Grindr โFacesโข Potential Take-Private Deal Amid โowners’ Financial Strain
Los Angeles, CA -โค LGBTQ+ โdating โฃapp Grindr is exploring a potentialโ buyout following a recent stock decline that triggered financial difficulties for its majority owners, Raymondโ Zage โand James Lu, according to reports. The โคmove comes after a series of transactions thatโ saw the app transitionโฃ from chinese ownership to aโฃ public listing.
Zage,a former hedge fund manager basedโข in Singapore,andโ Lu,a Chinese-American entrepreneur and โformer executive atโ Amazon and Baidu,led the $600 million acquisitionโฃ of Grindr in 2020,navigating U.S. national security concerns surrounding its previous โฃChinese ownership. They subsequently took โคthe company public in 2022 through a โspecial-purpose โคacquisition company (SPAC) merger.
Recent market volatility has put pressureโฃ on theโข pair, who collectively control over 60% of Grindr’s shares. semafor reported that Zage and Lu hadโค pledged aโข meaningful portion of their shares โฃas collateral for personal loans from a Temasek Holdings unit.A slide in Grindr’s stock price at the end of โSeptember led to those loans becoming undercollateralized, prompting the โTemasek unit to seize โคand sell some of their holdings last week.
Despite aโข 25%โข increase inโข profits during โขthe second quarter, Grindr has experienced some executive turnoverโฃ and investor concern regarding narrowing margins.โ
now, Zage and Lu are โreportedlyโ in discussions with Fortress Investment Group, whichโค is majority-owned by Mubadalaโฃ Investment company – itself owned by โthe government of Abu Dhabi – to secure financing for a buyout at approximately $15 per share. Thisโ would value Grindr at around $3โฃ billion. Following news of the potential deal, Grindr shares jumped in trading.