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Table of Contents

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 17, 2015.

Registration No. 333-207472


UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

Amendment No. 4
to

FORM S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933



Match Group, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



Delaware
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
  7389
(Primary Standard Industrial
Classification Code Number)
  26-4278917
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification Number)



8300 Douglas Avenue
Suite 800
Dallas, TX 75225
Telephone: (214) 576-9352

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant's principal executive offices)



Gregg J. Winiarski
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
IAC/InterActiveCorp
555 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
Telephone: (212) 314-7300
Facsimile: (212) 314-7309

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)



With copies to:

Andrew J. Nussbaum
Ante Vucic
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
51 West 52nd Street
New York, New York 10019
Telephone: (212) 403-1000
Facsimile: (212) 403-2000

 

David J. Goldschmidt
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
4 Times Square
New York, New York 10036
Telephone: (212) 735-3000
Facsimile: (212) 735-2000



Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:
As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.    o

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.    o

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.    o

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.    o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large accelerated filer o   Accelerated filer o   Non-accelerated filer ý
(Do not check if a
smaller reporting company)
  Smaller reporting company o



CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

               
 
Title of each class of securities
to be registered

  Amount to be
registered(1)

  Proposed maximum
offering price
per share(2)

  Proposed maximum
aggregate offering
price(2)

  Amount of
registration fee(3)

 

Common stock, par value $0.001 per share

  38,333,333   $14.00   $536,666,662   $54,042

 

(1)    Includes an additional 5,000,000 shares that the underwriters have an option to purchase.

(2)    Estimated solely for purposes of calculating the registration fee in accordance with Rule 457(a) under the Securities Act of 1933.

(3)    Previously paid.

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, or until this Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

   


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The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. The securities may not be sold until the Registration Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Subject to completion, dated November 17, 2015

Preliminary Prospectus

33,333,333 shares

GRAPHIC

Common stock

This is an initial public offering of common stock by Match Group, Inc. The estimated initial public offering price is between $12.00 and $14.00 per share.

We have been approved to list our common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "MTCH."

Following this offering, we will have three classes of authorized common stock: common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock. The rights of the holders of the shares of common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock are identical, except with respect to voting and conversion and certain stock dividends. Each holder of common stock is entitled to one vote per share. Each holder of Class B common stock is entitled to ten votes per share and each share of Class B common stock is convertible at any time at the election of the holder into one share of common stock. Holders of Class C common stock are not entitled to any votes per share except as (and then only to the extent) otherwise required by the laws of the State of Delaware, in which case holders of Class C common stock will be entitled to one one-hundredth (1/100) of a vote on such matters for each share of Class C common stock held. There will be no outstanding shares of Class C common stock upon completion of this offering. Holders of our common stock and Class B common stock vote together as a single class on all matters presented to our stockholders for their vote or approval, except as otherwise required by applicable law. Upon completion of this offering, IAC/InterActiveCorp, or IAC, which is our parent company, will own all of the shares of our outstanding Class B common stock, representing approximately 86.1% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.4% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock (or approximately 84.4% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.2% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in this offering). As a result of IAC's ownership of all of our Class B common stock following this offering, we will be a "controlled company" under the Marketplace Rules of the NASDAQ Stock Market.

Match Group, Inc. is offering the shares to be sold in this offering. Match Group, Inc. currently intends to use all of the net proceeds from this offering to repay related-party indebtedness owed to IAC.

We are an "emerging growth company" under the federal securities laws and, as such, will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements.

Investing in our common stock involves risks. See "Risk factors," beginning on page 16.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 
  Per Share
  Total
 

Initial public offering price

  $                    $                 (1 )

Underwriting discounts and commissions(2)

  $                    $                 (1 )

Proceeds to us, before expenses

  $                    $                 (1 )

(1)    Assumes no exercise of the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares of our common stock described below.

(2)    See "Underwriting" for a description of compensation payable to the underwriters and estimated offering expenses.

We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase from us up to 5,000,000 additional shares of our common stock at the initial public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. See "Underwriting."

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares of common stock against payment in New York, New York on                  , 2015, through the book-entry facilities of The Depository Trust Company.

J.P. Morgan   Allen & Company LLC   BofA Merrill Lynch

 

Deutsche Bank Securities   BMO Capital Markets   Barclays   BNP PARIBAS

 

Cowen and Company   Oppenheimer & Co.   PNC Capital Markets LLC   SOCIETE GENERALE   Fifth Third Securities

                       , 2015


GRAPHIC


GRAPHIC


GRAPHIC


Table of contents

 
  Page
 

Prospectus summary

    1  

Risk factors

    16  

About this prospectus

    39  

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

    41  

Use of proceeds

    43  

Dividend policy

    44  

Capitalization

    45  

Dilution

    46  

Selected historical combined financial and other information

    47  

Unaudited pro forma combined financial statements

    51  

Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations

    62  

Our business

    102  

Management

    114  

Executive compensation

    120  

Principal stockholders

    128  

Description of capital stock

    130  

Description of indebtedness

    136  

Shares eligible for future sale

    140  

Certain relationships and related party transactions

    143  

Certain material United States federal income tax considerations for non-U.S. holders

    149  

Underwriting

    153  

Legal matters

    161  

Experts

    161  

Where you can find more information

    161  

Index to financial statements

    F-1  

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus or contained in any free writing prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Neither we nor the underwriters have authorized anyone to provide you with additional information or information different from that contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, our common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of shares of our common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

For investors outside the United States: Neither we nor any of the underwriters has done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside the United States.

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Prospectus summary

This summary highlights selected information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary does not contain all of the information that you should consider before deciding to purchase our common stock in this offering. You should read the entire prospectus carefully, including the section titled "Risk factors," before making an investment decision. In this prospectus, references to "monthly active users," or MAU, means users who logged in through our mobile or web applications in the last 28 days as of the date of measurement and references to "paid members" means users with a paid membership at the time or for the period indicated. See "About this prospectus."

Business

Our mission

Establishing a romantic connection is a fundamental human need. Whether it's a good date, a meaningful relationship or an enduring marriage, romantic connectivity lifts the human spirit. Our mission is to increase romantic connectivity worldwide.

Who we are

Match Group is the world's leading provider of dating products. We operate a portfolio of over 45 brands, including Match, OkCupid, Tinder, PlentyOfFish, Meetic, Twoo, OurTime and FriendScout24, each designed to increase our users' likelihood of finding a romantic connection. Through our portfolio of trusted brands, we provide tailored products to meet the varying preferences of our users. We currently offer our dating products in 38 languages across more than 190 countries, and we had approximately 59 million monthly active users, or MAU, and approximately 4.7 million paid members, using our dating products for the quarter ended September 30, 2015.

Our target market includes all adults in North America, Western Europe and other select countries around the world who are not in a committed relationship and who have access to the internet, which, based on a study by Research Now commissioned by us in July 2015, we estimate at approximately 511 million people. Consumer preferences within this population vary significantly, influenced in part by demographics, geography, religion and sensibility. As a result, the market for dating products is fragmented, and no single product has been able to effectively serve the dating category as a whole.

Given wide ranging consumer preferences, we approach the category with a brand portfolio strategy, through which we attempt to offer dating products that collectively appeal to the broadest spectrum of consumers. We believe that this approach maximizes our ability to capture additional users, as demonstrated by our MAU and paid member count compound annual growth rates between the quarter ended September 30, 2011 and the quarter ended September 30, 2015 of 63% and 23%, respectively. We increasingly apply a centralized discipline to learnings, best practices and technologies across our brands in order to increase growth, reduce costs and maximize profitability. This approach allows us to quickly introduce new products and features, optimize marketing strategies, reduce operating costs and more effectively deploy talent across our organization.

Coinciding with the general trend toward mobile technology, we have experienced a meaningful shift in our user base from desktop devices to mobile devices, and now offer mobile experiences on substantially all of our dating products. During the quarter ended September 30, 2015, pro forma for the PlentyOfFish acquisition, which we completed in October 2015, 73% of our new users signed up for our products through mobile channels, as compared to only 35% during the quarter ended September 30, 2013. This

 


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shift has enabled us to reach groups of users which had previously proven elusive, such as the millennial audience; for example, Tinder, a mobile-only product, has been able to tap into this audience rapidly over the last few years. Additionally, in previously desktop-oriented products like Match, the shift to mobile has led to increased usage of our products, as mobile users on average access our products at meaningfully higher rates than do those users who access our products on desktop. According to data obtained from mobile analytics firm AppAnnie, during the three months ended June 30, 2015, we operated four of the top five revenue grossing dating applications across the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in North America, and three of the top five worldwide, in each case, pro forma for the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, which we completed on October 28, 2015. In addition, according to AppAnnie, our Tinder product was the most downloaded mobile dating application in North America for that same period.

Substantially all of our dating revenue is derived directly from our users. The significant majority of that revenue comes from recurring membership fees, which typically provide unlimited access to a bundle of features for a specific period of time, and the balance from à la carte features, where users pay a fee for a specific action or event. Each of our brands offers a combination of free and paid features targeted to its unique community. On a brand-by-brand basis, our monetization decisions seek to optimize user growth, revenue and the vibrancy and productivity of the relevant community of users. In addition to direct revenue from our users, we generate revenue from online advertisers who pay to reach our large audiences.

In addition to our dating business, we also operate a non-dating business in the education industry through our ownership of The Princeton Review. The Princeton Review provides a variety of test preparation, academic tutoring and college counseling services.

Our revenue increased from $713.4 million in 2012 to $803.1 million in 2013 and then to $888.3 million in 2014, representing year-over-year increases of 13% and 11%, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, our revenue increased 16% over the comparable period in 2014 to $752.9 million. In 2012, 2013, 2014 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, we generated Adjusted EBITDA of $236.5 million, $271.2 million, $273.4 million and $179.4 million, respectively, operating income of $186.6 million, $221.3 million, $228.6 million and $125.9 million, respectively, and net earnings of $90.3 million, $126.6 million, $148.4 million and $84.7 million, respectively. See "Selected historical combined financial and other information" for a description of how we define Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to operating income.

Market opportunity

Connecting with people and fostering relationships are critical needs that influence everyone's happiness. As a result, the dating market presents a significant opportunity for Match Group. We consider our addressable market to be all adults in North America, Western Europe and other select countries around the world who are not in committed relationships and who have access to the internet, which, based on a study by Research Now commissioned by us in July 2015, we estimate at approximately 511 million people.

In countries with developed economies such as the United States, our addressable market has been expanding due to the aging population, increasing internet use among older adults and growth in singles as a percent of the total population. In countries with emerging economies, such as India and China, growth in the addressable market is driven by similar factors, most notably pronounced growth in internet access. Overall, our addressable market is expected to grow from approximately 511 million people to approximately 672 million people by 2019, assuming the single population in each country grows in line with the projected growth rate of the country's total population.

 

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Enabling dating in a digital world

Prior to the proliferation of computers and mobile devices, human connections traditionally were limited by social circles, geography and time. Today, the adoption of the internet and mobile technology has significantly expanded the ways in which people can build relationships, create new interactions and develop romantic connections.

We believe dating products serve as a natural extension of the traditional means of meeting people and provide a number of benefits for their users, including:

Expanded options:  Dating products provide users access to a large number of like-minded people they otherwise would not have a chance to meet.

Efficiency:  The search and matching features, as well as the profile information available on dating products, allow users to filter a large number of options in a short period of time, increasing the likelihood that users will make a connection with someone.

More comfort and control:  Compared to the traditional ways that people meet, dating products provide an environment that makes the process of reaching out to new people less uncomfortable. This leads to many people who would otherwise be passive participants in the dating process taking a more active role.

Convenience:  The nature of the internet and the proliferation of mobile devices allow users to connect with new people at any time of the day, regardless of where they are.

When selecting a dating product, we believe that users consider the following attributes:

Brand recognition:  Brand is very important. Users generally associate strong dating brands with a higher likelihood of success and a higher level of security.

Successful experiences:  Demonstrated success of other users attracts new users through word-of-mouth recommendations. Successful experiences also drive repeat usage.

Community identification:  Users typically look for dating products that offer a community with which the user most strongly associates. By selecting a dating product that is focused on a particular demographic, religion, geography or intent (for example, casual dating or more serious relationships), users can increase the likelihood that they will make a connection with someone with whom they may identify.

Product features and user experience:  Users tend to gravitate towards dating products that offer features and user experiences that resonate with them, such as question-based matching algorithms, location-based features, offline events or searching capabilities. User experience is also driven by the type of user interface (for example, swiping versus scrolling), a particular mix of free and paid features, ease of use and security. Users expect every interaction with a dating product to be seamless, intuitive and secure.

Our competitive advantages

We believe the following attributes provide us with competitive advantages in the dating business:

Strong brand recognition:  A strong brand is one of the primary factors people consider when choosing a dating product. Brands drive organic traffic, significantly affect ranking in search engines and app stores and increase the efficiency of paid marketing. Strong nationally recognized brands in the dating category traditionally take many years to build. According to data obtained from Research Now, four of the top

 

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    five dating brands by unaided awareness in North America are owned by us, and 89% of singles in North America recognize at least one of our brands when shown a list of dating brands. According to this same data, 70% of singles in Western Europe recognize at least one of our brands when shown a list of dating brands. In fact, our products rank highest in aided brand awareness among all dating products in 13 different countries across North America and Western Europe.

