Match Group, which also owns Tinder, owns Hinge. In 2025 Hinge made $690.9 million of direct revenue, up 26%, and $166.3 million of operating income, while Tinder’s revenue fell 4%. Hinge is not owned by Bumble, which is a separate company.
Correction (10 Oct 2026): the data card at the top of this page showed undated, unsourced figures, and the title was dated 2024. Both are updated with figures from Match Group’s filings; the rest of the article is kept as it was.
How we source: figures on this page come from the company’s own filings (SEC 10-K, 10-Q, prospectus and earnings releases, or its annual report), with the period stated next to each number; outside estimates appear only labelled, with their source and date. Last refreshed October 2026. Our methodology.
Hinge is part of Match Group, Inc., the Dallas-based owner of Tinder, Match, Meetic, OkCupid and Plenty of Fish. In its 2025 annual report, Match Group reported Hinge’s direct revenue at $690.9 million, up 26%, with payers up 18% and revenue per payer up 7%; Hinge’s operating income rose 37% to $166.3 million. Match Group itself is public and widely held: its 2026 proxy lists Vanguard (13.7%), BlackRock (11.9%), activist investor Starboard Value (7.6%) and State Street (6.9%) above 5%.
The Business Engineer view
Hinge is the clearest sign of a shift inside online dating: from swiping volume to intent. Tinder still brings in more than twice Hinge’s revenue but is shrinking, while Hinge grows by a quarter a year at a higher price per payer. For Match Group, Hinge is both the growthstory and the hedge against Tinder’s decline.
Hinge is owned by the Match Group, which is a group that owns several brands. The main shareholders of the Match Group, which owns Tinder, comprise The Vanguard Group (11.1%), BlackRock (12.2%), and Edgewood Management (5.7%). Top individual shareholders comprise executives of the company like Sharmistha Dubey, an Indian-born American business executive who served as CEO of Match Group from March 2020 to May 2022.
Detail
Description
Company
Hinge (under Match Group, Inc.)
Ownership Structure
Wholly owned subsidiary
Parent Company
Match Group, Inc.
Acquisition Date
Fully acquired in February 2019
Founding Date
2012
Founder
Justin McLeod
Headquarters
New York City, New York, USA
Primary Business
Providing a dating app focused on meaningful connections and long-term relationships
Strategic Goals
Expanding market share among relationship-focused dating apps, enhancing user engagement through innovative features, and leveraging data for improved matchmaking
Additional Ownership Details
Corporate Structure and Ownership: Hinge is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Match Group, Inc., a global leader in the online dating industry. Match Group acquired a 51% stake in Hinge in 2018 and completed the acquisition in February 2019. Match Group, Inc. is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol MTCH.
Corporate Strategy and Business Model: Hinge positions itself as the dating app “designed to be deleted,” emphasizing meaningful relationships over casual hookups. This strategy aligns with Match Group’s goal of catering to diverse dating preferences and expanding its portfolio of relationship-focused platforms.
Product Innovation and User Engagement: Hinge continuously innovates by offering features like personalized prompts and video chats to facilitate deeper connections. The app utilizes data and user feedback to enhance matchmaking algorithms and improve the user experience, fitting within Match Group’s broader strategy of leveraging technology for user engagement.
Market Positioning: Hinge targets millennials and young professionals seeking serious relationships. This positioning allows Match Group to capture a segment of the dating market interested in long-term partnerships, complementing other brands in its portfolio like Tinder and Match.com.
User Safety and Privacy: Hinge prioritizes user safety with features like video verification and detailed privacy settings. This commitment to safety supports Match Group’s overall emphasis on maintaining trust and security across its dating platforms.
11.1%The main shareholders of the Match Group, which owns Tinder, comprise The Vanguard Group (11.1%), BlackRockโฆThis article
51%Match Group acquired a 51% stake in Hinge in 2018 and completed the acquisition in February 2019.This article
12.2%Bumble's top shareholders comprise its founder, and former CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, with a stake of 12.2% ofโฆThis article
$900 millionBumble Revenue Bumble generated over a billion dollars in revenue in 2023, compared to over $900 million inโฆThis article
In one lineHinge is owned by the Match Group, which is a group that owns several brands.
FourWeekMBABusiness EngineerAt a glance
Corporate Structure and Ownership: Hinge is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Match Group, Inc., a global leader in the online dating industry.
Match Group acquired a 51% stake in Hinge in 2018 and completed the acquisition in February 2019.
Corporate Strategy and Business Model: Hinge positions itself as the dating app "designed to be deleted," emphasizing meaningful relationships over casual hookups.
Market Positioning: Hinge targets millennials and young professionals seeking serious relationships.
Layout refreshed 6 October 2026. The article text below is unchanged.
Why it mattersFrom the article
As AI becomes central to Hinge's competitive advantage, ownership value increasingly lies in the sophisticated algorithms and user data rather than the app's basic social networking infrastructure.
Bumble’s top shareholders comprise its founder, and former CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, with a stake of 12.2% of the company. Other major institutional investors comprise Blackstone, FMR, Wellington, and The Vanguard Group.
Bumble is an American social media company with a core focus on online dating. Bumble drives revenue through the purchase of in-app services using its currency Bumble Coins and via subscriptions. Bumble generates revenues in a few key ways: Spotlight is Bumble’s answer to Tinder’s Boost capability. The Bumble Boost function allows users to swipe without daily limits or extend matches for up to 48 hours.
Bumble was not profitable in 2023 as it reported a net loss of $1.87 million. Compared to over $114 million in net losses in 2022, and a net profit of nearly $282 million in 2021.
Bumble had over 3.7 million total paying users in 2023, compared to nearly 3.2 million total paying users in 2022, and nearly 2.9 million total paying users in 2021.
Tinder is owned by the Match Group, which is a group that owns several brands. The main shareholders of the Match Group, which owns Tinder, comprise The Vanguard Group (11.1%), BlackRock (12.2%), and Edgewood Management (5.7%). Top individual shareholders comprise executives of the company like Sharmistha Dubey, an Indian-born American business executive who served as CEO of Match Group from March 2020 to May 2022.
Tinder is among the most popular dating apps. Initially named MatchBox, it leveraged a “double opt-in” mechanism that helped remove the initial friction of having to meet strangers. Later on, the product was renamed Tinder. The company (now parts of the Match Group) makes money via its main subscription plans and premium features like boosts and super likes.
AI is fundamentally reshaping Hinge’s ownership dynamics by shifting power from traditional dating app mechanics to algorithm-driven user experience optimization. Match Group, Hinge’s parent company, has invested heavily in machine learning systems that analyze user behavior patterns to improve matching accuracy and engagement. A concrete example is Hinge’s “Most Compatible” feature, which uses AI to analyze users’ preferences, response patterns, and successful match data to suggest one highly compatible profile daily. This AI-driven personalization has increased user retention rates and attracted premium subscribers willing to pay for enhanced algorithmic insights. However, this technological advancement has also made Hinge more dependent on data scientists and AI engineers rather than traditional product developers, potentially influencing future acquisition discussions. As AI becomes central to Hinge’s competitive advantage, ownership value increasingly lies in the sophisticated algorithms and user data rather than the app’s basic social networking infrastructure.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
Scroll to Top
Discover more from FourWeekMBA
Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.
