The company behind Tinder went public just as swiping became the way a generation dated. Match Group was a bundle of dating brands that Barry Diller's IAC had gathered for years. It started with Match.com, a 1995 website, and grew to include OkCupid, PlentyOfFish, and Tinder. Tinder was barely three years old and already the brand everyone talked about. When Match Group filed in October 2015, investors had to price a business built on people looking for love on their phones.

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Gary Kremen founded Match.com in 1995 as one of the first dating sites on the web. IAC bought it in 1999 and kept adding brands. In February 2009 IAC formed Match Group to hold them all, run from Dallas. Its bet was breadth. Different apps fit different people, from older singles who wanted long profiles to students who wanted a quick swipe. Most use was free. Match Group earned its money from members who paid for subscriptions and extra features.

Priced at the Low End

Match Group priced its IPO at $12 a share on November 18, 2015, at the bottom of its range. It raised about $400 million at a market value of $2.9 billion and rose in its first day of trading on Nasdaq as MTCH. IAC still held most of the stock. In July 2020 IAC split off its stake, and Match Group became a fully independent company. Spencer Rascoff took over as CEO in February 2025. The stock still trades as MTCH.

Cover: The Lovers, William Powell Frith. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a pair of lovers (the match).