Grindr’s Control Issues

It’s not too often that a controlling shareholder can’t get their way at a public company. But an attempt by the two biggest investors in Grindr to take the gay dating and hookup app private went south on Monday. The reason? They didn’t come up with the money. It’s the latest chapter in a long-running corporate finance saga surrounding Grindr, which is hardly the biggest or most important internet company in the world but punches above its weight for drama and business-school case studies. 

Last month the biggest investor, billionaire Singapore-based hedge funder Raymond Zage and Grindr’s second-biggest shareholder, James Lu, proposed taking Grindr private in a buyout valuing the firm at more than $3 billion. Zage and Lu, who between them own more than 60% of the outstanding shares, got a preliminary commitment from lenders for $1 billion to finance the deal. But on Monday, a three-person special committee of Grindr’s board said it was no longer considering the proposal, citing “continued uncertainty as to the financing for the proposal.”