Match Group continues to expand beyond online dating with 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 stock-and-cash deal for Hyperconnect the day before. Hyperconnect is based in Seoul and has two main apps, Azar and Hakuna Live.
In an interview on “Closing Bell,” Swidler said that both of Hyperconnect’s offerings fall into the “social discovery” category, which is a way to meet friends and people who have shared interests.
Match Group believes social discovery represents a larger market than online dating, Swidler said. “It is a very global market, and it is growing even faster than the dating industry,” he said, adding that it was helped by the coronavirus pandemic, which has virtually allowed people to develop more connections.
Azar is a video and chat app that provides instant translation for voice and text messages. Hyperconnect was founded in 2014 and released Azar that same year. According to the company, the app has generated more than 540 million downloads in total.
Launched in 2019, Hakuna Live is a live streaming platform that allows users to create audio and video broadcasts for groups. It has registered more than 23 million downloads, according to the company, with growing popularity in Japan and South Korea.
Hyperconnect said it is profitable and delivered more than $ 200 million in revenues in 2020. That’s 50% more than the previous year. Match Group saw sales increase 17% last year to $ 2.4 billion.
Match Group has moved beyond its primary focus on romantic relationships with apps like Ablo, said Swidler, who joined the Dallas-based company in 2015. However, he said the Hyperconnect acquisition “will put us much firmer in social discovery.” The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.
Shares of Match Group were up 7.7% on Wednesday to $ 171.07, an all-time high during the day. The stock is up 126% in the last 12 months.