Match Group is stepping up its expansion into online dating through the acquisition of South Korean social media company Hyperconnect, CFO Gary Swidler told CNBC on Wednesday.
The parent company of Tinder and OkCupid announced the $ 1.73 billion inventory and cash transaction for Hyperconnect the day before. Hyperconnect is located in Seoul and has two main programs, Azar and Hakuna Live.
In an interview on ‘Closing Bell’, Swidler said both of Hyperconnect’s offerings fall into the ‘social discovery’ category, which is a way to meet friends and people who have shared interests.
According to Match Group, social discovery is a bigger market than online dating, Swidler said. “It’s a very global market and it’s growing even faster than the dating business,” he said. He added that the coronavirus pandemic has led to people making virtually more connections.
Azar is a video and chat program that provides instant translation for voicemail and text messaging. Hyperconnect was founded in 2014 and released Azar the same year. According to the company, the app has downloaded more than 540 million total downloads.
Launched in 2019, Hakuna Live is a live platform that allows users to create audio and video broadcasts. According to the company, more than 23 million downloads have been registered, with growing popularity in Japan and South Korea.
Hyperconnect said it was profitable and brought in more than $ 200 million in revenue in 2020. This is 50% higher than in the previous year. Match Group rose 17% to $ 2.4 billion last year.
According to Swidler, who joined the Dallas business in 2015, Match Group has ventured beyond the focus on romantic relationships with apps like Ablo. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.
Shares of Match Group rose 7.7% on Wednesday to $ 171.07, reaching an all-day high of all-time highs. The share has risen by 126% over the past 12 months.