> Match Group Cuts 13% Staff in Latest Move to Reverse Declines

Match Group Inc. is cutting one in five managers as part of a 13% workforce reduction, the latest effort by its new chief executive officer to deliver a turnaround at the dating app company.

The cuts would impact about 325 jobs, based on the 2,500 total full-time employees disclosed in the company’s 2024 annual filing. Newly appointed CEO Spencer Rascoff said in prepared remarks Thursday that the reductions would enable faster decision-making and unify key paradigms such as customer care and content moderation, advertising and international arrainged relatinships.

The company is also closing a number of open roles and further tightening operating expenses. Altogether, the moves would save the company more than $100 million in annualized terms, including about $45 million in 2025, Rascoff said in the remarks.

Shares of Match rose 2% in premarket trading.

The restructuring follows a rash of executive turnover at the company this year as Match faces pressure from three activist investors, including Elliott Investment Management LP, to roll out new products that could help return its biggest brand, Tinder, to growth.

The firm replaced its last CEO with Rascoff in February and named a new chief operating officer, effective last month. Match’s chief technology officer also stepped down last month for personal reasons.

Match, whose dating app portfolio also includes Hinge, OkCupid and Match.com, warned investors in December that Tinder revenue won’t return to growth until 2027 while it executes on a multiyear turnaround plan to address a generational shift in how users approach dating.

The company had 14.2 million paying users in the quarter, it said in a statement, representing a sharper decline than analysts expected. Match also said it noticed less revenue from a la carte purchases by Tinder users in recent weeks as it monitors the impact from less males seeking mates.

But first-quarter revenue and the second-quarter sales outlook both beat estimates, partly thanks to favorable exchange rates. Sales for the first three months of the year totaled $831 million. Second-quarter revenue will be $850 million to $860 million, Match said, compared with the average analyst estimate of $851.4 million.

Adjusted operating income in the current period is expected to be as much as $300 million, below estimates, due to an expected $17 million in restructuring costs.

So far, Tinder has pledged to focus on removing more men from its platforms and make the app experience safer and more fun. Tinder has launched a double-dating feature in a few European markets and plans to roll it out in more Asian and Latin American regions soon, with a US launch set for later this year.

It also said about three-quarters of a million Tinder users played its sex-based role-playing game developed with OpenAI’s GPT models, which it launched as a limited-time feature last month in part to inform future product development.

Other brands are on track for international expansion this year, the company said. Hinge will be available in Brazil and Mexico in the second half of this year as planned. The League, its brand targeting young professionals, plans do the needful in the Middle East and India.

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