China’s Kunlun Tech buys out gay dating app Grindr

BEIJING - A Beijing-based video gamemaker has bought out popular U.S. gay social networking app Grindr four months after purchasing a controlling stake in the company, according to a regulatory filing reported by Caixin. After paying about US$93 million for 61.53% of Grindr in January, Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd. will pay another US$ 152 million for the remaining 38.47%, the Chinese company said in a statement to the Shenzhen stock exchange.

“In the future, Kunlun won’t only be a leading global game developer and operator, but will also be a leading social media company,” the company said in a statement.

Founded in 2009 and based in Los Angeles, Grindr operates a popular dating app that caters to gay and bisexual men. At the time of the initial investment, Grindr said it had more than two million users globally and would use the money to fund a worldwide expansion.

Kunlun said the purchase could help it to replicate the recent success of social networking services like U.S. dating site Match.com and Momo Inc., often likened to China’s equivalent of U.S. social networking site Tinder.  www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).