Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg steps down, firm scraps metaverse plans

Renate Nyborg is stepping down as US-based dating app Tinder’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as part of a larger management reshuffle. Tinder is also getting rid of its metaverse dating and virtual currency plans. The announcement came after Match, its parent company, posted disappointing second-quarter results. 

"Today we're announcing the departure of Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg, and I have made some changes to the management team and structure that I am confident will help deliver Tinder's full potential," Match Group chief executive Bernard Kim said in a letter to shareholders. He added that he will take up the role vacated by Nyborg while the company looks for a permanent chief executive for Tinder. 

"I have loved every moment of the last two years, working with an I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E team on the magic of human connection," Nyborg, a Philosophy graduate of Cambridge University, said in a LinkedIn post. 

Prior to working for Tinder, Nyborg has held leadership positions at the International product and marketing group at meditation app Headspace, as well as leading the app store subscription business in Europe for Apple. She founded an app development company named Pleo and also ran Mobile globally for Edelman. Prior to her appointment as CEO, Renate was leading Tinder's European business.

Kim, who was appointed as Match's chief executive in May after his predecessor Shar Dubey stepped down, said, "After seeing mixed results from testing Tinder Coins, we've decided to take a step back and re-examine that initiative... we also intend to do more thinking about virtual goods.” 

Shar, who joined Match in 2006, will, however, continue to serve as a director and advisor to the company. 

Match - which also owns the dating apps OkCupid, Hinge and Plenty of Fish – said that it expects sales in the three months to the end of September to be between $790 million to $800 million. That was well below Wall Street expectations and would mean the company would see no sales growth for the period. 

Kim, who had earlier served as president of mobile gaming maker Zynga, pointed to the impact of the pandemic on people's willingness to start using dating apps and currency fluctuations for the disappointing figures. 

"While people have generally moved past lockdowns and entered a more normal way of life, their willingness to try online dating products for the first time hasn't yet returned to pre-pandemic levels," he said.