Scale:  Significant scale of users in the local markets in which a dating brand operates is an advantage in providing the most effective user experience. Large scale offers more opportunities for potential connections and leads to better outcomes for a brand's users. This in turn drives a higher frequency of word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied users, which is then multiplied across a broader base of users, creating a reinforcing loop in which scale drives further scale. We currently own and operate four of the top five brands in North America measured in terms of unaided awareness. Our members sent an average of more than 75 million messages to other members on our products each day during the quarter ended September 30, 2015, and on our Tinder product, during the month ended September 30, 2015, our users "swiped" through an average of more than 1.4 billion user profiles each day. Our products have led to the start of approximately 8.4 million relationships, and approximately 2.5 million marriages, in North America over the last four years alone, each pro forma for PlentyOfFish. We believe that this scale is one of the big competitive advantages for our principal brands.

Multi-brand approach to customer acquisition:  We currently have more brands than any other participant in our category. Based on a study by Research Now commissioned by us in July 2015, we own and operate (pro forma for PlentyOfFish) the top four brands used by respondents in North America in the 30 days preceding the survey; the fifth most used brand had less than 50% of the usage of our fourth most used brand. Our multi-brand approach allows us to provide dating products that appeal to a wide spectrum of users. By positioning what we believe to be the most relevant brand to each user segment, we are able to achieve greater reach at lower overall customer acquisition costs. Additionally, we are increasingly placing advertisements for our products within our other products. When such an advertisement is successful and a user of one of our products becomes a user of another of our products, the second product has acquired a new customer for no incremental cost. Because the second product would otherwise have had to engage in its own marketing efforts to acquire the customer, we are able to decrease the average cost of customer acquisition across our entire portfolio. For the quarter ended September 30, 2015, our Match brand and affinity brands in North America generated approximately 11% of new registrations via this type of cross-promotion.

Scale-driven customer acquisition competency:  We efficiently utilize online and offline advertising to increase brand awareness and drive new user registrations. Our long history and significant scale has allowed us to develop analytical and operational approaches that we believe are more sophisticated than any of our single brands would be able to develop as a standalone company. We believe that no one else in the category approaches the scale of our paid customer acquisition efforts.

Monetization expertise:  On a brand-by-brand basis, we continually test and customize our offerings to determine which features to offer for a fee and which features to offer for free. Over the course of our operating history, these tests have helped us develop significant expertise in maximizing revenue while maintaining a brand's ability to attract new users and maintain a vibrant and active community of users. We believe that our approach to monetization is more sophisticated than any of our single brands would have been able to develop on its own.

Ability to monetize through advertising:  Given the significant size and diversity of our user base, advertisers could reach an average of approximately 59 million MAU across our brands for the quarter

 

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    ended September 30, 2015. We offer advertisers the ability to customize their advertisements based on analytics we collect about user interests and behavior. We believe that our scale and analytics-driven marketing make us more attractive to advertisers. Our products' target markets also provide advertisers with access to several highly coveted demographic groups, including the millennial generation that our Tinder product has penetrated effectively.

Commitment to product development:  Each of our brands has a robust product roadmap. Product development and innovation are generally brand-specific and significant resources are devoted to constant improvements of our various products. Accordingly, we have multiple product development teams working at any given time on a variety of features at a breadth that, we believe, could not be replicated by any of our single brands as standalone entities.

Shared learning:  While maintaining each brand's unique character, we facilitate knowledge and experience sharing across our portfolio in the areas of marketing and customer acquisition, monetization and product development. While each brand generally is responsible for its own progress in these areas, the ability for each to quickly leverage the successes of other brands and avoid their failures, substantially increases the success rates for each brand in each of these key drivers of business performance.

Demonstrated ability to incubate new businesses:  We have a history of successfully introducing new dating brands. For example, OurTime was launched in 2011 and Tinder in 2012. We expect to continue to devote resources to developing new dating products and believe our industry expertise and significant cash flow provide a unique ability to succeed in this endeavor.

Identifying opportunistic acquisitions:  We have developed a core competency for identifying, acquiring, integrating and scaling businesses. Since January 2009, we have invested approximately $1,284.0 million to acquire 25 new brands for our dating portfolio, including OkCupid, Meetic, Twoo and PlentyOfFish.

Our strategy

We are pursuing the following principal strategies to grow our dating business:

Focus on product development:  We devote substantial resources to developing new features and functionalities for our products. We believe there are meaningful improvements that can be made to the efficacy and appeal of products in our category, both through existing and emerging technologies. Increasing product efficacy and appeal are two of the major drivers of increased category adoption.

Become even more mobile:  We are increasingly concentrated on mobile development. For the quarter ended September 30, 2015, pro forma for PlentyOfFish, 73% of our new registrations were from a mobile device. We are currently allocating resources to more rapidly increase our mobile development, which we believe represents a significant growth opportunity for our business.

Improve customer acquisition efforts:  We continue to focus on building our traditional paid acquisition channels, including offline media, with the intent to reach new customers, increase the demand for dating products and drive repeat usage. Additionally, we are developing our expertise in paid mobile acquisition and digital video channels. Finally, we are focused on expanding the virality of our brands and maintaining a high rank in app stores. We believe we have the ability to expand our marketing reach over time.

Drive advertising revenue:  Generating advertising revenue has historically not been a principal focus for us. As a result, we believe our advertising revenue is substantially below what we should be able to

 

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    achieve. Part of our strategy is to meaningfully increase the sell-through at our Tinder brand, which is currently below 2% of available ad inventory. We believe that Tinder's strong user engagement, with an average of approximately 9.6 million daily active users during the month ended September 30, 2015, each spending, on average, more than 35 minutes per day using the product and "swiping," on average, through 145 user profiles per day, makes it a very attractive platform for advertisers. We also intend to meaningfully increase the percentage of ad inventory on our other brands sold on a direct basis, which currently is below 2% of total ad inventory sold. We believe that there is meaningful upside to our current revenue levels if we achieve these objectives.

Dynamically monetize our brands:  We will continue to optimize pricing and the bundle of free and paid offerings for each brand. We also expect to continue to develop new features that will both improve the user experience and increase the number of people willing to pay for the use of our products. We believe that most of our products have the opportunity to increase both the percentage of users who are paid members and the amount that those users pay us over time.

Continue to expand our portfolio:  In the past, we have successfully completed acquisitions such as OkCupid, Meetic, Twoo and PlentyOfFish, as well as launched OurTime and Tinder. Each acquisition or new product launch has resulted in increased adoption levels either within a given geography or demographic. We intend to continue to pursue strategic opportunities in existing and new markets globally, and expect that additional growth will be generated through these pursuits.

Leverage our portfolio:  We believe we are only beginning to realize the benefits that ownership of multiple brands brings to our company. We intend to continue to optimize our operations across brands to reduce both fixed and variable costs, increase success rates in product development and customer acquisition and accelerate speed to market.

Organizational approach

We operate a portfolio of brands that both compete and collaborate with each other. We attempt to empower individual business leaders with the authority and incentives to grow each of our brands. Our businesses compete with each other and with third-party businesses in our category on brand characteristics, product features and business model. We also attempt to centrally facilitate excellence and efficiency across the entire portfolio by:

centralizing certain administrative areas like legal, human resources and finance across the entire portfolio to enable each brand to focus more on growth;

developing talent across the portfolio to deploy the best talent in the most critical positions across the company at any given time; and

sharing data to leverage product and marketing successes across our businesses rapidly for competitive advantage.

Relationship with IAC/InterActiveCorp

We are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAC. Upon completion of this offering, IAC will own all of the shares of our outstanding Class B common stock, representing approximately 86.1% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.4% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock (or approximately 84.4% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.2% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in this offering).

 

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We intend to enter into various agreements with IAC for administrative and other services, including a master transaction agreement, an investor rights agreement, a tax sharing agreement, a services agreement, an employee matters agreement and a subordinated loan facility. For more information regarding these agreements, see "Certain relationships and related party transactions."

After the initial public offering price has been determined, but prior to the completion of this offering, we will issue to IAC related-party indebtedness with an aggregate principal amount equal to the total net proceeds to us from this offering, assuming the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares. If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, such related-party indebtedness will be repaid in full with the net proceeds from this offering. If the underwriters do not exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, we intend to incur additional borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility in order to repay the balance of the IAC related-party indebtedness.

Recent developments

On October 7, 2015, we entered into a credit agreement, or the Credit Agreement, by and among ourselves, certain lenders and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent. The Credit Agreement provides for a five-year $500 million revolving credit facility, or the Revolving Credit Facility. On November 16, 2015, we entered into a seven-year $800 million term loan facility, or the Term Loan Facility, under the Credit Agreement.

On October 16, 2015, we commenced a private exchange offer to eligible holders to exchange any and all of $500 million aggregate principal amount of outstanding 4.75% Senior Notes due 2022 issued by IAC, or the 2022 IAC Notes, for up to $500 million aggregate principal amount of new 6.75% Senior Notes due 2022 to be issued by us, or the Match Notes, with registration rights. The exchange offer expired on November 13, 2015, and, on November 16, 2015, we issued approximately $445.2 million in aggregate principal amount of the Match Notes. We did not receive any proceeds from the issuance of the Match Notes. Upon consummation of the exchange offer, we distributed the 2022 IAC Notes that we received in the exchange offer to IAC for cancellation.

On November 16, 2015, prior to entering into the Term Loan Facility, we were designated as an unrestricted subsidiary under IAC's credit agreement and indentures. As a result, we and our subsidiaries no longer guarantee IAC's credit agreement and indentures and are no longer subject to the covenants contained therein. None of our assets, including the stock of our subsidiaries, are pledged to secure IAC's debt.

On October 28, 2015, we completed the previously announced acquisition of Plentyoffish Media Inc., or PlentyOfFish, for aggregate consideration of $575.0 million.

Implications of being an emerging growth company

As a company with less than $1.0 billion in revenue during our last fiscal year, we qualify as an "emerging growth company" as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. We will continue to be an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of:

the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of this offering;

the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.0 billion in annual revenues;

 

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the last day of the fiscal year in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our capital stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700.0 million as of the prior June 30; or

the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

Until we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of reduced reporting requirements generally unavailable to other public companies. Those provisions allow us to:

provide less than five years of selected financial data in an initial public offering registration statement;

provide reduced disclosure regarding our executive compensation arrangements pursuant to the rules applicable to smaller reporting companies, which means we do not have to include a compensation discussion and analysis and certain other disclosure regarding our executive compensation; and

not provide an auditor attestation of our internal control over financial reporting.

The JOBS Act also permits an emerging growth company such as us to take advantage of an extended transition period to comply with new or revised accounting standards applicable to public companies, and exempts an emerging growth company such as us from Sections 14A(a) and (b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act, which require companies to hold shareholder advisory votes on executive compensation and golden parachute compensation.

We have elected to adopt the reduced disclosure requirements described above for purposes of the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. In addition, for so long as we qualify as an emerging growth company, we expect to take advantage of certain of the reduced reporting and other requirements of the JOBS Act with respect to the periodic reports we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, and proxy statements that we use to solicit proxies from our stockholders.

We have elected to not take advantage of the extended transition period that allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies, which means that the financial statements included in this prospectus, as well as financial statements we file in the future, will be subject to all new or revised accounting standards generally applicable to public companies. Our election not to take advantage of the extended transition period is irrevocable.

Corporate information

We were incorporated in the State of Delaware on February 12, 2009. Our principal executive offices are located at 8300 Douglas Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75225, and our telephone number is (214) 576-9352. Following the completion of this offering, we currently expect to maintain a website at the address www.matchgroupinc.com. Information that will be contained on, or accessible through, our website is not a part of this prospectus, and the inclusion of our website address in this prospectus is an inactive textual reference.

 

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The offering

Shares of common stock offered by us   33,333,333 shares.
Option to purchase additional shares of common stock   5,000,000 shares.
Shares to be outstanding after this offering:    

Common stock

  33,333,333 shares of common stock (or 38,333,333 shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock).

Class B common stock

  206,714,274 shares of Class B common stock. IAC will hold all outstanding shares of our Class B common stock.

Class C common stock

  No shares of Class C common stock.
Voting rights:    

Common stock voting rights

  One vote per share, representing, in the aggregate, approximately 1.6% of the combined voting power of our capital stock outstanding after this offering (or 1.8% if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock).

Class B common stock voting rights

  Ten votes per share, representing, in the aggregate, approximately 98.4% of the combined voting power of our capital stock outstanding after this offering (or 98.2% if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock).

Class C common stock voting rights

  No votes per share, except as (and then only to the extent) otherwise required by the laws of the State of Delaware, in which case one one-hundredth (1/100) of a vote per share.
Use of proceeds   Assuming an initial public offering price of $13.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, we estimate that the net proceeds to us from the sale of our common stock in this offering will be $403,666,663 (or $465,390,721 if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock), after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses.
    We currently intend to use all of the net proceeds from this offering to repay related-party indebtedness owed to IAC.
    See "Use of proceeds."

