(Bloomberg) — Grindr Inc., the online dating platform for LGBTQ users, fell short of estimates with its fourth-quarter earnings and 2025 margin forecast, sending the stock down in extended trading.
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Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the last three months of 2024 amounted to $38.6 million, the company said in a shareholder letter on Wednesday. That missed projections of $38.8 million. Grindr expects its margin for adjusted Ebitda to be more than 41%, it said in a separate statement. Wall Street was predicting 42.3%.
The company also announced its first share buyback program, authorizing a repurchase of as much as $500 million in stock through March 2027.
The muted report follows an expansive product road map laid out in January. The company plans to launch six app features this year, several of which will have AI capabilities. The lineup includes chat summaries and better sorting of already-matched profiles.
Some of these offerings will ultimately live behind a paywall, while others will be included in a free trial this year to encourage user engagement, Chief Executive Officer George Arison said in an interview in January.
To support the AI-driven developments, Arison plans to bring on a “significant number of employees” this year, he said during a conference call with analysts on Wednesday. That’s on top of the 35 net new headcount that Grindr gained last year. The company is looking to add roles in areas such as generative AI, machine learning, product, data and engineering leadership, according to its shareholder letter.
Shares of Grindr fell as much as much as 12% in extended trading after the report was announced.
The forecast overshadowed upbeat sales results. The company ended 2024 with $344.6 million in revenue, it said, more than Wall Street was expecting. It’s now forecasting 2025 revenue growth of 24% or more. Analysts had projected $424.3 million in 2025 revenue, according to Bloomberg-compiled data, a 23% increase over the 2024 total reported Wednesday.
The firm said during its inaugural investor day last June that the new features, along with a push into offering travel recommendations, will help it meet an aggressive annual revenue growth target of 20% to 25% through 2027.
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