About Gary Swidler
In an August 2023 interview on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," Match Group President and CFO Gary Swidler discussed the company's second-quarter earnings and addressed concerns about Tinder's user decline. Swidler stated that the company has "definitely haven't hit saturation in the U.S. market or any market," adding that there are "still so many people out there who are single or who are using dating apps." He expressed that Match Group sees room for growth in both developed markets like the U.S. and Europe and less developed markets like Asia.
Swidler noted that the company raised its revenue expectations for the third quarter and the rest of the year, describing the second quarter as "a really strong quarter." He attributed margin expansion to a combination of revenue growth and cost reductions, saying, "We have reduced costs across the board and made a little bit more financially disciplined." Swidler also commented on the resilience of the business amid economic pressures, observing that the service is "a small purchase" at $15 to $20 per month and that the company has "not seen significant impact on our business throughout this economic cycle."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Gary Swidler's recent appearances.
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Transcript (6 segments)
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Interviewer0:12
Gary, talk to us about these numbers. The fact that you see this decline in Tinder users really raises some concerns about whether we've hit saturation in the U.S. market and how much the price increases are having a negative impact there. What are you seeing?
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Gary Swidler0:28
We definitely haven't hit saturation in the U.S. market or any market. There's still so many people out there who are single or who are using dating apps. We think everybody who is single should be using dating apps. We want to see that penetration keep increasing. We've got lots of room to do that in developed markets like the U.S. or Europe and less developed markets like Asia. And we've got to keep driving our products to make that happen and we have the runway to make a lot of progress. I think Q2 was a great one for us. We had some tougher quarters the last few. We've been executing so much better. The team at our flagship app Tinder is really executing well. We were able to raise revenue expectations for Q3 and the rest of the year. It was a really strong quarter. We feel great about it and we have to keep going.
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Interviewer1:40
You've raised your margin expectations, now looking for margin expansion this year. What is going to be driving that? Is that about the price increases or does that impact your longer-term outlook on margin potential?
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Gary Swidler1:56
I think we have room to make smart decisions. We have reduced costs across the board, made a little bit more financially disciplined. And you're seeing the real benefits of that start to take hold. Plus the revenue growth at a high-margin business like Tinder is really helping overall company margins. The combination of revenue growth and being smart on cost is really driving a springboard effect, which we're starting to see in the numbers as well, able to raise margin expectations for the full-year and it gives me optimism longer term, as well.
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Interviewer2:39
Gary, you know, the street's obsessed with the idea that a pressured consumer is going to start to cut back on something, whether that's high-end dining or the movies or travel. And I guess I'm wondering where you would put online dating in that stack. What's the elasticity on that kind of thing?
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Gary Swidler2:57
I have seen an incredible... they can meet.
