Report: Dating App Stock Prices Plunge as Gen Z Loses Interest in Online Dating

Stock prices of large dating app companies have tanked in 2023 “as online dating lost its luster with Generation Z,” Axios reported on Friday.

“The dating app market is also saturated, meaning there are just so many of them, and individual apps aren’t seeing big user growth they once did, per a Morgan Stanley report earlier this year,” according to the report. 

For instance, the share price of the dating app Bumble fell 41 percent in the past year and roughly 68 percent from its initial public offering (IPO) price in 2021, the report states. The company’s share price also fell eight percent after news broke that Slack CEO Lidiane Jones was taking over at Bumble. Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe announced Monday that she is stepping down. 

“In May, Tariq Shaukat stepped down as its president. Tinder’s first woman chief executive, Renate Nyborg, exited last year after a short term that saw the company miss Wall Street expectations,” the report continues. 

Many dating app companies are turning to paid subscriptions to make up for losses. Even so, many dating app companies are seeing revenue continue to grow at a slower pace, according to the report. For example, third-quarter data from Bumble in 2023 shows an increase in paying users, while Match Group saw a decrease, except for the dating app Hinge. 

The report follows the release of a new Axios/Generation Lab survey showing that college and graduate students are turning away from online dating after it became popular during the pandemic.

That survey found that 79 percent of college and graduate students around the country do not use any dating apps “even as infrequently as once a month,” according to the report.

Instead, the majority of young people on college campuses say they prefer to meet a potential partner in person.

“I feel dating apps have ruined the dating scene for many people my age and ruined their self-confidence,” said Melanie Perez, a junior at Sam Houston State University. “I’d rather meet and start as friends than use an app that’ll most likely end in hookups.”

Thirty-seven percent of respondents also said core beliefs are the most important factor when selecting a partner, more so than appearance or professional goals. 

The poll was conducted from October 11-16, 2023, with 978 students nationwide from two-year and four-year schools. The margin of error is ± 3.4 percentage points.