 

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Dividends   We do not expect to pay cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future. Instead, we anticipate that all of our future earnings will be retained to support our operations and to finance the growth and development of our business. Any future determination to pay dividends on our capital stock will be made by our board of directors and will depend upon a number of factors, including (among others) our results of operations, financial condition, capital requirements, business strategy, regulatory and contractual restrictions, general economic conditions and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant. See "Dividend policy."
Directed share program   At our request, the underwriters have reserved for sale, at the initial public offering price, up to 8% of the shares of common stock offered by this prospectus for sale to our employees and directors and those of IAC. These sales will be made by an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, an underwriter of this offering, through a directed share program. If these persons purchase reserved shares, it will reduce the number of shares of common stock available for sale to the general public. Any reserved shares that are not so purchased will be offered by the underwriters to the general public on the same terms as the other shares of common stock offered by this prospectus. See "Underwriting—Directed share program."
Listing   We have been approved to list our common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the trading symbol "MTCH."
Risk factors   Investing in our common stock involves risks. See "Risk factors," beginning on page 16, for a discussion of certain factors that you should carefully consider before making an investment decision.

Unless otherwise noted, references in this prospectus to number of shares outstanding exclude:

vested options to purchase 5,702,707 shares of our common stock at a weighted average exercise price of $7.89 per share, which were outstanding as of September 30, 2015;

unvested options to purchase 23,490,476 shares of our common stock at a weighted average exercise price of $13.26 per share, which were outstanding as of September 30, 2015;

102,158 shares of common stock issuable upon the vesting of restricted stock units outstanding as of September 30, 2015;

an additional 20,000,000 shares of our common stock pursuant to awards that may be granted under our 2015 Plan (as defined below), including shares underlying options we expect to grant to our Chairman following pricing of this offering; see "Executive compensation—Compensatory arrangements for certain executive officers";

12,301,418 shares of our common stock which are issuable upon the settlement of vested equity awards granted in certain of our subsidiaries which were outstanding as of September 30, 2015;

6,561,947 shares of our common stock which are issuable upon the settlement of unvested equity awards granted in certain of our subsidiaries which were outstanding as of September 30, 2015; and

2,802,377 shares of our common stock which are issuable to IAC as reimbursement for compensation expenses related to IAC equity awards held by our employees.

 

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See "Certain relationships and related party transactions—Employee matters agreement" and "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations—Critical accounting policies—Stock-based compensation."

Prior to the completion of this offering, the equity awards that relate to our common stock or the common stock of certain of our subsidiaries are settlable in shares of IAC common stock. Upon completion of this offering, the options that relate to our common stock will be exercisable for shares of our common stock and the equity awards that relate to our subsidiaries will be settlable, at IAC's election, in shares of IAC common stock or in shares of our common stock. See "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations—Critical accounting policies—Stock-based compensation."

Unless otherwise indicated, the information contained in this prospectus is as of the date set forth on the cover of this prospectus and assumes:

an initial public offering price of $13.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus;

that the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares of our common stock is not exercised;

the filing of a certificate of amendment, which will occur immediately prior to the consummation of this offering, to, among other things: (i) authorize the creation of our Class B common stock and our Class C common stock, (ii) authorize the common stock to be issued in this offering and (iii) recapitalize each share of our common stock outstanding immediately prior to this offering into 16 shares of Class B common stock;

the 206,714,274 shares of our Class B common stock to be held by IAC upon completion of this offering includes 38,461,538 shares IAC will receive in exchange for its $500.0 million cash contribution to us made in connection with the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, based on an assumed initial public offering price of $13.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus. If the offering price is higher than $13.00, IAC will hold fewer shares of our Class B common stock upon completion of the offering; if the offering price is lower than $13.00, IAC will hold more shares of our Class B common stock upon completion of the offering. For example, if the offering price is:

    $12.00, IAC will be issued 41,666,667 shares of Class B common stock in exchange for its $500 million cash contribution. Upon completion of this offering, IAC would hold a total of 209,919,402 shares of Class B common stock, representing approximately 86.3% of our outstanding shares of capital stock, and approximately 98.4% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock (or approximately 84.6% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.2% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in this offering); or

    $14.00, IAC will be issued 35,714,286 shares of Class B common stock in exchange for its $500 million cash contribution. Upon completion of this offering, IAC would hold a total of 203,967,021 shares of Class B common stock, representing approximately 86.0% of our outstanding shares of capital stock, and approximately 98.4% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock (or approximately 84.2% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.2% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in this offering); and

the issuance to IAC, after the initial public offering price has been determined, but prior to the completion of this offering, of related-party indebtedness with a principal amount equal to the total net proceeds from this offering to be received by us, assuming the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares. See "Use of Proceeds."

 

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Summary historical and pro forma combined financial and other information

The following summary historical combined financial information as of December 31, 2013 and 2014 and for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 has been derived from our audited combined financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. The following summary historical combined financial information as of September 30, 2015 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015 has been derived from our unaudited interim combined financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. The unaudited interim combined financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as our audited combined financial statements and, in the opinion of our management, reflect all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of this information. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period, and results for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year. Except as otherwise indicated, the following unaudited pro forma combined financial information presents Match Group's consolidated balance sheet and statement of operations after giving effect to the PlentyOfFish acquisition, the issuance of the Match Notes, borrowings under the Term Loan Facility, this offering and the related borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and the application of proceeds of these transactions. The pro forma financial data for the twelve-month period ending September 30, 2015 is derived by adding the financial data from the unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 with the unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2014 and then deducting the financial data from the unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2014. The pro forma information under combined statement of operations information gives effect to the PlentyOfFish acquisition, the issuance of the Match Notes, borrowings under the Term Loan Facility, this offering and the related borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and the application of proceeds of these transactions as if each had occurred on January 1, 2014. The pro forma information under combined balance sheet information gives effect to the PlentyOfFish acquisition, the issuance of the Match Notes, borrowings under the Term Loan Facility, this offering and the related borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and the application of proceeds of these transactions as if each had occurred on September 30, 2015.

Our historical combined financial statements have been prepared on a stand-alone basis and are derived from the consolidated financial statements and accounting records of IAC. The combined financial statements reflect the historical financial position, results of operations and cash flows of the businesses that now make up Match Group, Inc. since their respective dates of acquisition by IAC and the allocation to us of certain IAC corporate expenses relating to us and our businesses based on the historical financial statements and accounting records of IAC. In the opinion of our management, the assumptions underlying our historical combined financial statements, including the basis on which the expenses have been allocated from IAC, are reasonable. However, the allocations may not reflect the expenses that we may have incurred as an independent, stand-alone company for the periods presented. Our historical combined financial statements may not reflect what our actual financial position, results of operation and cash flows would have been if we had been an independent, stand-alone company for the periods presented. For the purposes of our financial statements, our income taxes have been computed on an as-if standalone, separate tax return basis.

The historical information presented below should be read in conjunction with the information under "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations" and our audited

 

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and unaudited combined financial statements, including the notes thereto, appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. The pro forma twelve months financial information as of December 31, 2014 and the trailing twelve month financial information as of September 30, 2015 is for informational purposes and is not necessarily indicative of our results of operation or future results of operation. The information presented below should be read in conjunction with the information under "Unaudited pro forma combined financial statements," including the notes thereto, appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

 
  Years ended December 31,   Nine months ended
September 30,
  Pro forma
trailing
twelve
months
ended
September 30,
 
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
  2014
  2015
  2015
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Combined statement of operations information:

                                     

Revenue

  $ 713,449   $ 803,089   $ 888,268   $ 649,272   $ 752,857   $ 1,062,759  

Operating costs and expenses:

                                     

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation)                

    72,794     85,945     120,024     82,079     131,118     175,821  

Selling and marketing expense                           

    304,597     321,870     335,107     271,236     289,844     366,312  

General and administrative expense

    76,711     93,641     117,890     74,351     121,303     171,429  

Product development expense

    38,921     42,973     49,738     36,614     50,740     64,963  

Depreciation

    16,341     20,202     25,547     17,122     19,804     30,631  

Amortization of intangibles                           

    17,455     17,125     11,395     6,841     14,130     19,757  

Total operating costs and expenses                           

    526,819     581,756     659,701     488,243     626,939     828,913  

Operating income

    186,630     221,333     228,567     161,029     125,918     233,846  

Interest expense—third party

                        (80,168 )

Interest expense—related party

    (29,489 )   (34,307 )   (25,541 )   (23,214 )   (6,879 )   (563 )

Other (expense) income, net

    (7,428 )   217     12,610     8,628     8,341     11,881  

Earnings before income taxes

    149,713     187,243     215,636     146,443     127,380     164,996  

Income tax provision

    (59,432 )   (60,616 )   (67,277 )   (46,434 )   (42,632 )   (47,144 )

Net earnings

    90,281     126,627     148,359     100,009     84,748     117,852  

Net (earnings) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (4,606 )   (1,624 )   (595 )   (522 )   42     (31 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 85,675   $ 125,003   $ 147,764   $ 99,487   $ 84,790   $ 117,821  

Other combined financial information:

                                     

Adjusted EBITDA(1)(2)

  $ 236,490   $ 271,231   $ 273,448   $ 188,021   $ 179,355   $ 308,647  

(1)    In considering the financial performance of the business, management and our chief operating decision maker analyze the primary financial performance measure of Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as operating income excluding: (1) stock-based compensation expense; (2) depreciation; and (3) acquisition-related items consisting of (i) amortization of intangible assets and impairments of goodwill and intangible assets and (ii) gains and losses recognized on changes in the fair value of contingent consideration arrangements. For a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to operating income for our historical results, see "Selected historical combined financial and other information."

(2)    The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to operating income for the year ended December 31, 2014 and the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2015, and also reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to Adjusted EBITDA as per the Credit Agreement for each such period, in each case pro forma for the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, the issuance of the Match Notes, borrowings under the Term Loan Facility, this offering and

 

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the related borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and application of proceeds of these transactions as if each had occurred on January 1, 2014. The Credit Agreement assesses covenant compliance on a pro forma trailing twelve-month basis and provides for adjustments to exclude certain charges not associated with the underlying operating performance of the business, including the exclusion of restructuring costs and the addback of the write-off of deferred revenue arising from purchase accounting.

 
  Pro forma
year ended
December 31,
  Pro forma trailing
twelve months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
   
  (in thousands)
 

Operating income

  $ 250,262   $ 233,846  

Stock-based compensation expense

    20,851     35,223  

Depreciation

    27,557     30,631  

Amortization of intangibles

    20,268     19,757  

Acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustments

    (12,912 )   (10,810 )

Adjusted EBITDA

  $ 306,026   $ 308,647  

Costs incurred related to the streamlining of systems and consolidation of European operations(3)

    4,886     18,394  

Acquisition-related deferred revenue write-downs(4)

    11,776     5,575  

Adjusted EBITDA as per the Credit Agreement(5)

  $ 322,688   $ 332,616  

(3)    We are currently in the process of an ongoing streamlining and partial consolidation of the technology and network systems and infrastructures of a number of our businesses, including Match, OurTime and Meetic. The goal of this project is to modernize, optimize and improve the scalability and cost effectiveness of these systems and infrastructures and to increase our ability to deploy product changes more rapidly across devices and product lines.

(4)   United States generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, require the historical deferred revenue balance of acquired businesses to be recorded at fair value following the acquisition. The adjustment to fair value reduces the balance of deferred revenue. Therefore, following an acquisition, GAAP reported revenue and operating income is reduced. This adjustment, which is non-cash in nature and primarily relates to the acquisition of The Princeton Review and FriendScout24, reflects the reduction in operating income arising from the acquisition related adjustment to deferred revenue.

(5)    Adjusted EBITDA as per the Credit Agreement for the year ended December 31, 2013 was $275.7 million calculated as Adjusted EBITDA of $271.2 million plus $4.5 million in acquisition-related deferred revenue write-downs. For the year ended December 31, 2013 there was no adjustment for costs incurred related to the streamlining of systems and consolidation of European operations. Adjusted EBITDA as per the Credit Agreement for the year ended December 31, 2012 equals Adjusted EBITDA as there were no adjustments for costs incurred related to the streamlining of systems and consolidation of European operations and acquisition-related deferred revenue write-downs.

 
  Pro forma
year ended
December 31,
  Pro forma trailing
twelve months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
   
  (in thousands)
 

Free Cash Flow(1)

  $ 178,741   $ 184,697  

Plus: Capital expenditures

    24,964     28,703  

Net cash provided by operating activities

  $ 203,705   $ 213,400  

(1)    We define Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by operating activities, less capital expenditures. The table above reconciles Free Cash Flow to net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2014 and the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2015, in each case pro forma for the acquisition of PlentyOfFish. We believe Free Cash Flow is useful to investors because it represents the cash that our operating businesses generate, before taking into account cash movements that are non-operational. Free Cash Flow has certain limitations in that it does not represent the total increase or decrease in the cash balance for the period, nor does it represent the residual cash flow for discretionary expenditures. Therefore, we think it is important to evaluate Free Cash Flow along with our combined statements of cash flows. Free Cash Flow should not be considered as a substitute for, nor superior to, GAAP measures.

