Tinder all set for an IPO in late 2015, says parent company IAC; Joey Levin named as IAC's new CEO

The Match Group, operators of the dating app Tinder and matchmaking websites Match.com and OkCupid along with several others, is headed for an initial public offering. This was revealed by Barry Diller, Chairman and Senior Executive of InterActiveCorp (IAC), who owns the business unit.

IAC will first spin off The Match Group into a separate company in preparation for the IPO. The brands under the Match Group accounted for a total of $239.2 Million out of the $772.5 Million in total revenues that IAC posted in its last quarter. This is in spite of the fact that both Tinder and OkCupid are still early in the process of developing revenue models.

Business Insider reports that the Bank of America Merrill Lynch shares the positive outlook for The Match Group's properties. It had recently given Tinder a valuation last June of $1.35 billion, but hints that if things continue on a positive note such as it does right now, Tinder may bag a revenue of $250 million and a valuation of up to $3 billion. Tinder has about 500,000 paid subscribers; Its paying user base in the United States has grown 80% from the first quarter of the year, while its international paying users has grown to 70% in the same period.

The Huffington Post meanwhile reports that IAC expects The Match Group's forthcoming IPO to be a small one. The company is only said to be selling less than 20 per cent of the total shares of the company once the IPO is completed at the end of the fiscal year, and keeping the remainder of the shares.

IAC also announced that Joey Levin, former CEO of the search and applications business, has been named as IAC's new Chief Executive Officer, and has joined its Board of Directors, and that IAC Chief Financial Officer Jeff Kip is leaving the company "to spend more time with his family in Boston and pursue other interests."

The Match Group's portfolio includes several other dating apps and websites aside from Tinder, Match.com and OkCupid. It also operates lifestyle, entertainment and educational websites such as Vimeo, CollegeHumor, and The Princeton Review.