
With that many customers, it could be an opportunity to buy (at) the bottom and sell (at) the top.
What do you think, readers? Would you buy stock in Grindr?