 

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  As of December 31,    
   
 
 
  As of September 30, 2015
  Pro forma as of
September 30, 2015

 
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Combined balance sheet information:

                         

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 125,226   $ 127,630   $ 282,543   $ 50,000  

Total current assets

    174,966     195,102     386,796     161,272  

Total assets

    1,292,122     1,308,034     1,515,047     1,882,620  

Total liabilities

    390,848     504,580     545,987     1,656,160  

Total shareholder equity

    877,026     799,776     962,146     219,546  

Key Dating metrics

In connection with the management of our business, we identify, measure and assess a variety of key metrics. The principal metrics we use in managing our dating business are set forth below:

 
  Years ended December 31,   Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2012
  2013
  2014(5)
  2014
  2015(6)(7)
 
 
  (in thousands, except ARPPU)
 

Direct Revenue:(1)

                               

North America

  $ 454,996   $ 493,729   $ 525,928   $ 391,546   $ 434,080  

International

    233,531     260,340     273,599     205,358     205,739  

Total Direct Revenue

    688,527     754,069     799,527     596,904     639,819  

Indirect Revenue(2)

    24,922     34,128     36,931     27,102     28,409  

Total Dating Revenue

  $ 713,449   $ 788,197   $ 836,458   $ 624,006   $ 668,228  

Average PMC:(3)

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

North America

    1,920     2,169     2,404     2,395     2,643  

International

    876     1,020     1,097     1,087     1,347  

Total

    2,796     3,189     3,501     3,482     3,990  

ARPPU:(4)

                               

North America

  $ 0.65   $ 0.62   $ 0.60   $ 0.60   $ 0.60  

International

  $ 0.73   $ 0.70   $ 0.68   $ 0.69   $ 0.56  

Total

  $ 0.67   $ 0.65   $ 0.63   $ 0.63   $ 0.59  

(1)    "Direct Revenue" is revenue that is directly received from an end user of our products.

(2)    "Indirect Revenue" is revenue that is not received directly from an end user of our products, substantially all of which is currently advertising revenue.

(3)    "Average PMC" is calculated by summing the number of paid members, or paid member count, or PMC at the end of each day in the relevant measurement period and dividing it by the number of calendar days in that period.

(4)   "ARPPU" or Average Revenue per Paying User, is Direct Revenue in the relevant measurement period divided by the Average PMC in such period divided by the number of calendar days in such period.

(5)    For the year ended December 31, 2014, pro forma for PlentyOfFish, Average PMC was approximately 3.7 million.

(6)   For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, Tinder Average PMC was 332,000.

(7)    For the twelve months ended September 30, 2015, pro forma for PlentyOfFish, Indirect Revenue was approximately $60 million. For the twelve months ended September 30, 2015, pro forma for PlentyOfFish, Average PMC was approximately 4.3 million, with PlentyOfFish representing approximately 0.4 million. Average PMC for this period is equal to the weighted average of the sum of Average PMC for the quarters ended December 31, 2014, March 31, 2015, June 30, 2015 and September 30, 2015. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, pro forma for PlentyOfFish, Average PMC was approximately 4.4 million. For the quarters ended June 30, 2015 and March 31, 2013, ARPPU for PlentyOfFish was approximately $0.41 and $0.37, respectively. For the twelve months ended September 30, 2015, ARPPU was $0.59.

 

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Risk factors

Investing in our common stock involves risks. In addition to the other information contained in this prospectus, you should carefully consider the following risks before deciding to purchase shares of our common stock in this offering. The occurrence of any of the following risks might cause you to lose all or a part of your investment. Some statements in this prospectus, including statements in the following risk factors, constitute forward-looking statements. Please refer to "Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements" for more information regarding forward-looking statements.

Risks relating to our business

The limited operating history of our newer dating brands and products makes it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects.

We seek to tailor each of our dating brands and products to meet the preferences of specific communities of users. Building a given brand or product is generally an iterative process that occurs over a meaningful period of time and involves considerable resources and expenditures. Although certain of our newer brands and products have experienced significant growth over relatively short periods of time, you cannot necessarily rely on the historical growth rates of these brands and products as an indication of future growth rates for our newer brands and products generally. We have encountered, and may continue to encounter, risks and difficulties as we build our newer brands and products. The failure to successfully address these risks and difficulties could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The dating industry is competitive, with low switching costs and a consistent stream of new products and entrants, and innovation by our competitors may disrupt our business.

The dating industry is competitive, with a consistent stream of new products and entrants. Some of our competitors may enjoy better competitive positions in certain geographical regions or user demographics that we currently serve or may serve in the future. These advantages could enable these competitors to offer products that are more appealing to users and potential users than our products or to respond more quickly and/or cost-effectively than us to new or changing opportunities.

In addition, within the dating industry generally, costs for consumers to switch between products are low, and consumers have a propensity to try new approaches to connecting with people. As a result, new products, entrants and business models are likely to continue to emerge. It is possible that a new product could gain rapid scale at the expense of existing brands through harnessing a new technology or distribution channel, creating a new approach to connecting people or some other means. If we are not able to compete effectively against our current or future competitors and products that may emerge, the size and level of engagement of our user base may decrease, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Each of our dating products monetizes users at different rates. If a meaningful migration of our user base from our higher monetizing dating products to our lower monetizing dating products were to occur, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We own, operate and manage a large and diverse portfolio of dating products. Each dating product has its own mix of free and paid features designed to optimize the user experience and revenue generation from that product's community of users. In general, the mix of features for the various dating products within our more established brands leads to higher monetization rates per user than the mix of features for the various dating products within our newer brands. If a significant portion of our user base were to migrate

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to our less profitable brands, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. See "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations—Trends affecting our Dating business."

Our growth and profitability rely, in part, on our ability to attract and retain users through cost-effective marketing efforts. Any failure in these efforts could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Attracting and retaining users for our dating products involve considerable expenditures for online and offline marketing. Historically, we have had to increase our marketing expenditures over time in order to attract and retain users and sustain our growth.

Evolving consumer behavior can affect the availability of profitable marketing opportunities. For example, as traditional television viewership declines and as consumers spend more time on mobile devices rather than desktop computers, the reach of many of our traditional advertising channels is contracting. Similarly, as consumers communicate less via email and more via text messaging and other virtual means, the reach of email campaigns designed to attract new and repeat users (and retain current users) for our dating products is adversely impacted. To continue to reach potential users and grow our businesses, we must identify and devote more of our overall marketing expenditures to newer advertising channels, such as mobile and online video platforms as well as targeted campaigns in which we communicate directly with potential, former and current users via new virtual means. Generally, the opportunities in and sophistication of newer advertising channels are relatively undeveloped and unproven, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to continue to appropriately manage and fine-tune our marketing efforts in response to these and other trends in the advertising industry. Any failure to do so could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Communicating with our users via email is critical to our success, and any erosion in our ability to communicate in this fashion that is not sufficiently replaced by other means could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As consumer habits evolve in the era of smart phones and messaging/social networking apps, usage of email, particularly among our younger users, has declined. In addition, deliverability restrictions imposed by third party email providers could limit or prevent our ability to send emails to our users. One of our primary means of communicating with our users and keeping them engaged with our products is via email. Our ability to communicate via email enables us to keep our users updated on activity with respect to their profile, present or suggest new or interesting users from the community, invite them to offline events and present discount and free trial offers, among other things. Any erosion in our ability to communicate successfully with our users via email could have an adverse impact on user experience and the rate at which non-paying users become paid members.

While we continually work to find new means of communicating and connecting with our members (for example, through push notifications), there is no assurance that such alternative means of communication will be as effective as email has been. Any failure to develop or take advantage of new means of communication could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Our quarterly results or operating metrics could fluctuate significantly, which could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline.

Our quarterly results and operating metrics have fluctuated historically and we expect that they could continue to fluctuate in the future as a result of a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control and may be difficult to predict, including:

the timing, size and effectiveness of our marketing efforts;

fluctuations in the rate at which we attract new users, the level of engagement of such users and the propensity of such users to subscribe to our brands or to purchase à la carte features;

increases or decreases in our revenues and expenses caused by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;

the timing, size and effectiveness of non-marketing operating expenses that we may incur to grow and expand our operations and to remain competitive;

the performance, reliability and availability of our technology, network systems and infrastructure and data centers;

operational and financial risks we may experience in connection with historical and potential future acquisitions; and

general economic conditions in either domestic or international markets.

The occurrence of any one of these factors, as well as other factors, or the cumulative effect of the occurrence of one or more of such factors could cause our quarterly results and operating metrics to fluctuate significantly. As a result, quarterly comparisons of results and operating metrics may not be meaningful.

In addition, the variability and unpredictability of our quarterly results or operating metrics could result in our failure to meet our expectations, or those of any of our investors or of analysts that cover our company, with respect to revenues or other operating results for a particular period. If we fail to meet or exceed such expectations for these or any other reasons, the market price of our common stock could fall substantially.

Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations could adversely affect our results of operations.

We operate in various international markets, primarily in various jurisdictions within the European Union. During fiscal year 2014 and the nine months ended September 30, 2015, 35% and 31% of our total revenues, respectively, were international revenues. Our primary exposure to foreign currency exchange risk relates to investments in foreign subsidiaries that transact business in a functional currency other than the U.S. dollar, primarily the Euro.

As foreign currency exchange rates fluctuate, the translation of our international results into U.S. dollars affects the period-over-period comparability of our U.S dollar-denominated operating results. For example, the average Euro to U.S. dollar exchange rate was 18% lower in the first nine months of 2015 than it was in the first nine months of 2014, which significantly reduced our revenue. Our total revenue, dating revenue and international dating revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, as compared to the nine months period ended September 30, 2014, would have increased approximately 22%, 13% and 18%, respectively, as compared to the reported increases of 16%, 7% and less than 1%, respectively, had foreign currency exchange rates remained constant during such period.

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Historically, we have not hedged any foreign currency exposures. Our international operations' continued growth and expansion into new countries increases our exposure to foreign exchange rate fluctuations. These fluctuations could have a significant impact on our future results of operations.

Distribution and use of our dating products depends, in significant part, on a variety of third party publishers, platforms and mobile app stores. If these third parties limit, prohibit or otherwise interfere with the distribution or use of our dating products in any material way, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We market and distribute our dating products (including related mobile applications) through a variety of third party publishers and distribution channels. Our ability to market our brands on any given property or channel is subject to the policies of the relevant third party. Certain publishers and channels have, from time to time, limited or prohibited advertisements for dating products for a variety of reasons, including as a result of poor behavior by other industry participants. There is no assurance that we will not be limited or prohibited from using certain current or prospective marketing channels in the future. If this were to happen in the case of a significant marketing channel and/or for a significant period of time, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Additionally, our mobile applications are increasingly accessed through the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Both Apple and Google have broad discretion to change their respective terms and conditions applicable to the distribution of our applications, and to interpret their respective terms and conditions in ways that may limit, eliminate or otherwise interfere with our ability to distribute our applications through their stores. There is no assurance that Apple or Google will not limit or eliminate or otherwise interfere with the distribution of our applications. If either or both of them did so, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Lastly, in the case of Tinder, users currently register for (and log in to) the application exclusively through their Facebook profiles. Facebook has broad discretion to change its terms and conditions applicable to the use of its platform in this manner and to interpret its terms and conditions in ways that could limit, eliminate or otherwise interfere with our ability to use Facebook in this manner and if Facebook did so, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

As the distribution of our dating products through app stores increases, in order to maintain our profit margins, we may need to offset increasing app store fees by decreasing traditional marketing expenditures, increasing user volume or monetization per user or by engaging in other efforts to increase revenue or decrease costs generally, or our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

As our user base continues to shift to mobile solutions, we increasingly rely on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store to distribute our mobile applications and related in-app products. While our mobile applications are generally free to download from these stores, we offer our users the opportunity to purchase paid memberships and certain à la carte features through these applications. We determine the prices at which these memberships and features are sold and, in exchange for facilitating the purchase of these memberships and features through these applications to users who download our applications from these stores, we pay Apple and Google, as applicable, a share (currently 30%) of the revenue we receive from these transactions. As the distribution of our dating products through app stores increases, we may need to offset these increased app store fees by decreasing traditional marketing expenditures as a percentage of revenue, increasing user volume or monetization per user, or by engaging in other efforts to increase revenue or decrease costs generally, or our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

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Our success depends, in part, on the integrity of our systems and infrastructures and on our ability to enhance, expand and adapt these systems and infrastructures in a timely and cost-effective manner.

In order for us to succeed, our systems and infrastructures must perform well on a consistent basis. From time to time, we may experience system interruptions that make some or all of our systems or data unavailable and prevent our products from functioning properly for our users; any such interruption could arise for any number of reasons. Further, our systems and infrastructures are vulnerable to damage from fire, power loss, telecommunications failures and similar events. While we have backup systems in place for certain aspects of our operations, our systems and infrastructures are not fully redundant, disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for all eventualities and our property and business interruption insurance coverage may not be adequate to compensate us fully for any losses that we may suffer. Any interruptions or outages, regardless of the cause, could negatively impact our users' experiences with our products, tarnish our brands' reputation and decrease demand for our products, any or all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We also continually work to expand and enhance the efficiency and scalability of our technology and network systems to improve the experience of our users, accommodate substantial increases in the volume of traffic to our various dating products and to keep up with changes in technology and user preference. Any failure to do so in a timely and cost-effective manner could adversely affect our users' experience with our various products and thereby negatively impact the demand for our products, and could increase our costs, either of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are currently undertaking a significant and complex update to the technology relating to some of our businesses, and failure to complete this project in a timely and effective manner could adversely affect our business.

We are currently in the process of an ongoing consolidation and streamlining of the technology and network systems and infrastructures of a number of our businesses, including Match, OurTime and Meetic. The goal of this project is to modernize, optimize and improve the scalability and cost-effectiveness of these systems and infrastructures and to increase our ability to deploy product changes more rapidly across devices and product lines. We have budgeted significant human and financial resources for these efforts and if we experience delays, inefficiencies or operational failures, we will incur additional costs, which would adversely affect our profitability. Moreover, these efforts may not be successful generally, may not be completed in a timely or cost-effective manner, may not result in the cost savings or other benefits we anticipate and may disrupt operations, any or all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not be able to protect our systems and infrastructures from cyber attacks and may be adversely affected by cyber attacks experienced by third parties.

