Tinder changed dating forever — now it’s trying everything, including AI, to hold on to its paying users

Tinder owner Match Group held an investor day this week.

12/13/24 7:34AM

When Tinder burst onto the scene in 2012, it changed — for better or worse — one of the most fundamental human experiences: how people meet their partners, date, and find that special connection. Since then, the company has become the poster child of the dating-app scene, with hundreds of millions of users swiping to their hearts’ content, turning Tinder into a billion-dollar app. But for the past few years, Tinder and its parent company, Match Group, have been working furiously just to stay relevant as the company’s user growth began to slow, go flat, and then turn negative. The last quarter brought some relief, with the company adding paying users to Tinder for the first time since 2022.

With its stock price down 76% since the end of 2021, Match Group — which also owns Hinge, Match.com, and OkCupid — has been under heavy pressure from activist investors to turn things around. Given its size and maturity, Tinder has long been the company’s cash cow, accounting for $2 billion of direct revenue over the last 12 months, nearly 4x what Hinge brought in and ~57% of the company’s total revenue.

But with a declining user base and a reputation for hook-ups rather than long-term connection, how do you turn Tinder around? Match Group execs, like plenty of business leaders before them, are looking to AI as a solution. The company is hoping that “advanced AI” will help people find matches on the platform more easily, with one slide in the company’s presentation showing an AI-powered insight for an “outdoorsy” individual looking to meet someone. It reads: “Kevin’s not into hiking like you, but loves nature and spends time on the open water kayaking” — this powerful insight is gleaned from a picture of Kevin, in which he’s kayaking on the open water.

And it’s not just in the Tinder app that Match Group is hoping to use AI. In the Hinge section of the company’s presentation, Match touts the potential of AI to help “coach struggling users,” helping one user to breezily ask another plant-loving potential match, “What is the latest count of plants in your…”

Hinge AI — Screenshot from the Match Group Investor Day presentation (December 2024)

Match Group shares are down 6% in the last week, despite the announcement of a new $1.5 billion share-buyback authorization and the initiation of a cash dividend to shareholders.

Google shares jump on new TPU 8 chips, enterprise agent platform, and partnership with Nvidia

The raft of announcements from Google’s Cloud Next ’26 event sent shares up in early trading.

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Rani Molla3h

How Elon Musk has shifted SpaceX’s goals ahead of its IPO

The New York Times took a close look at how Elon Musk is reshaping SpaceX’s priorities ahead of its highly anticipated, potentially record-breaking IPO — and what that could mean for the company and its investors.

As the NYT’s Ryan Mac noted in the article, “Shifting aims before an I.P.O. would be unthinkable for most corporate leaders, who tend to focus on their core businesses and try to project steadiness to potential investors.”

But Musk, who is also the ever-unpredictable CEO of Tesla, doesn’t follow typical playbooks. Here’s a quick look at how SpaceX’s goals have changed:

Musk’s SpaceX Goals Shift Ahead of Its I.P.O.

But Musk, who is also the ever-unpredictable CEO of Tesla, doesn’t follow typical playbooks. Here’s a quick look at how SpaceX’s goals have changed:

Rani Molla19h

SpaceX seals right to buy coding startup Cursor for $60 billion

SpaceX said today that it’s “working closely together” with fast-growing coding startup Cursor “to create the world’s best coding and knowledge work AI.” The post also said SpaceX would have the right to acquire Cursor later this year or make the startup “pay $10 billion for our work together.” The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, previously reported that the companies had agreed to an acquisition.

The news comes as SpaceX prepares for a blockbuster IPO and doubles down on AI, with a growing — if still fully aspirational — focus on space-based data infrastructure and computing.

Last month, when SpaceX hired two senior leaders from Cursor, CEO Elon Musk noted that xAI, which SpaceX acquired earlier this year, “was not built right first time around, so is being rebuilt from the foundations up.”