Match Group, Inc.

Welcome to the Match Group First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a 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 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tani Shelburne, Senior Vice President 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. During this call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are provided in the shareholder letter on our IR website. These non-GAAP measures are not intended to be a substitute for our GAAP results. With that, I'd like to turn over the call to BK.

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining today's call. I know much of our discussion today will focus on near-term trends and challenges. Both Gary and I will address those headwinds, and we will discuss it in Q&A. And while some of the current trends are challenging, it does not dissuade us from what we believe is long-term opportunity. So I want to start with the big picture and that opportunity. As we look at the state of the dating industry today, one thing remains very clear. For those daters looking to go on a date and meet someone in real life, our apps empower people to make meaningful connections like no other platform. In today's dating scene, many people still hold on to that nostalgic, romantic idea of meeting someone organically. However, the reality is that chances for a spontaneous meet cute are becoming increasingly rare. Even in settings like bars, where social interactions are expected, single daters looking to meet someone are actually on their phones, using apps to navigate their social and romantic lives. Our apps are strategically designed to bridge this gap, leveraging technology to serve as a springboard to get you on a great date that may not have happened otherwise. That's why dating apps have become the primary way people meet today, particularly in more developed markets like the US and Western Europe. Surprisingly, there are still so many people who don't use our apps and many more who aren't actively dating, creating a massive opportunity and a significant runway for growth as we aim to redefine the meet cute and create safer places for all singles to find a meaningful connection. Over the last two years, we've made meaningful progress at Match Group. Our brands have executed against well-defined product and marketing initiatives. Tinder continues to be an iconic brand worldwide and the entry point to dating for each new generation. Hinge has been a standout, demonstrating tremendous growth based on their brand promise for intentioned daters to get out on great dates. We are more confident than ever that the business is well on its way to generating a billion dollars in revenue. Hinge is resonating well in markets that we've entered and being very thoughtful about the user experience to help ensure that we're building a great community and truly delivering on our mission. We've launched several new apps tailored at select demographics where we see real potential. And these platforms within our emerging brands portfolio have performed very well. In particular, we want to call out the progress on Archer, which is focused on gay men and demonstrating really strong momentum. The app recently hit more than 700,000 downloads since it launched last year. Engagement is up even more, growing triple digits, which indicates that we have a strong ecosystem and users who are loving it. I also want to point out that we've achieved this growth without significantly increasing our investment in marketing since the beginning of the year. The Archer team is revved up and continues to innovate the user experience to make it the most dynamic and engaging app for this community. Across the portfolio, we've continued to deploy resources more efficiently. The HyperConnect team is working on projects with most of our other businesses and has fantastic talent that we believe will continue to add value to our various brands. Now we get a lot of questions about monthly active users. And I want to remind everyone that our business's approach is very different from other social platforms. Our goal is to see real single users find a date and then get off of our apps. We focus on attracting singles who want to make real connections and satisfying our daters who are earnest in their intentions by delivering great experiences. Tinder's international scale and reach has never been matched by any other dating app, and it's critical that we keep the ecosystem vibrant. For example, Tinder took decisive action by changing its community guidelines and moderation practices mid last year, which better enabled the removal of users who are not on the app for its intended purposes. While the improvements to the ecosystem and benefits to the brand are undeniable, these actions did contribute to some of Tinder's MAU declines over the past nine months. We believe that actions like these are in the best interest of Tinder's long-term success. So we are willing to accept fewer MAU in the short term to create a safer ecosystem and better outcomes for our daters. Diving a little deeper into Tinder, we have heard loud and clear that some users, especially the Gen Z cohort, are looking for more from their dating apps. We have been in this business a long time and we have consistently adapted our offerings to best serve the needs of different generations. And we understand and recognize that expectations of apps are changing. Tinder is working tirelessly to execute against their strategy, and I'm incredibly confident in the team's ability to satisfy these evolving expectations that users have. By the end of the year, we expect to have a significantly improved product. Similarly, pressures on discretionary consumer spending, especially among Tinder's younger user base, have negatively impacted Tinder's a la carte revenue. The team is doubling down on its efforts to improve the efficacy of its current ALC features and introduce new offerings at affordable price points. we expect to see improvements in ALC trends by the back half of the year. We know we have work to do to satisfy every new generation of daters. The Tinder team is working to improve the dating journey at every point of the experience. Through innovation, especially with AI, we believe we can improve the quality of profiles, matching outcomes, safety features, and the post-match experience to make the entire Tinder platform more modern and deliver on their brand promise. I've asked our chief technology officer and his central innovation team to work even more closely with Tinder's product team to expedite all these efforts which are underway. And given Tinder's vast scale and knowledge about relationships and dating, there is no dating app better positioned to take advantage of these advances in technology. Tinder has become an industry-defining, highly profitable business over the past decade. We have been innovating to solve some of the user pain points. As a result, we will have a healthier, more satisfying, and ultimately more valuable experience for daters to enjoy. And I am confident that Tinder's momentum will come back. We believe we have real market opportunity and the right teams and strategies in place to get to that next level of growth. And we are determined to deliver that for all of our stakeholders. We continue to see significant growth runway at Hinge and our emerging brands portfolio. we're executing on our turnaround plan for Tinder, and our central innovation teams are bringing renewed vigor to product innovation. We are excited to continue this work as giving people new, exciting ways to connect is what motivates us every day. And with that, let me turn it over to Gary.