We are regularly under attack by perpetrators of random or targeted malicious technology-related events, such as cyber attacks, computer viruses, worms or other destructive or disruptive software, distributed denial of service attacks and attempts to misappropriate customer information, including credit card information. While we have invested heavily in the protection of our systems and infrastructures and in related training, there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent significant breaches in our systems or other such events from occurring. Any cyber or similar attack we are unable to protect ourselves against could damage our systems and infrastructure, prevent us from providing our products, erode our reputation and brands, result in the disclosure of confidential information of our users and/or be costly to remedy.

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The impact of cyber security events experienced by third parties with whom we do business (or upon whom we otherwise rely in connection with our day-to day operations) could have a similar effect on us. Moreover, even cyber or similar attacks that do not directly affect us or third parties with whom we do business may result in a loss of consumer confidence generally, which could make users less likely to use or continue to use our products. The occurrence of any of these events could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our success depends, in part, on the integrity of third party systems and infrastructures.

We rely on third parties, primarily data center service providers, as well as third party computer systems, broadband and other communications systems and service providers, in connection with the provision of our products generally, as well as to facilitate and process certain transactions with our users. We have no control over any of these third parties or their operations.

Problems experienced by third party data center service providers upon whom we rely, the telecommunications network providers with whom they contract or with the systems through which telecommunications providers allocate capacity among their customers could also adversely affect us. Any changes in service levels at our data centers or any interruptions, outages or delays in our systems or those of our third party providers, or deterioration in the performance of these systems, could impair our ability to provide our products or process transactions with our users, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If the security of personal and confidential user information that we maintain and store is breached or otherwise accessed by unauthorized persons, it may be costly to mitigate the impact of such an event and our reputation could be harmed.

We receive, process, store and transmit a significant amount of personal user and other confidential information, including credit card information, and enable our users to share their personal information with each other. In some cases, we retain third party vendors to store this information. We continuously develop and maintain systems to protect the security, integrity and confidentiality of this information, but cannot guarantee that inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure will not occur or that third parties will not gain unauthorized access to this information despite our efforts. If any such event were to occur, we may not be able to remedy the event, and we may have to expend significant capital and resources to mitigate the impact of such an event, and to develop and implement protections to prevent future events of this nature from occurring. If a breach of our security (or the security of our vendors and partners) occurs, the perception of the effectiveness of our security measures and our reputation may be harmed, we could lose current and potential users and the recognition of our various brands and their competitive positions could be diminished, any or all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Unauthorized access of personal data could give rise to liabilities as a result of governmental regulation, conflicting legal requirements or differing views of personal privacy rights.

Security breaches or other unauthorized access to, or the use or transmission of, personal user information could result in a variety of claims against us, including privacy-related claims. There are numerous laws in the countries in which we operate regarding privacy and the storage, sharing, use, processing, disclosure and protection of this kind of information, the scope of which are changing, inconsistent and conflicting and subject to differing interpretations. For example, the European Commission has proposed and is currently debating comprehensive privacy and data protection reforms in the European Union, certain developing countries in which we do business are currently considering adopting privacy and data

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protection laws and regulations, and legislative proposals concerning privacy and the protection of user information are often pending before the U.S. Congress and various U.S. state legislatures.

While we believe that we comply with industry standards and applicable laws and industry codes of conduct relating to privacy and data protection, there is no assurance that we will not be subject to claims that we have violated applicable laws or codes of conduct or that we will be able to successfully defend against such claims.

Any failure or perceived failure by us (or the third parties with whom we have contracted to store such information) to comply with applicable privacy laws, privacy policies or privacy-related contractual obligations or any compromise of security that results in unauthorized access to personal information may result in governmental enforcement actions, significant fines, litigation, claims of breach of contract and indemnity by third parties and adverse publicity. In the case of such an event, our reputation may be harmed, we could lose current and potential users and the competitive positions of our various brands could be diminished, any or all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to a number of risks related to credit card payments, including data security breaches and fraud that we or third parties experience or additional regulation, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We accept payment from our users primarily through credit card transactions and certain online payment service providers. The ability to access credit card information on a real time-basis without having to proactively reach out to the consumer each time we process an auto-renewal payment or a payment for the purchase of a premium feature on any of our dating products is critical to our success.

When we or a third party experiences a data security breach involving credit card information, affected cardholders will often cancel their credit cards. In the case of a breach experienced by a third party, the more sizable the third party's customer base and the greater the number of credit card accounts impacted, the more likely it is that our users would be impacted by such a breach. To the extent our users are ever affected by such a breach experienced by us or a third party, affected users would need to be contacted to obtain new credit card information and process any pending transactions. It is likely that we would not be able to reach all affected users, and even if we could, some users' new credit card information may not be obtained and some pending transactions may not be processed, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Even if our users are not directly impacted by a given data security breach, they may lose confidence in the ability of service providers to protect their personal information generally, which could cause them to stop using their credit cards online and choose alternative payment methods that are not as convenient for us or restrict our ability to process payments without significant user effort.

Additionally, if we fail to adequately prevent fraudulent credit card transactions, we may face fines, governmental enforcement action, civil liability, diminished public perception of our security measures, significantly higher credit card-related costs and substantial remediation costs, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Finally, the passage or adoption of any legislation or regulation affecting the ability of service providers to periodically charge consumers for recurring membership payments may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Inappropriate actions by certain of our users could be attributed to us and damage our brands' reputation, which in turn could adversely affect our business.

The reputation of our brands may be adversely affected by the actions of our users that are deemed to be hostile, offensive, defamatory, inappropriate or unlawful. While we monitor and review the appropriateness of the content accessible through our dating products and have adopted policies regarding illegal or offensive use of our dating products, our users could nonetheless engage in activities that violate our policies. These safeguards may not be sufficient to avoid harm to our reputation and brands, especially if such hostile, offensive or inappropriate use is well-publicized.

In addition, it is possible that a user of our products could be physically, financially, emotionally or otherwise harmed by an individual that such user met through the use of one of our products. If one or more of our users suffers or alleges to have suffered any such harm, we could experience negative publicity or legal action that could damage our reputation and our brands. Similar events affecting users of our competitors' dating products could result in negative publicity for the dating industry generally, which could in turn negatively affect our business. Concerns about such harms and the use of dating products and social networking platforms for illegal conduct, such as romance scams and financial fraud, could produce future legislation or other governmental action that could require changes to our dating products, restrict or impose additional costs upon the conduct of our business generally or cause users to abandon our dating products.

We may fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or may be accused of infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties.

We rely heavily upon our trademarks and related domain names and logos to market our brands and to build and maintain brand loyalty and recognition, as well as upon trade secrets. We also rely, to a lesser extent, upon patented and patent-pending proprietary technologies relating to matching process systems and related features and products.

We also rely on a combination of laws, and contractual restrictions with employees, customers, suppliers, affiliates and others, to establish and protect our various intellectual property rights. For example, we have generally registered and continue to apply to register and renew, or secure by contract where appropriate, trademarks and service marks as they are developed and used, and reserve, register and renew domain names as we deem appropriate. Effective trademark protection may not be available or may not be sought in every country in which our products are made available and contractual disputes may affect the use of marks governed by private contract. Similarly, not every variation of a domain name may be available or be registered, even if available.

We also generally seek to apply for patents or for other similar statutory protections as and if we deem appropriate, based on then-current facts and circumstances, and will continue to do so in the future. No assurances can be given that any patent application we have filed or will file will result in a patent being issued, or that any existing or future patents will afford adequate protection against competitors and similar technologies. In addition, no assurances can be given that third parties will not create new products or methods that achieve similar results without infringing upon patents we own.

Despite these measures, our intellectual property rights may still not be protected in a meaningful manner, challenges to contractual rights could arise or third parties could copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property without authorization. The occurrence of any of these events could result in the erosion of our brands and limit our ability to market our brands using our various domain names, as well as impede our ability to effectively compete against competitors with similar technologies, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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From time to time, we have been subject to legal proceedings and claims, including claims of alleged infringement of trademarks, copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights held by third parties. In addition, litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights claimed by others. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management and technical resources, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We operate in various international markets, including certain markets in which we have limited experience. As a result, we face additional risks in connection with certain of our international operations.

Our brands are available in over 190 countries. Our international revenue represented 35% and 31% of our total revenue for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014 and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively.

Operating internationally, particularly in countries in which we have limited experience, exposes us to a number of additional risks, including:

operational and compliance challenges caused by distance, language and cultural differences;

difficulties in staffing and managing international operations;

differing levels of social and technological acceptance of our dating products or lack of acceptance of them generally;

foreign currency fluctuations;

restrictions on the transfer of funds among countries and back to the United States and costs associated with repatriating funds to the United States;

differing and potentially adverse tax laws;

multiple, conflicting and changing laws, rules and regulations, and difficulties understanding and ensuring compliance with those laws by both our employees and our business partners, over whom we exert no control;

competitive environments that favor local businesses;

limitations on the level of intellectual property protection; and

trade sanctions, political unrest, terrorism, war and epidemics or the threat of any of these events.

The occurrence of any or all of the events described above could adversely affect our international operations, which could in turn adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may experience operational and financial risks in connection with acquisitions.

We have made numerous acquisitions in the past and we continue to seek potential acquisition candidates. We may experience operational and financial risks in connection with historical and future acquisitions if we are unable to:

properly value prospective acquisitions, especially those with limited operating histories;

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successfully integrate the operations, as well as the accounting, financial controls, management information, technology, human resources and other administrative systems, of acquired businesses with our existing operations and systems;

successfully identify and realize potential synergies among acquired and existing businesses;

retain or hire senior management and other key personnel at acquired businesses; and

successfully manage acquisition-related strain on our management, operations and financial resources and those of the various brands in our portfolio.

Furthermore, we may not be successful in addressing other challenges encountered in connection with our acquisitions. The anticipated benefits of one or more of our acquisitions may not be realized or the value of goodwill and other intangible assets acquired could be impacted by one or more continuing unfavorable events or trends, which could result in significant impairment charges. The occurrence of any these events could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We will incur some increased costs and devote substantial management time as a result of operating as a public company.

We expect that the obligations of being a public company, including public reporting and investor relations obligations, will require new expenditures, place new demands on our management and will require the hiring of additional personnel. While IAC will continue to provide us with certain corporate and shared services related to corporate functions for a period of time for negotiated fees, we also expect that we will need to implement additional systems and hire additional personnel to adequately function as a public company. We cannot precisely predict the amount and timing of these significant expenditures. See "—Risks related to our ongoing relationship with IAC—The services that IAC will provide to us following the initial public offering may not be sufficient to meet our needs, and we may have difficulty finding replacement services or be required to pay increased costs to replace these services if we no longer receive these services from IAC."

We may not realize the potential benefits from our initial public offering.

We may not realize the benefits that we anticipate from our initial public offering. These benefits include the following:

enabling us to allocate our capital more efficiently;

providing us with direct access to the debt and equity capital markets;

improving our ability to pursue acquisitions through the use of shares of our common stock as consideration; and

enhancing our market recognition with investors.

We may not achieve the anticipated benefits from our initial public offering for a variety of reasons. For example, the process of operating as an independent public company may distract our management from focusing on our business and strategic priorities. In addition, although we will have direct access to the debt and equity capital markets following this offering, we may not be able to issue debt or equity on terms acceptable to us or at all. The availability of tradable shares of our common stock for use as consideration for acquisitions also will not ensure that we will be able to successfully pursue acquisitions or that the acquisitions will be successful. We also may not fully realize the anticipated benefits from our

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initial public offering if any of the matters identified as risks in this "Risk factors" section were to occur. If we do not realize the anticipated benefits from our initial public offering for any reason, our business may be adversely affected.

We are subject to litigation and adverse outcomes in such litigation could have an adverse effect on our financial condition.

We are, and from time to time may become, subject to litigation and various legal proceedings, including litigation and proceedings related to intellectual property matters and privacy and consumer protection laws, that involve claims for substantial amounts of money or for other relief or that might necessitate changes to our business or operations. The defense of these actions may be both time consuming and expensive. We evaluate these litigation claims and legal proceedings to assess the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes and to estimate, if possible, the amount of potential losses. Based on these assessments and estimates, we may establish reserves and/or disclose the relevant litigation claims or legal proceedings, as and when required or appropriate. These assessments and estimates are based on information available to management at the time of such assessment or estimation and involve a significant amount of judgment. As a result, actual outcomes or losses could differ materially from those envisioned by our current assessments and estimates. Our failure to successfully defend or settle any of these litigations or legal proceedings could result in liability that, to the extent not covered by our insurance, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks related to our ongoing relationship with IAC

IAC controls our company and will have the ability to control the direction of our business.

After the completion of this offering, IAC will own all of the shares of our outstanding Class B common stock, representing approximately 86.1% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.4% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock (or approximately 84.4% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.2% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in this offering). As long as IAC owns shares of our capital stock representing a majority of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock, it will be able to control any corporate action that requires a stockholder vote, regardless of the vote of any other stockholder. As a result, IAC will have the ability to control significant corporate activities, including:

the election of our board of directors and, through our board of directors, decision-making with respect to our business direction and policies, including the appointment and removal of our officers;

acquisitions or dispositions of businesses or assets, mergers or other business combinations;

issuances of shares of our common stock, Class B common stock, Class C common stock and our capital structure;

corporate opportunities that may be suitable for us and IAC, subject to the corporate opportunity provisions in our certificate of incorporation, as described below;

our financing activities, including the issuance of additional debt and equity securities, or the incurrence of other indebtedness generally;

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the payment of dividends; and

the number of shares available for issuance under our equity incentive plans for our prospective and existing employees.

