Match Group, Inc.

Welcome to the Match Group First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tani Shelburne, SVP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Today's call will be led by CEO Bernard Kim and President and CFO Gary Swidler. They'll make a few brief remarks, and then we'll open it up for questions. Before we start, I need to remind everyone that during this call, we may discuss our outlook and future performance. These forward-looking statements may be preceded by words such as we expect, we believe, we anticipate, or similar statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and our actual results could differ materially from the views expressed today.

some of these risks have been set forth in our earnings release and our periodic reports filed with the sec with that i'd like to turn the call over to bk thanks tanny and good morning everyone having served as ceo for nearly a full year i want to start off by highlighting the accomplishments this team has achieved and all the opportunities ahead We've made changes to set up Match Group for long-term growth, but there is a lot more work to do and areas to improve on. We restructured Match Group's businesses to optimize internal operations, increase cross-brand collaboration, and improve the speed to ship products. These changes are having a real impact, and the teams have never worked this closely together before. We are working together to innovate, tackle challenges, and re-accelerate growth. Hinge continues to set the bar for what an A-plus acquisition should look like. We acquired Hinge in 2018 when the app was generating just under $1 million in revenue. Just five years later, Hinge has surpassed 1 million payers and is on track to generate approximately $400 million in total revenue for 2023. Hinge's exponential growth is largely due to the team's passion and ability to focus on product, coupled with Match Group's expertise and operational support. In addition to its meaningful traction in English-speaking markets, Hinge is successfully expanding internationally, and we're impressed with these early results. The team also successfully launched a new subscription tier, Hinge X, and has so much runway ahead. I continue to be impressed by the momentum at Hinge, and I'm excited to see them grow to new heights as part of the Match Group family. Now turning to Tinder, where the majority of our energy has been focused. As you all know, we've made some changes to the Tinder leadership team and restructured Tinder's organization to immediately address the lack of output that was occurring. These changes have shored up the frequent turnover and loss of institutional knowledge that Tinder was facing. Just to give you an example, we had roughly 15 VPs and above voluntarily depart Tinder in the months before the new leadership team took over. Since then, we have not had a single person of that level voluntarily depart Tinder. Back in February, we shared a detailed product roadmap for 2023. This roadmap is a culmination of our near-term vision for Tinder, and the whole organization has rallied around it. The changes we've made are working. In fact, the team is shipping and testing more features than they were at the height of their delivery in 2021. Tinder recently launched weekly subscription packages in the U.S. in addition to optimizing tiered pricing. We launched these initiatives at the very end of Q1, and we're starting to see early revenue momentum beginning to build in April, but it is still early. One of the things I've learned in my role as CEO of Tinder is that dating platforms have a delicate ecosystem. And it's important to fully understand the impact new features or minor adjustments can have on the user experience, not only for payers, but non-payers as well. So it is vital for our teams to rigorously test and ensure we're introducing the right features for the ecosystem as a whole. This cautious approach to testing new features and rolling them out methodically is one reason why the revenue impact is muted at the start but will grow over time. Another key focus has been redefining Tinder's brand narrative. Tinder rolled out its marketing campaign in Q1, and it's having a strong initial impact. Its primary focus was to improve perception, especially among young women. As we detailed in the letter, we've seen noticeable improvements in brand consideration and intent. Marketing began in the US and UK and has now expanded to additional markets. As a result, Tinder has started to see improved user growth in several key markets, including the US and UK, but it is only the first step in a multi-phase campaign. As the team continues to build on this momentum and focus on execution, I believe Tinder is well positioned to exit 2023 with improved financial performance and longer-term sustainable growth. Zooming back out, Match Group's purpose is to expand and innovate the dating experience for singles around the world so everyone can find a meaningful connection. I have tasked our new CTO to work with our leadership team to evaluate emerging technologies like AI, which we believe can be a massive unlock for the category. The same way that the shift to mobile led to the creation of Tinder, which redefined the category just 10 years ago. There is a significant opportunity to leverage AI in profile creation, matching and discovery, as well as throughout the post-match experience to unlock new user adoption. We believe we can leverage these new capabilities to drive the next phase of growth. As a leadership team, we're cognizant of the delicate balance between achieving short-term revenue wins while driving sustained shareholder value. We're focused on achieving both objectives prudently, assessing the trade-offs and opportunities to hit our 2023 expectations while also delivering unique, innovative, and compelling user experiences for years to come. And with that, I'll kick it over to Gary.