The Tinder Dating App Might Be Worth $5 Billion (UPDATE: Or Not)

After Bloomberg initially reported Tinder's valuation based on a 10 percent sale of the company at $500 million, majority owner IAC said to Forbes that Bloomberg's report somehow had the wrong sale price. By a lot.

Update: Ok, so maybe Tinder isn't worth $5 billion. Not even close. After Bloomberg initially reported the valuation based on a 10 percent sale of the company at $500 million, majority owner IAC said to Forbes that Bloomberg's report somehow had the wrong sale price. By a lot.

Sam Yagan, CEO of IAC’s Match Group told Forbes that “I can confirm on the record that we did a transaction with Chamath, but this valuation is nowhere near the truth." If Business Insider's sources are correct, Bloomberg's report on the sale price had one zero too many, meaning that the company is worth $500 million, not $5 billion:

Two LA startup executives tell Business Insider that IAC purchased 10% of Tinder from former Facebooker and investor Chamath Palihapitiya for $50 million at an estimated $500 million valuation. Bloomberg initially reported the sale price at $500 million for a $5 billion Tinder valuation.

Original: Tinder, the dating app that quickly morphed from the hook-up heavy "Grindr for straight people" to its own 10-million strong user base, is reportedly worth $5 billion as a company. That's according to a report in Bloomberg, on Tinder majority owner IAC/InterActiveCorp's decision to by another 10 percent of the company to the tune of $500 million.  

Although the app has been around for a little under two years, it only recently gained the widespread publicity needed to boost its user count. For instance, there was The Mindy Project's use of the service to advertise its show. And then there was Tinder's legendary popularity among athletes at the Sochi Olympics, which Business Insider notes is specifically credited with exploding the app's usage.

As Bloomberg notes, the valuation means that Tinder is now worth almost as much as its majority owner, even though it hasn't contributed any revenue to IAC to date. IAC also owns OKCupid and Match.com, although it looks like they're preparing to spin off Match into its own entity.

Don't know what Tinder is? Your timing couldn't be better, because we at The Wire just published a guide to Tinder and other dating apps like it.