Tinder co-founders sue parent companies Match and IAC for $2 Bn

A group of Tinder founders and executives has filed a lawsuit against the parent company Match Group and its controlling shareholder IAC over charges of manipulating financial data.

The plaintiffs in the suit include Tinder co-founders Sean Rad,  Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen ( who still works at Tinder), James Kim, the company’s Vice President of Finance and Rosette Pambakian, Vice President of Marketing and Communications.

The suit alleges that IAC and Match Group manipulated financial data in order to create “a fake lowball valuation” and then striped Rad, Mateen, Badeen and others of their stock options.

The suit also points to the removal of Sean Rad as CEO, as well as other management changes, as moves designed “to allow Defendants to control the valuation of Tinder and deprive Tinder option holders of their right to participate in the company’s future success.”

Further, the lawsuit also alleges that Greg Blatt, the Match CEO who became CEO of Tinder, sexually harassed Rosette Pambakian at the company’s 2016 holiday party, which was covered up by the company.

In response, the plaintiffs are asking for “compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but not less than $2,000,000,000.”

Sean Rad stated in a release, “We were always concerned about IAC’s reputation for ignoring their contractual commitments and acting like the rules don’t apply to them. But we never imagined the lengths they would go to cheat all the people who built Tinder. The Tinder team — especially the plaintiffs who are currently senior leaders at the company — have shown tremendous strength in exposing IAC/Match’s systematic violation of employees’ rights.”

Meanwhile, IAC and Match Group have issued a joint statement where the state that the allegations in the complaint are meritless, and IAC and Match Group intend to vigorously defend against them.

Image Credit: The Independent