This voting control will limit the ability of other stockholders to influence corporate matters and, as a result, we may take actions that stockholders other than IAC do not view as beneficial. This voting control may also discourage transactions involving a change of control of our company, including transactions in which you as a holder of our common stock might otherwise receive a premium for your shares. Furthermore, after the expiration of the 180-day lock-up period, IAC generally has the right at any time to sell or otherwise dispose of the shares of our capital stock that it owns, including the ability to transfer a controlling interest in us to a third party, without your approval and without providing for a purchase of your shares. See "Shares eligible for future sale."

Even if IAC owns shares of our capital stock representing less than a majority of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock, so long as IAC retains shares representing a significant percentage of our combined voting power, IAC will have the ability to substantially influence these significant corporate activities.

In addition, pursuant to the investor rights agreement we will enter into with IAC, IAC has the right to maintain its level of ownership in our Company to the extent we issue additional shares of our capital stock in the future and, pursuant to the employee matters agreement we will enter into with IAC, IAC may receive payment for certain compensation expenses through receipt of additional shares of our stock. For a more complete summary of our agreements with IAC, see "Certain relationships and related party transactions."

Until such time as IAC no longer controls or has the ability to substantially influence us, we will continue to face the risks described in this "Risk factors" section relating to IAC's control of us and the potential conflicts of interest between IAC and us.

Our certificate of incorporation could prevent us from benefiting from corporate opportunities that might otherwise have been available to us.

Our certificate of incorporation will include a "corporate opportunity" provision in which we renounce any interests or expectancy in corporate opportunities which become known to (i) any of our directors or officers who are also officers, directors, employees or other affiliates of IAC or its affiliates (except that we and our subsidiaries shall not be deemed affiliates of IAC or its affiliates for the purposes of the provision) or (ii) IAC itself, and which relate to the business of IAC or may constitute a corporate opportunity for both IAC and us. Generally, neither IAC nor our officers or directors who are also officers or directors of IAC or its affiliates will be liable to us or our stockholders for breach of any fiduciary duty by reason of the fact that any such person pursues or acquires any corporate opportunity for the account of IAC or its affiliates, directs or transfers such corporate opportunity to IAC or its affiliates, or does not communicate information regarding such corporate opportunity to us. The corporate opportunity provision may exacerbate conflicts of interest between IAC and us because the provision effectively permits one of our directors or officers who also serves as an officer or director of IAC to choose to direct a corporate opportunity to IAC instead of to us.

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IAC's interests may conflict with our interests and the interests of our stockholders. Conflicts of interest between IAC and us could be resolved in a manner unfavorable to us and our public stockholders.

Various conflicts of interest between us and IAC could arise. Five of our eight directors are current members of the board of directors or executive officers of IAC. Ownership interests of directors or officers of IAC in our stock and ownership interests of our directors and officers in the stock of IAC, or a person's service as either a director or officer of both companies, could create or appear to create potential conflicts of interest when those directors and officers are faced with decisions relating to our company. These decisions could include:

corporate opportunities;

the impact that operating decisions for our business may have on IAC's consolidated financial statements;

the impact that operating or capital decisions (including the incurrence of indebtedness) for our business may have on IAC's current or future indebtedness or the covenants under that indebtedness;

business combinations involving us;

our dividend policy;

management stock ownership; and

the intercompany services and agreements between IAC and us.

Potential conflicts of interest could also arise if we decide to enter into any new commercial arrangements with IAC in the future or in connection with IAC's desire to enter into new commercial arrangements with third parties.

Furthermore, disputes may arise between IAC and us relating to our past and ongoing relationship, and these potential conflicts of interest may make it more difficult for us to favorably resolve such disputes, including those related to:

tax, employee benefit, indemnification and other matters arising from this offering;
the nature, quality and pricing of services IAC agrees to provide to us;
sales or other disposal by IAC of all or a portion of its ownership interest in us; and
business combinations involving us.

We may not be able to resolve any potential conflicts, and even if we do, the resolution may be less favorable to us than if we were dealing with an unaffiliated party. While we are controlled by IAC, we may not have the leverage to negotiate amendments to these agreements, if required, on terms as favorable to us as those we would negotiate with an unaffiliated third party.

Our historical and pro forma combined financial information may not be representative of the results we would have achieved as a public company and may not be a reliable indicator of our future results.

The historical and pro forma combined financial information that we have included in this prospectus may not necessarily reflect what our financial position, results of operations or cash flows would have been had we been a public company during the periods presented or those that we will achieve in the future. Our combined financial statements reflect the historical financial position, results of operations and cash flows of our various businesses since their respective dates of acquisition by IAC and the allocation to us by IAC of expenses for certain functions based on various methodologies. We have not adjusted our historical and

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pro forma combined financial information to reflect changes that will occur in our cost structure, financing and operations as a result of our transition to becoming a public company, including anticipated increased costs associated with public company reporting and other obligations. Accordingly, our historical and pro forma combined financial information may not necessarily be indicative of what our financial position, results of operations or cash flows will be in the future.

We will be a "controlled company" as defined in the NASDAQ rules, and will rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to stockholders of other companies.

Upon completion of this offering, IAC will own more than 50% of the combined voting power of our share capital and we will be a "controlled company" under the Marketplace Rules of the NASDAQ Stock Market, or the Marketplace Rules. As a "controlled company," certain exemptions under the NASDAQ standards will free us from the obligation to comply with certain Marketplace Rules related to corporate governance, including the requirements:

that a majority of our board of directors consists of "independent directors," as defined under the Marketplace Rules;

that we have a compensation committee that is composed entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee's purpose and responsibilities; and

that we have a nominating/governance committee that is composed entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee's purpose and responsibilities.

Accordingly, for so long as we are a "controlled company," you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of the Marketplace Rules.

In order to preserve the ability of IAC to distribute its shares of our capital stock on a tax-free basis, we may be prevented from pursuing opportunities to raise capital, to effectuate acquisitions or to provide equity incentives to our employees, which could hurt our ability to grow.

Under current laws, IAC must retain beneficial ownership of at least 80% of the combined voting power and 80% of each class of nonvoting capital stock, if any is outstanding, in order to effect a tax-free distribution of our shares held by IAC to its stockholders. IAC has advised us that it does not have any present intention or plans to undertake such a tax-free distribution. However, IAC currently intends to use its majority voting interest to retain its ability to engage in such a transaction. This intention may cause IAC to not support transactions we wish to pursue that involve issuing shares of our common stock, including for capital raising purposes, as consideration for an acquisition or as equity incentives to our employees. The inability to pursue such transactions, if it occurs, may adversely affect our company. See "—IAC controls our company and will have the ability to control the direction of our business" and "—IAC's interests may conflict with our interests and the interests of our stockholders. Conflicts of interest between IAC and us could be resolved in a manner unfavorable to us and our public stockholders."

Our agreements with IAC will require us to indemnify IAC for certain tax liabilities and may limit our ability to engage in desirable strategic or capital raising transactions, including following any distribution by IAC of our capital stock to its stockholders.

In connection with this offering, we will enter into a tax sharing agreement with IAC. Under the tax sharing agreement, we generally will be responsible and will be required to indemnify IAC for (i) all taxes imposed with respect to any consolidated, combined or unitary tax return of IAC or one of its subsidiaries that

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includes us or any of our subsidiaries to the extent attributable to us or any of our subsidiaries, as determined under the tax sharing agreement, and (ii) all taxes imposed with respect to any consolidated, combined, unitary or separate tax returns of us or any of our subsidiaries. To the extent IAC failed to pay taxes imposed with respect to any consolidated, combined or unitary tax return of IAC or one of its subsidiaries that includes us or any of our subsidiaries, the relevant taxing authority could seek to collect such taxes (including taxes for which IAC is responsible under the tax sharing agreement) from us or our subsidiaries.

Under the tax sharing agreement, we generally will be responsible for any taxes and related amounts imposed on IAC or us that arise from the failure of a future spin-off of IAC's retained interest in us to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, under Section 368(a)(1)(D) and/or Section 355 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, to the extent that the failure to so qualify is attributable to (i) a breach of the relevant representations and covenants made by us in the tax sharing agreement or any representation letter provided in support of any tax opinion or ruling obtained by IAC with respect to the U.S. federal income tax treatment of such spin-off, or (ii) an acquisition of our equity securities.

To preserve the tax-free treatment of any potential future spin-off by IAC of its interest in us, and in addition to our indemnity obligation described above, the tax sharing agreement will restrict us, for the two-year period following any such spin-off, except in specific circumstances, from: (i) entering into any transaction pursuant to which all or a portion of shares of our stock would be acquired, whether by merger or otherwise, (ii) issuing equity securities beyond certain thresholds, (iii) repurchasing our shares other than in certain open-market transactions, (iv) ceasing to actively conduct our businesses or (v) taking or failing to take any other action that prevents the distribution and related transactions from qualifying as a transaction that is generally tax-free, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, under Section 368(a)(1)(D) and/or Section 355 of the Code.

The indemnity obligations and other limitations could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. For a more complete description of the tax sharing agreement, see "Certain relationships and related party transactions—Post offering relationship with IAC—Tax sharing agreement."

Future sales or distributions of our shares by IAC could depress our common stock price.

After this offering, and subject to the lock-up period described below, IAC will have the right to sell or distribute to its stockholders all or a portion of our Class B common stock that it holds. Although as of the date of this prospectus IAC has advised us that it does not have any present intention or plans to undertake such a sale or distribution, sales by IAC in the public market or distributions to its stockholders of substantial amounts of our stock in the form of common stock or Class B common stock, or the filing by IAC of a registration statement relating to a substantial amount of our stock, could depress the price of our common stock.

In addition, IAC will have the right, subject to certain conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering the sale of its shares or to include its shares in other registration statements that we may file. In the event IAC exercises its registration rights and sells all or a portion of its shares of our capital stock, the price of our common stock could decline. See "Shares eligible for future sale—Registration rights."

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The services that IAC will provide to us following the initial public offering may not be sufficient to meet our needs, which may result in increased costs and otherwise adversely affect our business.

Prior to completion of this offering, IAC has provided to us significant corporate and shared services related to corporate functions such as executive oversight, risk management, information technology, accounting, audit, legal, investor relations, tax, treasury and other services. Following this offering, we expect IAC to continue to provide many of these services for a fee provided in the services agreement described in "Certain relationships and related party transactions." IAC will not be obligated to provide these services in a manner that differs from the nature of the service today, and thus we may not be able to modify these services in a manner desirable to us as a stand-alone public company. Further, if we no longer receive these services from IAC, we may not be able to perform these services ourselves, or to find appropriate third-party arrangements at a reasonable cost, and the cost may be higher than that charged by IAC.

Risks related to our indebtedness

Our indebtedness may affect our ability to operate our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. We and our subsidiaries may incur additional indebtedness, including secured indebtedness.

On a pro forma basis giving effect to the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, the issuance of the Match Notes, the Term Loan Facility, this offering and the related borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and the application of proceeds of these transactions, as of September 30, 2015, we would have had total debt outstanding of approximately $1.3 billion and borrowing availability of $438.3 million under the Revolving Credit Facility (or total debt outstanding of approximately $1.2 billion and borrowing availability of $500 million under the Revolving Credit Facility if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares).

Our indebtedness could have important consequences, such as:

limiting our ability to obtain additional financing to fund our working capital needs, acquisitions, capital expenditures or other debt service requirements or for other purposes;

limiting our ability to use operating cash flow in other areas of our business because we must dedicate a substantial portion of these funds to service debt;

limiting our ability to compete with other companies who are not as highly leveraged, as we may be less capable of responding to adverse economic and industry conditions;

restricting us from making strategic acquisitions, developing properties or exploiting business opportunities;

restricting the way in which we conduct our business because of financial and operating covenants in the agreements governing our and certain of our subsidiaries' existing and future indebtedness, including, in the case of certain indebtedness of subsidiaries, certain covenants that restrict the ability of subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us;

exposing us to potential events of default (if not cured or waived) under financial and operating covenants contained in our or our subsidiaries' debt instruments that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results;

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increasing our vulnerability to a downturn in general economic conditions or in pricing of our products; and

limiting our ability to react to changing market conditions in our industry and in our customers' industries.

In addition to our debt service obligations, our operations require substantial investments on a continuing basis. Our ability to make scheduled debt payments, to refinance our obligations with respect to our indebtedness and to fund capital and non-capital expenditures necessary to maintain the condition of our operating assets and properties, as well as to provide capacity for the growth of our business, depends on our financial and operating performance, which, in turn, is subject to prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, competitive, legal and other factors.

Subject to the restrictions in the Credit Agreement and the restrictions included in the indenture related to the Match Notes, we and our subsidiaries may incur significant additional indebtedness, including additional secured indebtedness. Although the terms of the Credit Agreement and the indenture related to the Match Notes contain restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions, and additional indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be significant. If new debt is added to our or our subsidiaries' current debt levels, the risks described above could increase.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our current and planned indebtedness and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness that may not be successful.

