(Reuters) -Tinder-parent Match Group forecast third-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, anticipating weak discretionary spending on dating apps as its paying users decline.
The company expects revenue of between $895 million and $905 million for the third quarter, the mid-point of which is below analysts’ average estimates of $915.4 million, according to LSEG data.
The results come about two weeks after activist investor Starboard Value built a 6.6% stake in the dating-apps operator, urging it to explore a sale if it is unable to revitalize its business.
Starboard is the third investor after Elliott Investment Management and Anson Funds Management to push for changes this year at Match, which has struggled with a post-pandemic slowdown in growth and delays in new features for key apps such as Tinder.
Total paying users for Match declined 5% to 14.8 million in the second quarter, the company said, marking a seventh straight quarter of decline.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
