![A match made on Match [Stephen Zeigler/DigitalVision via Getty Images]](https://cdn.robinhood.com/static_content/mwphzyq69oso/en-US/assets/files/7rLUi8VImsSpz19Rb2ABJc_1_GettyImages-1053220028.jpg)
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Wednesday Nov.24, 2021
❤️🔥 Match’s new matchmaking
A match made on Match [Stephen Zeigler/DigitalVision via Getty Images]
Hey Snackers,
In a research poll that surprises no one, Pew found that the top 25% most active Twitter users produce 97% of all tweets.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched small gains today after last week’s initial jobless claims hit a 50-year low and Treasury yields — which jumped after President Biden said he’d renominate Jerome Powell as Fed chair — began to cool. The Dow closed down slightly.
BTW: The stock market is closed tomorrow for Thanksgiving. We'll be back in your inbox on Monday with digestible news (after we’ve all digested our T-giving meals). We’re grateful you Snack with us each day.
Swiped
Tinder owner Match expands to human matchmaking to fight swipe fatigue
“Voice Prompts” on Hinge… slightly cringe. Dating giant Match Group owns Tinder, Hinge, OKCupid, and 20+ other e-romance businesses. Algorithms rule the world, from suggesting your Spotify tunes to hooking you on TikTok. Match has long used algorithms to surface eligible singles who also love Nirvana and vegan sushi. Now its techy selection process is getting a human edge:
- Matchmakers: For $5/week, Match.com users can lean on human dating coaches to handpick two top candidates based on their answers to four personal questions.
- Match said it created the feature because, for some singles, the pandemic added urgency to find a serious relationship.
#CuffingSeason… During the pandemic, couch-bound singles flocked to dating apps for (virtual) company. Bumble video-chat usage soared 93% after a national emergency was declared, and Match added features to its apps — think free video calls, virtual trivia nights, and Insta-like social feeds. But the real money is in paid subscriptions like Tinder Gold and perks like unlimited swipes. Case in point: Tinder is the #1 grossing lifestyle app worldwide, with a record 10.4M “payers” last quarter. Human matchmaking could be apps’ next premium perk.
There are too many fish in the sea… Algorithms have enabled personalized experiences on a broad scale. For a low cost (or for free) tailored music, entertainment, and even people can be surfaced to us via apps. Now the differentiators are curation and quality. Human curation is more expensive, but it increases the IRL connection that many crave in an algo-driven world. That could become a competitive advantage for apps like Match.
DPF
Zoom shares plunge on slowing growth, as the “DPF effect” sets in
What Zooms in must Zoom out… The Zoom boom may be over. On Monday, the company reported slightly better than expected earnings — but revenue growth slowed for the third consecutive quarter. Zoom’s quarterly sales grew just 35% from last year, compared to 10X faster growth a year ago. Shares slid 15% yesterday, dropping Zoom’s market cap to a third of its pandemic peak. Now Zoom’s focused on two things:
- Corporate customers: The number of Zoom customers who spend $100K+ annually nearly doubled last quarter from last year, to 2.5K.
- New offerings: Zoom is exploring growth opportunities, like licensing its video tech to other apps and letting people host paid events (think: Zumba class).
Zoomed in too far… Zoom’s growth didn’t just slow from pandemic highs: It had its slowest quarter since 2018. Other pandemic thrivers also experienced the “DPF effect” — demand pulled forward. Demand boomed all at once early in the pandemic (aka was “pulled forward”), then slowed as new customers dwindled. The stock market’s up 26% this year, but some WFH winners are seeing slowdown-driven selloffs:
- Peloton shares are down 71% this year, after Equinox and SoulCycle reopened. Sales grew 6% last quarter compared to 232% in the same quarter last year.
- Online education company Chegg’s shares are also down 71% this year as schools resume and subscription saturation intensifies (#subscripturation).
- Pinterest shares are down 39% this year since everyone’s already created too many kitchen inspo moodboards.
- Netflix added only 4.4M subscribers last quarter, and lost 400K subscribers in North America, after adding a whopping 36M subs worldwide last year.
Some pandemic habits could stick… But Zoom could still lose to the conference room. People who flocked to Zoom, Peloton, and Chegg are returning to offices, gyms, and schools — and growth is slowing. But not everyone is experiencing subscripturation: DocuSign’s subscription revenue grew faster last quarter than a year earlier, because people who started signing digitally aren’t returning to physical paperwork.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Slick: The US and several non-OPEC partners tapped into national oil reserves to bring down high gas prices, but some experts say it still won’t be enough.
- Pills: Walgreens, Walmart, and CVS were found liable for creating a “public nuisance” in two Ohio counties by enabling the opioid crisis.
- Hoodie: Gap and Nordstrom shares plunged after the retailers disappointed on earnings and said they expected supply issues to cut into holiday profits.
- Hacky: Apple sued NSO Group, an Israeli company that makes a software that enables governments to hack into iPhones, offering a warning to other spyware sellers.
- Heat: Olympic sponsors like Coke and Airbnb face pressure to support tennis star Peng Shuai, whose location is unknown after she accused a former Chinese official of sexual assault.
- Deliver: FedEx, UPS, and USPS said holiday-shipping clogs wouldn’t be too bad thanks to added capacity, noting that last year’s bottlenecks were 6X worse.
Wednesday
- Earnings expected from: John Deere and Cracker Barrel
Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Match Group, CVS, Apple, General Motors, Netflix, Tesla, Walmart, Spotify
ID: 1934651
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