Our ability to satisfy our debt obligations will depend upon, among other things:

our future financial and operating performance, which will be affected by prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, regulatory and other factors, many of which are beyond our control; and

our future ability to borrow under the Revolving Credit Facility, the availability of which will depend on, among other things, our complying with the covenants in the then-existing agreements governing our indebtedness.

We cannot assure you that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations, or that we will be able to draw under the Revolving Credit Facility or otherwise, in an amount sufficient to fund our liquidity needs.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to service our indebtedness, we may be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures, sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. Our ability to restructure or refinance our debt will depend on the condition of the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. Any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. In addition, the terms of existing or future debt agreements may restrict us from adopting some of these alternatives. In the absence of such operating results and resources, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations, sell equity, and/or negotiate with our lenders to restructure the applicable debt, in order to meet our debt service and other obligations. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions for fair market value or at all. The Credit Agreement and the indenture related to the Match Notes may restrict, or market or business conditions may limit, our ability to avail ourselves of some or all of these options.

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Furthermore, any proceeds that we could realize from any such dispositions may not be adequate to meet our debt service obligations then due.

Our debt agreements contain restrictions that will limit our flexibility in operating our business.

The Credit Agreement and the indenture related to the Match Notes contain, and any instruments governing future indebtedness of ours would likely contain, a number of covenants that will impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us, including restrictions on our ability to, among other things:

create liens on certain assets;

incur additional debt;

make certain investments and acquisitions;

consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets;

sell certain assets;

pay dividends on or make distributions in respect of our capital stock or make restricted payments;

enter into certain transactions with our affiliates; and

place restrictions on distributions from subsidiaries.

Any of these restrictions could limit our ability to plan for or react to market conditions and could otherwise restrict corporate activities. Any failure to comply with these covenants could result in a default under the Credit Agreement and/or the indenture related to the Match Notes or any instruments governing future indebtedness of ours. Upon a default, unless waived, the lenders under the Credit Agreement could elect to terminate their commitments, cease making further loans, foreclose on our assets pledged to such lenders to secure our obligations under the Credit Agreement and force us into bankruptcy or liquidation. Holders of the Match Notes also have the ability to force us into bankruptcy or liquidation in certain circumstances, subject to the terms of the related indenture. In addition, a default under the Credit Agreement or the indenture related to the Match Notes may trigger a cross default under our other agreements and could trigger a cross default under the agreements governing our future indebtedness. Our operating results may not be sufficient to service our indebtedness or to fund our other expenditures and we may not be able to obtain financing to meet these requirements.

Variable rate indebtedness that we expect to incur in connection with the Credit Agreement will subject us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

Borrowings under the Credit Agreement will be at variable rates of interest and will expose us to interest rate risk. We currently have a $500 million Revolving Credit Facility and an $800 million Term Loan Facility under the Credit Agreement. On a pro forma basis and assuming the (i) full $500 million under the Revolving Credit Facility is drawn down and (ii) $800 million in borrowings are outstanding under the Term Loan Facility, each quarter point change in interest rates would result in a $3.25 million change in annual interest expense on indebtedness under the Credit Agreement. Our Revolving Credit Facility is currently undrawn and we have $800 million outstanding under the Term Loan Facility. If the underwriters do not exercise their option to acquire additional shares in full, we expect to incur borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility to repay in full related party indebtedness owed to IAC.

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Risks related to this offering

The multi-class structure of our capital stock has the effect of concentrating voting control with holders of our Class B common stock and limiting your ability to influence corporate matters.

Our Class B common stock has ten votes per share, our common stock, which is being offered by us in this initial public offering, has one vote per share and our Class C common stock does not have any voting rights except as required by the laws of the State of Delaware, in which case, our Class C common stock will have one one-hundredth (1/100) of a vote per share. When this offering is completed, IAC will own all of the shares of our outstanding Class B common stock, representing approximately 86.1% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.4% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock (or approximately 84.4% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.2% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in this offering). There will be no shares of our Class C common stock outstanding immediately following this offering. Due to the ten-to-one voting ratio between our Class B common stock and common stock, the holders of our Class B common stock collectively will continue to control a majority of the combined voting power of our capital stock, even when the outstanding shares of Class B common stock represent a small minority of our equity, and such voting control will be concentrated with IAC. This concentrated control will significantly limit your ability to influence corporate matters.

The difference in the voting rights of our common stock and our Class B common stock may harm the value and liquidity of our common stock.

The holders of Class B common stock will be entitled to ten votes per share and the holders of our common stock will be entitled to one vote per share. The difference in the voting rights of our common stock and Class B common stock could harm the value of our common stock to the extent that any investor or potential future purchaser of our common stock ascribes value to the right of the holders of our Class B common stock to ten votes per share. The existence of two classes of common stock with voting rights could result in less liquidity for either class of stock than if there were only one class of our common stock. See "Description of capital stock" for descriptions of our common stock and our Class B common stock and the rights associated with each.

Purchasers in this offering will experience immediate and substantial dilution in the book value of their investment.

The initial public offering price of our common stock is substantially higher than the net book value per share of our common stock outstanding prior to this offering. Therefore, if you purchase our common stock in this offering, you will incur an immediate substantial dilution of $12.09 in net book value per share from the price you paid (calculated based on the assumed initial public offering price of $13.00 per share, which represents the midpoint of the offering price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus). For additional information about the dilution that you will experience immediately after this offering, see "Dilution."

There has been no prior public market for our common stock, the price of our common stock may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance, and you may not be able to resell your shares at or above the initial public offering price.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for shares of our common stock. The initial public offering price of our common stock was determined through negotiation between us and the underwriters. This price does not necessarily reflect the price at which investors in the market will be willing to buy and

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sell shares of our common stock following this offering. In addition, the market price of our common stock following this offering may be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control.

The market price of our common stock following this offering may be higher or lower than the initial public offering price. The market price of our common stock following this offering will depend on a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. These fluctuations could cause you to lose part of your investment in our common stock since you might be unable to sell your shares at or above the price you paid in this offering. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the market price of our common stock include the following:

price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;

volatility in the market prices and trading volumes of technology stocks generally, or those in our industry in particular;

changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other technology companies generally, or those in our industry in particular;

sales of shares of our stock by us or our stockholders;

the failure of securities analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by securities analysts who follow our company or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;

the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in those projections or our failure to meet those projections;

announcements by us or our competitors of new brands, products or services;

the public's reaction to our earnings releases, other public announcements and filings with the SEC;

rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;

actual or anticipated changes in our operating results or fluctuations in our operating results;

actual or anticipated developments in our business, our competitors' businesses or the competitive landscape generally;

litigation involving us, our industry or both, or investigations by regulators into our operations or those of our competitors;

developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or other proprietary rights;

announced or completed acquisitions of businesses or technologies by us or our competitors;

new laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations applicable to our business;

changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations or principles;

any significant change in our management; and

general economic conditions and slow or negative growth in any of our significant markets.

In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular company's securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these

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companies. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management's attention and resources.

Future sales, or the perception of future sales, of our common stock may depress the price of our common stock.

The market price of our common stock could decline significantly as a result of sales of a large number of shares of our stock in the market after this offering, including shares which might be offered for sale by IAC. The perception that these sales might occur could depress the market price of common stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate. See "—Future sales or distributions of our shares by IAC could depress our common stock price."

Upon completion of this offering, we will have 33,333,333 shares of common stock (or 38,333,333 shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock), 206,714,274 shares of Class B common stock and no shares of Class C common stock outstanding. The shares of common stock offered in this offering will be freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act of 1933, or the Securities Act, except for any shares of common stock that may be held or acquired by our directors, executive officers and other affiliates, as that term is defined in the Securities Act, which will be restricted securities under the Securities Act. Restricted securities may not be sold in the public market unless the sale is registered under the Securities Act or an exemption from registration is available. We will grant registration rights to IAC with respect to shares of our common stock and Class B common stock. Any shares registered pursuant to the registration rights agreement described in "Certain relationships and related party transactions" will be freely tradable in the public market following a 180-day lock-up period as described below.

In connection with this offering, we, our directors and executive officers and IAC will each agree to enter into a lock-up agreement and thereby be subject to a lock-up period, meaning that they and their permitted transferees will not be permitted to sell any of the shares of our capital stock for 180 days after the date of this prospectus, subject to certain exceptions without the prior consent of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Allen & Company LLC. Although we have been advised that there is no present intention to do so, the representatives at the underwriters may, in their sole discretion and without notice, release all or any portion of the shares from the restrictions in any of the lock-up agreements described above. See "Underwriting."

Also, in the future, we may issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of shares of our capital stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then outstanding shares of our common stock.

An active trading market for our common stock may never develop or be sustained.

We have been approved to list our common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "MTCH." However, we cannot assure you that an active trading market for our common stock will develop on that exchange or elsewhere or, if developed, that any market will be sustained. Accordingly, we cannot assure you of the likelihood that an active trading market for our common stock will develop or be maintained, the liquidity of any trading market, your ability to sell your shares of our common stock when desired or the prices that you may obtain for your shares.

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In making your investment decision, you should understand that we and the underwriters have not authorized any other party to provide you with information concerning us or this offering, you should not rely on information in public media that is published by third parties and you should rely only on statements made in this prospectus in determining whether to purchase our shares.

You should carefully evaluate all of the information in this prospectus. We have in the past received, and may continue to receive, a high degree of media coverage, including coverage that is not directly attributable to statements made by our officers and employees, that incorrectly reports on statements made by our officers or employees, or that is misleading as a result of omitting information provided by us, our officers or employees. We cannot confirm the accuracy of such coverage. We and the underwriters have not authorized any other party to provide you with information concerning us or this offering. As a result, you should carefully evaluate all of the information in this prospectus and rely only on the information contained in this prospectus in determining whether to purchase our shares of common stock.

We do not expect to declare any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock, Class B common stock or Class C common stock for the foreseeable future. Instead, we anticipate that all of our future earnings will be retained to support our operations and to finance the growth and development of our business. Any future determination relating to our dividend policy will be made by our board of directors and will depend on a number of factors, including:

our historic and projected financial condition, liquidity and results of operations;

our capital levels and needs;

tax considerations;

any acquisitions or potential acquisitions that we may consider;

statutory and regulatory prohibitions and other limitations;

the terms of any credit agreements or other borrowing arrangements that restrict our ability to pay cash dividends, including the Credit Agreement and the indenture relating to the Match Notes;

general economic conditions; and

other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors.

We are not obligated to pay dividends on our common stock, Class B common stock or Class C common stock. Consequently, investors may need to rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our common stock.

Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws or Delaware law may discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our common stock.

Delaware corporate law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our company may deem advantageous, including provisions which:

authorize the issuance of "blank check" preferred stock that our board could issue to increase the number of outstanding shares and to discourage a takeover attempt;

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limit the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders;

provide that certain litigation against us can only be brought in Delaware; and

provide that the board of directors is expressly authorized to make, alter or repeal our bylaws.

Any provision of our certificate of incorporation, our bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.

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About this prospectus

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, all references in this prospectus to "we," "our," "us," "Match Group," "the Company," and "our company" refer to Match Group, Inc. and its combined subsidiaries.

In this prospectus, references to "North America" refer to the United States and Canada; references to "Western Europe" refer to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom; references to "other selected countries" refer to Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong SAR, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam; references to "monthly active users," or MAU, means users who logged in through our mobile or web applications in the last 28 days as of the date of measurement (reported MAU is the sum total of MAUs of each of our individual brands, and users active on multiple brands are counted in the MAU of each brand; we believe that a typical MAU of our dating products uses, on average, two different dating products in a given three month period, based on information provided by Research Now as of September 2015); references to "Daily Active Users" means users who logged in through our mobile or web applications in the last day as of the date of measurement; and references to "paid members" means users with a paid membership at the time or for the period indicated. When we refer to MAU or paid members as of a specific date, we refer to the MAU or paid members measured as of that particular date. When we refer to MAU for a multi-month period, we refer to the straight average of the monthly MAU for such period, calculated as the sum of the MAU as of the last day of each month in the measurement period, divided by the total number of months in such period. When we refer to paid members for a specific period, we mean the average paid members for such period, calculated as the sum of the paid members for each day in the measurement period, divided by the number of days in such period. We sometimes refer to this as "Average PMC." In this prospectus, information regarding MAU and paid members for the quarter ended September 30, 2015, as well as related growth rate information, includes/reflects MAU and paid members of Plentyoffish Media Inc. Except as discussed in the immediately preceding sentence, users and paid members of acquired companies are included in MAU and paid member information from and after the date of acquisition.

References to our "certificate of incorporation" refer to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and references to our "bylaws" refer to our Amended and Restated By-laws, as each will be in effect upon the completion of this offering.

We have made rounding adjustments to some of the figures in this prospectus. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in some tables may not be an arithmetic aggregation of the figures that precede them.

This prospectus contains references to our trademarks and service marks and to those belonging to other entities. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this prospectus may appear without the ® or ™ symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensor to these trademarks and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other companies' trade names, trademarks or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.

This prospectus contains industry, market and competitive position data that is based on industry publications and studies conducted by independent third parties that we believe to be reliable sources, including studies by

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Research Now and MarketTools commissioned by us. References in this prospectus to the size of our target users and addressable market are based on population data from the World Bank, marital status information from the United Nations, internet penetration rates from the Economist Intelligence Unit and percentage of singles data obtained from Research Now. Where we make projections involving growth rates of the single population, we assume the single population in each country grows in line with the projected growth rate of the country's total population. In some cases, we do not expressly refer to the sources from which this data is derived. In that regard, when we refer to one or more sources of this type of data in any paragraph, you should assume that other data of this type appearing in the same paragraph is derived from the same source, unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires. The market data and industry forecasts that we have included in this prospectus have not been expertized. Forward-looking information obtained from third-party sources is subject to the same qualifications and the uncertainties regarding the other forward-looking statements in this prospectus. See "Risk factors" and "Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements."

