Here's the Major Obstacle Tinder Still FacesMorgan Stanley analysts don't see a love connection for investors.
ByBen Geier•
This story originally appeared onFortune Magazine
Bad news for all you left-swiping investors out there: Morgan Stanley analysts aren't so hot on Tinder's ability to make money by charging users for apremium versionof its wildly popular dating app.
"We see Tinder monetization underwhelming investors, and not ramping fast enough to offset the core dating deterioration," reads an analyst note about Tinder parent company IAC. Why the negativity? While the Morgan Stanley team acknowledged Tinder's massive user growth, it also noted that lots of Tinder's users are young—and young people, the report argues, won't pay to date.
The analysts also believe that another IAC dating service, Match.com, will also suffer, seeing growth slow between 3% to 8%.
The Morgan Stanley report could throw some cold water on Tinder's fire after Barclays analystssaidthe app could be worth as much as $1 billion by the end of 2015 thanks to surging user growth.
