Market News
Payers Fall 5% at Match Group as Q3 Revenue Slips to $891 Million
Add Securities.io to your preferred sources on Google
Match Group announced its third-quarter results on November 2, 2026, reporting revenue of $891 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, down 3% year over year, as payers fell 5% to 13.8 million. Revenue per payer rose 3% to $21.19, while revenue excluding foreign-exchange effects declined 2%.
The accompanying prepared remarks showed net income up 8% to $174 million, a 20% margin, and diluted earnings per share of $0.73, compared with $0.62 in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased 14% to $344 million, with a 39% margin. Indirect revenue, most of which is advertising, fell 17% to $15 million on lower spending from top advertisers. Match Group defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income attributable to its shareholders excluding noncontrolling interests, taxes, other income or expense, interest, depreciation, specified acquisition-related items and stock-based compensation; its margin is Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue.
The prior-year quarter’s Adjusted EBITDA included a $61 million legal settlement charge. Excluding that charge, Match Group said third-quarter Adjusted EBITDA declined 5%, primarily because of higher marketing spending at Tinder and Hinge. Selling and marketing expense rose $16 million, or 9%, to 21% of revenue. Product-development expense increased 14% on higher AI token and employee costs, while cost of revenue fell 16%, primarily on alternative-payment savings.
Brand Results
Match Group reported the following brand results, with year-over-year changes. Direct revenue comes directly from end users and includes subscriptions and à la carte purchases. Payers are unique users at a brand level from whom it earned direct revenue, though the same individual can be counted at multiple brands. Revenue per payer, or RPP, is average monthly revenue earned from a payer.
| Brand | Direct revenue | Payers | RPP | Adjusted EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tinder | $480 million (down 2%) | 8.9 million (down 4%) | $18.02 (up 2%) | $244 million (up 20%) |
| Hinge | $220.6 million (up 19%) | 2.312 million (up 23%) | $31.81 (down 3%) | $87.9 million (up 40%) |
| Everyone Everywhere | $176 million (down 20%) | 2.598 million (down 23%) | $22.58 (up 4%) | $45.1 million (down 28%) |
Match Group reported Adjusted EBITDA margins of 50% at Tinder, 40% at Hinge and 25% at Everyone Everywhere. Tinder’s direct revenue included an approximately $5 million negative impact from user-experience tests and product changes. Excluding the prior-year legal settlement charge, Tinder’s Adjusted EBITDA fell 8%, largely because of increased marketing. Hinge’s RPP decline reflected discount optimizations and testing of a lower-priced subscription tier. The Everyone Everywhere revenue decrease was driven by Azar’s app redesign and weakness at other brands in the unit.
Match Group said Tinder daily active users returned to year-over-year growth in September 2026 for the first time in three and a half years, although quarterly daily active users were down 1%. Monthly-active-user declines narrowed for a sixth consecutive quarter. Sparks, defined as users engaging in six-way conversations in a given week, increased 1%, and Sparks Coverage grew 5%, the strongest quarterly year-over-year performance for both metrics since Match Group began tracking them.
The company said Double Date had generated 30 million matches since launch. Group Hangouts launched in several Nordic countries in September 2026 and expanded to the United States in October 2026. Tinder Events was live in 56 cities, with 55% of eligible users ages 18 to 24 engaging with the Events tab and roughly half of those users returning the following week.
Hinge reported 12% growth in global monthly active users. European expansion markets supplied roughly 15% of its direct revenue and 25% of global monthly active users. Hinge relaunched in India at the end of September 2026 with marketing and a localized experience, and is laying the groundwork to enter Japan in 2027.
Cash Flow and Outlook
Through September 30, Match Group reported $886 million in operating cash flow and $832 million in free cash flow, which it defines as operating cash flow less capital expenditures. It repurchased 9.6 million shares for $336 million at an average price of $35, paid $137 million in dividends and deployed $118 million for net settlement of employee equity awards, together equating to 71% of free cash flow. Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $729 million at quarter-end, and long-term debt was $3.6 billion.
The board declared a $0.20-per-share cash dividend, payable January 21, 2027 to shareholders of record on January 6, 2027.
For the fourth quarter, Match Group forecast revenue of $865 million to $875 million, down 1% to flat year over year, and Adjusted EBITDA of $327.5 million to $332.5 million, down 11%, with an approximately 38% margin at the midpoints.
The company attributed the expected Adjusted EBITDA decline largely to increased Tinder and Hinge marketing and a prior-year gain on the sale of a Los Angeles office building.
At the midpoint of its fourth-quarter guidance, Match Group projected flat full-year revenue, a 38.8% Adjusted EBITDA margin versus the 37.5% margin guided in February 2026, and full-year free cash flow slightly above the high end of the February range, contingent on receiving a 13th Apple payment on or before the final reporting day of the year.
