Where do securities and love intersect? In this complaint, which alleges that Match Group, Inc., the dating and matchmaking company, violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint claims the company made false or misleading statements to investors and failed to disclose adverse information, in order to boost the price of its securities.
The class for this action is all persons and entities who acquired the securities of Match Group between August 6, 2019 and September 25, 2019 and who were damaged thereby.
Match offers a number of dating and matchmaking products under the brand names Tinder, Match, PlentyOfFish, Meetic, OKCupid, OurTime, and Hinge. The company’s stock trades on the NASDAQ exchange.
The beginning of the class period, August 6, 2019, is the day on which Match released its second-quarter financial results, including an 18% increase in total revenue over the prior year quarter. It also announced an 18.1% increase in subscribers, to 9.1 million.
It also discussed Risk Factors, among which was the company’s “ability to attract and retain users through cost-effective marketing efforts.” It stated, in part, “Communicating with our users via email is critical to our success…” It added later, “Our ability to communicate via email enable us to keep our users updated on activity with respect to their profile, present or suggest new or interesting users from the community, invite users to offline events and present discount and promotional offers, among other things.”
The complaint alleges that these statements were “materially false and/or misleading” and failed to disclose important factors about the company’s business.
On September 25, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it was suing Match for using what the complaint calls “artificial love interest ads to deceive consumers into buying or upgrading subscriptions,” and also for failing to resolve disputed charges and intentionally making it difficult for subscribers to cancel their subscriptions.
The FTC’s press release alleged that “millions of contracts that generated Match’s “You caught his eye” notices came from accounts the company had already flagged as likely to be fraudulent. By contrast, Match prevented existing subscribers from receiving email communications from a suspected fraudulent account.”
In this case, the complaint alleges not only the use of fake ads to get customers to upgrade subscriptions and that Match made it difficult for customers to cancel. It notes that as a result of these two things, “the Company was reasonably likely to be subject to regulatory scrutiny;” and that it lacked adequate disclosure controls and procedures. Match’s statements about its business, operation, and prospects were therefor misleading or without a reasonable basis.
At the news of the FTC’s suit, Match’s share price fell $1.39 per share, or nearly 2%.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Securities
Most Recent Case Event
Match Group Fake Love Interest Ads and Securities Prices Complaint
October 3, 2019
Where do securities and love intersect? In this complaint, which alleges that Match Group, Inc., the dating and matchmaking company, violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint claims the company made false or misleading statements to investors and failed to disclose adverse information, in order to boost the price of its securities.
match_group_securities_complaint.pdfCase Event History
Match Group Fake Love Interest Ads and Securities Prices Complaint
October 3, 2019
Where do securities and love intersect? In this complaint, which alleges that Match Group, Inc., the dating and matchmaking company, violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint claims the company made false or misleading statements to investors and failed to disclose adverse information, in order to boost the price of its securities.
match_group_securities_complaint.pdf