NEW YORK -- The owner of Tinder, Match.com and OKCupid is having a great first date with Wall Street.
Shares of Match Group Inc. got a boost on their first day of trading, rising $2.17, or 18 per cent, to $14.17 Thursday afternoon.
The company had priced its IPO at $12, near the low end of its expected range. It sold about 33.3 million shares. They trade under the symbol MTCH on the Nasdaq market.
The Dallas-based company has 50 brands using 40 languages around the world, and about 59 million active monthly users. It has been profitable and had $1 billion in revenue over the 12 months that ended June 30.
Parent company IAC/InterActiveCorp will maintain majority control of Match.com after the offering. IAC/InterAcrtiveCorp also owns Web properties like Vimeo, HomeAdvisor, About.com and CollegeHumor.
Match Group's IPO gained ground on the same day that Square, known for its credit and debit card readers that plug into smartphones, made a splash with its IPO. Both stocks are rising in what has been a nervous market for technology startups.
