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Tinder's parent company Match Group has decided to buy majority stake in Hinge - another dating website. Hinge is widely regarded as the 'anti-tinder app' which lets its users look for relationships as opposed to Tinder which is considered to be 'made for hook-ups'.
Buying promising independent brands from the same genre and field, and creating a single monopoly in that section is an age-old method used by many companies and Match Group's strategy is no different. Over the years, it has acquired several online dating apps, including Tinder.
As per a report by Fortune, Match decided to also overtake the fifth-highest grossing dating app called Hinge. Initially, Hinge was similar to Tinder, with people swiping left or right on photographs to express their interest. The only difference was unlike Tinder, it was necessary for users to have at least one Facebook connection to connect on Hinge.
However, Hinge then redesigned its app in 2016 to let users fill more information and details about their personal self, which allowed other users to get to know a little more about the actual person instead of just his image.
Hinge used the tagline, "Goodbye swiping! On Hinge, every like is unique," a clear nudge on Tinder. After this move, Hinge's user base increased four times as before, clearly indicating its success. So far, details about the acquisition are not revealed by any of the companies, however, the news is that Match Group will acquire 52 percent holding in the app, with the option to buy the remaining shares over the next year. The financials and other aspects of the deal are yet to be discussed and revealed.
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