Match Group (MTCH) , which owns popular dating apps such as Hinge, Tinder, OkCupid, and Match.com, is noticing that young consumers are falling out of love with its apps.
In Match Group’s first-quarter earnings report for 2025, it revealed that the number of its paying users dipped by 5% year-over-year during the quarter. Also, the company’s operating income, its profit after expenses, shrank by 7%.
💵💰Don’t miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet’s free daily newsletter 💰💵
During an earnings call on May 8, Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff said that the company’s recent challenges are “due primarily to a lack of innovation, and our failure to recognize and respond to changes in the younger demographic, especially Gen Z and what they want.”
Related: Uber CEO gives employees a harsh wake-up call
He also mentioned that Tinder, its leading dating app, is specifically losing its relevancy among young consumers.
“For a decade, Tinder has been an infinite card stack where you swipe left or swipe right to assess the essentially attractiveness of the photo that you’re looking at,” said Rascoff. “And that worked well 10 years ago, when there was more of a hookup culture, when smartphones were new, and when there was novelty around that type of feature set. But as millennials aged up and as Gen Z entered into our sweet spot, that product has less resonance, and Tinder has less product market fit today than in the past.”
The owner of Tinder is taking drastic measures to reengage users.
Image source: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Match Group makes a harsh cost-cutting move
As Match Group’s dating apps lose popularity, the company is narrowing in on winning back consumers, and this first involves making a drastic change to its workforce.
Rascoff said the company is planning to lay off 13% of its workforce in an effort to become “more nimble, more focused, and better aligned, enabling faster decision-making.”
With this move, Rascoff said the company will specifically reduce management layers, including around 1 in 5 managers. Match Group will also close an unspecified number of open job roles and will further cut operating expenses in areas such as technology and data services, customer care, content moderation, media buying, etc.
Related: Google sends a harsh message to employees after layoffs
Match Group expects to generate $100 million in annualized savings, including approximately $45 million this year, through these efforts.
“The best tech companies operate in product-first builder mode, and this next chapter at Match Group is about getting back to that,” said Rascoff. “Fewer layers, faster execution, and a culture focused on creating value through innovation.”
Dating apps are losing their cool among young consumers
The move from Match Group comes during a time when many young consumers are feeling burned out by dating apps.
According to a Forbes Health/OnePoll survey last year, 80% of millennials who use dating apps say that they often or always feel burned out on those platforms, while 79% of Gen Z dating app users relayed the same message.
“People who experience burnout with dating apps are exhausted from constantly meeting new people, failing opportunities, and lies,” said Forbes Health Advisory Board member Dr. Rufus Spann in the survey. “Over time, the unfortunate misgivings of being on a dating app can cause someone to lose hope in the dating process and finding the right person.”
More Labor:
Amazon CEO gives hard-nosed message to employeesIBM gives employees a rude awakening with harsh new policySnapchat CEO teaches new employees a strict lesson
About 40% of the respondents in the survey said the biggest reason they felt burned out using the apps was due to their inability to find a good connection. Also, 35% said they felt “disappointed” by people, while 27% said they felt rejected.
College students have also recently given dating apps the boot. According to a survey from Axios and Generation Lab in 2023, 79% of college and graduate students in the U.S. said that they don’t use any dating apps even once a month. The majority of the students also said that they prefer to meet someone in person.
Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast
