(Bloomberg) — Grindr Inc. reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and gave a 2025 margin forecast that also fell short of estimates, sending the stock down in extended trading.
The company also announced its first share buyback program, authorizing a repurchase of as much as $500 million in stock through March 2027.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the last three months of 2024 were $38.6 million, behind projections for $38.8 million, the company said in a shareholder letter on Wednesday. The LGBTQ dating brand expects its margin for adjusted Ebitda to be more than 41%, it said in a separate statement. Wall Street was projecting 42.3%.
The muted report follows an expansive product road map laid out in January. The company plans to launch six app features this year, several of which will be powered by artificial intelligence such as chat summaries and better sorting of already-matched profiles. Some of these offerings will ultimately live behind a paywall, while others will be included in a free trial this year to encourage user engagement, Chief Executive Officer George Arison said in an interview in January.
Shares of Grindr fell as much as much as 5.8% in extended trading after the results were announced.
The forecast overshadowed upbeat sales results. The company ended 2024 with $344.6 million in revenue, it said, more than Wall Street was expecting. It’s now forecasting 2025 revenue growth of 24% or more. Analysts had projected $424.3 million in 2025 revenue, according to Bloomberg-compiled data, a 23% increase over the 2024 total reported Wednesday.
The firm said during its inaugural investor day last June that the new features, along with a push into offering travel recommendations, will help it meet an aggressive annual revenue growth target of 20% to 25% through 2027.
(Updates with fourth-quarter earnings results starting in the first paragraph and share reaction in the fifth paragraph.)
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