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Match Group is consolidating its expansion 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 transaction for Hyperconnect a day earlier. Hyperconnect is based in Seoul and has two main apps, Azar and Hakuna Live.
In an interview on “Closing Bell,” Swidler said that both Hyperconnect offerings fall under the category of “social discovery,” which is a way to meet friends and people with common interests.
Match Group believes social discovery is a bigger market than online dating, Swidler said. “It’s a very global market, and it’s growing even faster than the dating industry,” he said, adding that he had been aided by the coronavirus pandemic, which has led people to virtually foster more connections.
Azar is a video chat application that offers instant translation for voice and text messages. Hyperconnect was founded in 2014 and released Azar the same year. The app has seen more than 540 million downloads in total, according to the company.
Launched in 2019, Hakuna Live is a live streaming platform that allows users to create group audio and video broadcasts. It has recorded more than 23 million downloads, with popularity growing in Japan and South Korea, according to the company.
Hyperconnect said it was profitable and generated over $ 200 million in revenue in 2020. This is a 50% increase from the previous year. Match Group saw its revenue increase 17% last year to $ 2.4 billion.
Match Group has ventured beyond its primary focus on romantic relationships with apps like Ablo, according to Swidler, who joined the Dallas-based company in 2015. However, he said the acquisition of Hyperconnect “will lead us much more firmly into social discovery”. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.
Shares of Match Group rose 7.7% on Wednesday to $ 171.07, hitting an all-time high intraday. The stock has risen 126% in the past 12 months.
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