One of the most famous names in dating apps is the social network for gay men, Grindr. The app, which has two million regular users per day, has been valued at $155 million (R2,5 billion), and a majority stake has been sold to Beijing Kunlun Tech Company.
60 percent of Grindr has been acquired by the Chinese outfit, while the remaining 40 percent will stay with founder Joel Simkhai and Grindr employees.
The sale is intended to raise capital for expansion as well as the “digital expertise” Beijing Kunlun Tech Company has to offer. While the company was previously focused on gaming properties, it is expanding into the lifestyle market with this acquisition.
The big question here is regarding Grindr users’ data and how this change affects them. When Facebook bought Whatsapp we learnt just how valuable personal data is to large companies; Grindr users should keep an eye out on any future terms of service agreement changes.
For now though, Grindr will continue to operate as-is – an agreement has been met in which the current developers of the app as well as the operating structure will remain the same.
[Source – New York Times]
