Tinder Founders Sue IAC and Match Group Claiming They Are Being Cheated Out of ‘Billions’

A group of Tinder founders, executives and early employees sued IAC/InterActiveCorp and Match Group Inc., claiming the owners of the dating app are trying to cheat them out of billions of dollars in options.

Match Group shares dropped as much as 3.8 percent Tuesday. The lawsuit was first reported by CNBC. IAC rose 0.3 percent to $191.77 at 12:46 p.m.

The 10 people suing include co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer Sean Rad and co-founder and former Chief Strategy Officer Jonathan Badeen. They claim IAC and Match used “false, misleading and incomplete financial information and projections” to create an artificially low valuation of Tinder and avoid paying the group money they’re due under options agreements.

Swiping through potential matches on the mobile app Tinder has become an ubiquitous part of Millennial dating culture with its subscriber numbers skyrocketing and year-over-year revenue growing at 136 percent. In 2018, the company expects revenue of as much as $800 million, according to the complaint.

The case is Rad v. IAC/InterActiveCorp, Supreme Court of the State of New York (Manhattan).