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Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, future events and our business, financial condition and results of operations. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "may," "should," "could," "predict," "potential," "believe," "will likely result," "expect," "continue," "will," "anticipate," "seek," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "projection," "would" and "outlook," or the negative version of those words or other comparable words of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management's beliefs and certain assumptions made by management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Accordingly, we caution you that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, actual results may prove to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

There are or will be important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to:

our ability to evaluate our current business and future prospects;

competition in the dating products industry;

our ability to maintain user rates on our higher monetizing products;

our ability to attract users through cost-effective marketing efforts;

our ability to communicate with our users by email;

fluctuations in our quarterly results;

foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations;

our ability to maintain high levels of distribution through third party publishers and app stores;

our ability to offset app store fees;

the integrity and scalability of our systems and infrastructures and our ability to adapt them to changes in technology in a timely and cost-effective manner;

our ability to periodically complete updates to our technology in a timely and effective manner;

our ability to protect our systems and infrastructures from cyber attacks;

our dependence on the integrity of third party systems and infrastructure, generally;

our ability to prevent personal and confidential user information, including credit card information, that we maintain from being accessed by unauthorized persons;

risks related to the users' misuse of our dating products;

our ability to protect our intellectual property rights;

risks in connection with certain of our international operations;

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operational and financial risks in connection with acquisitions;

risks associated with operating as a public company;

our ability to realize the potential benefits from this initial public offering;

risks associated with ligation or other legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business;

risks related to our ongoing relationship with IAC;

risks associated with our Credit Agreement, the Match Notes and the related indenture and our indebtedness generally;

risks associated with this offering; and

other factors discussed elsewhere in this prospectus.

The foregoing factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read together with the other cautionary statements included in this prospectus. If one or more events related to these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may differ materially from what we anticipate. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict which new factors will arise. In addition, we cannot assess the impact of each factor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

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Use of proceeds

We estimate that our net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $403,666,663 (or $465,390,721 if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock), based on an assumed initial public offering price of $13.00 per share (the midpoint of the offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus) and less underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

We currently intend to use all of the net proceeds from this offering (including any net proceeds received if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares) to repay related-party indebtedness issued to IAC after the initial public offering price has been determined, but prior to the closing of this offering. The aggregate principal amount of such indebtedness will be equal to the total net proceeds to us from this offering, assuming the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares. If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, such related-party indebtedness will be repaid in full with the net proceeds from this offering. If the underwriters do not exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, we intend to incur additional borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility in order to repay the balance of the IAC related-party indebtedness. The IAC related-party indebtedness will bear interest at 2.25% per year and will mature within 30 days of the issuance of such indebtedness.

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Dividend policy

We do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock, Class B common stock or Class C common stock for the foreseeable future. Instead, we anticipate that all of our future earnings will be retained to support our operations and to finance the growth and development of our business. Any future determination relating to our dividend policy will be made by our board of directors and will depend on a number of factors, including:

our historic and projected financial condition, liquidity and results of operations;

our capital levels and needs;

tax considerations;

any acquisitions or potential acquisitions that we may consider;

statutory and regulatory prohibitions and other limitations;

the terms of any credit agreements or other borrowing arrangements that restrict our ability to pay cash dividends, including the Credit Agreement and the indenture relating to the Match Notes;

general economic conditions; and

other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors.

We are not obligated to pay dividends on our common stock, our Class B common stock or our Class C common stock.

As a Delaware corporation, we will be subject to certain restrictions on dividends under the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL. Generally, a Delaware corporation may only pay dividends either out of "surplus" or out of the current or the immediately preceding year's net profits. Surplus is defined as the excess, if any, at any given time, of the total assets of a corporation over its total liabilities and statutory capital. The value of a corporation's assets can be measured in a number of ways and may not necessarily equal their book value.

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Capitalization

The following table shows our cash and cash equivalents and capitalization as of September 30, 2015:

on an actual basis; and

on a pro forma basis after giving effect to the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, the issuance of the Match Notes, borrowings under the Term Loan Facility, this offering and the related borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and the application of proceeds of these transactions.

You should read the following table together with "Selected historical combined financial and other information," "Unaudited pro forma combined financial statements" and "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations" and our combined financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

 
  As of September 30, 2015  
 
  Actual
  Pro forma
 
 
  (dollars in thousands, except share data)
 

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 282,543   $ 50,000  

Long-term debt—related party(1)

  $ 185,429   $  

Term Loan Facility(2)(3)

        788,000  

Revolving Credit Facility(3)(4)

        61,724  

Match Notes(3)(5)

        443,537  

Total Long-term debt

    185,429     1,293,261  

Shareholder equity:

             

Common stock, $0.001 par value; actual: 15,000,000 shares authorized, 10,862,995 shares issued and outstanding; pro forma: 1,500,000,000 shares authorized, 33,333,333 shares issued and outstanding

        33  

Class B common stock, $0.001 par value; pro forma: 1,500,000,000 shares authorized, 206,714,274 shares issued and outstanding

        207  

Class C common stock, $0.001 par value; pro forma: 1,500,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued and outstanding

         

Invested capital

    1,091,346     348,506  

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

    (129,200 )   (129,200 )

Total shareholders equity. 

    962,146     219,546  

Total capitalization

  $ 1,147,575   $ 1,512,807  

(1)    Long-term debt—related party consists of $79.0 million in notes payable in three installments of $26.3 million each due on September 1, 2021, 2023 and 2026, a €53 million ($59.4 million at September 30, 2015) note due December 15, 2021 and a $47.0 million note due December 15, 2021, all of which will be repaid prior to the completion of this offering. We and certain of our domestic subsidiaries were, until November 16, 2015, guarantors of IAC's senior notes and IAC's credit facility. On November 16, 2015, we became an unrestricted subsidiary of IAC for purposes of its debt facilities and ceased to guarantee any debt of IAC. See "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations—Liquidity and capital resources."

(2)    Reflects an original issue discount of 1.5%.

(3)    See "Description of indebtedness."

(4)   After the initial public offering price has been determined, but prior to the completion of this offering, we will issue to IAC related-party indebtedness with an aggregate principal amount equal to the total net proceeds to us from this offering, assuming the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares. If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, such related-party indebtedness will be repaid in full with the net proceeds from this offering. If the underwriters do not exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, we intend to incur borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility in order to repay the balance of the IAC related-party indebtedness. The IAC related-party indebtedness will bear interest at 2.25% per year and will mature within 30 days of the issuance of such indebtedness. For purposes of the pro forma column above, we have assumed that the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares is not exercised, and $61.7 million is drawn under the Revolving Credit Facility.

(5)    This amount reflects the $443.5 million of IAC 2022 Notes that were tendered for exchange through November 6, 2015. An additional $1.7 million of IAC Notes 2022 was tendered before the exchange offer expired on November 13, 2015, and an additional $1.7 million of Match Notes was issued in exchange thereof on November 16, 2015.

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Dilution

If you invest in our common stock, your ownership interest will be diluted to the extent that the initial public offering price per share of our common stock exceeds the net book value per share of our common stock immediately following this offering. Net book value per share of common stock is equal to our total stockholders' equity divided by the number of shares of common stock and Class B common stock outstanding. There will be no outstanding shares of Class C common stock upon completion of this offering. The net book value of our common stock as of September 30, 2015 was $962.1 million, or $5.54 per share.

As of September 30, 2015, after giving pro forma effect to the acquisition of PlentyOfFish and the $500 million aggregate capital contribution from IAC, as well as the exchange of $445.2 million in Match Notes for IAC 2022 Notes and the application of the proceeds of borrowings under the Term Loan Facility, which includes a distribution of $575.5 million to IAC, our pro forma net book value per share was $1.36. As of September 30, 2015, after giving pro forma effect to the issuance of 33.3 million shares at an assumed initial public offering price of $13.00 per share (the midpoint of the offering price range on the cover page of this prospectus) net of the underwriting commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility, as well as the anticipated use of proceeds, our pro forma net book value per share was $0.91. This represents an immediate dilution of $12.09 per share to new investors purchasing shares of our common stock in this offering.

The following table illustrates the calculation of the amount of dilution per share that a purchaser of our common stock in this offering will incur given the assumptions above:

Assumed initial public offering price

        $ 13.00  

Historical net book value per share

    5.54        

Increase in pro forma net book value per share due to the acquisition of PlentyOfFish including the funding received from IAC of $500 million in the aggregate

    0.78        

Pro forma net book value per share after the acquisition of PlentyOfFish

    6.32        

Net decrease in pro forma net book value per share due to the Match Note Exchange, borrowings under the Term Loan Facility and the related application of proceeds

    (4.97 )      

Pro forma net book value per share prior to this offering

    1.35        

Increase in pro forma net book value per share due to investors purchasing shares in this offering

    1.50        

Pro forma net book value per share prior to the use of proceeds

    2.85        

Decrease in pro forma net book value per share due to the use of proceeds(1)

    (1.94 )      

Pro forma net book value per share after this offering

          0.91  

Dilution in pro forma net book value per share to investors in this offering

        $ 12.09  

(1)    We currently intend to use all of the net proceeds from this offering to repay related-party indebtedness issued to IAC after the initial public offering price has been determined, but prior to the closing of this offering. The aggregate principal amount of such indebtedness will be equal to the total net proceeds to us from this offering, assuming the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares. If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, such related-party indebtedness will be repaid in full with the net proceeds of this offering. If the underwriters do not exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, we intend to incur borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility in order to repay the balance of the IAC related-party indebtedness. The IAC related-party indebtedness will bear interest at 2.25% per year and will mature within 30 days of the issuance of such indebtedness. We have assumed that the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares is not exercised, and $61.7 million is drawn under the Revolving Credit Facility.

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Selected historical combined financial and other information

The following selected historical combined financial information as of December 31, 2013 and 2014, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2014, has been derived from our audited combined financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. The following selected historical combined financial information as of September 30, 2015, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015, has been derived from our unaudited interim combined financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. The unaudited interim combined financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as our audited combined financial statements and, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of this information. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period, and results for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year.

Our historical combined financial statements have been prepared on a stand-alone basis and are derived from the consolidated financial statements and accounting records of IAC. The combined financial statements reflect the historical financial position, results of operations and cash flows of our businesses since their respective dates of acquisition by IAC and the allocation to us of certain IAC corporate expenses relating to us based on the historical financial statements and accounting records of IAC. In the opinion of our management, the assumptions underlying our historical combined financial statements, including the basis on which the expenses have been allocated from IAC, are reasonable. However, the allocations may not reflect the expenses that we may have incurred as an independent, stand-alone company for the periods presented. Our historical combined financial statements may not reflect what our actual financial position, results of operation and cash flows would have been if we had been an independent, stand-alone company for the periods presented. For the purposes of our financial statements, income taxes have been computed for us on an as if stand-alone, separate tax return basis.

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The information presented below should be read in conjunction with the information under "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations" and our audited and unaudited combined financial statements, including the notes thereto, appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

 
  Years ended December 31,   Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Combined statement of operations information:

                               

Revenue

  $ 713,449   $ 803,089   $ 888,268   $ 649,272   $ 752,857  

Operating costs and expenses:

                               

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation)(1)

    72,794     85,945     120,024     82,079     131,118  

Selling and marketing expense(1)

    304,597     321,870     335,107     271,236     289,844  

General and administrative expense(1)

    76,711     93,641     117,890     74,351     121,303  

Product development expense(1)

    38,921     42,973     49,738     36,614     50,740  

Depreciation

    16,341     20,202     25,547     17,122     19,804  

Amortization of intangibles

    17,455     17,125     11,395     6,841     14,130  

Total operating costs and expenses

    526,819     581,756     659,701     488,243     626,939  

Operating income

    186,630     221,333     228,567     161,029     125,918  

Interest expense—related party

    (29,489 )   (34,307 )   (25,541 )   (23,214 )   (6,879 )

Other (expense) income, net

    (7,428 )   217     12,610     8,628     8,341  

Earnings before income taxes

    149,713     187,243     215,636     146,443     127,380  

Income tax provision

    (59,432 )   (60,616 )   (67,277 )   (46,434 )   (42,632 )

Net earnings

    90,281     126,627     148,359     100,009     84,748  

Net (earnings) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (4,606 )   (1,624 )   (595 )   (522 )   42  

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 85,675   $ 125,003   $ 147,764   $ 99,487   $ 84,790  

Other combined financial information:

                               

Adjusted EBITDA(2)

  $ 236,490   $ 271,231   $ 273,448   $ 188,021   $ 179,355  

(1)    Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:

 
  Years ended December 31,   Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Cost of revenue

  $ 1,975   $ 1,012   $ 396   $ 465   $ 342  

Selling and marketing expense

    823     562     194     255     4,883  

General and administrative expense

    10,368     8,520     17,326     13,476     22,076  

Product development expense

    2,898     2,134     2,935     2,414     3,681  

Total stock-based compensation expense

  $ 16,064   $ 12,228   $ 20,851   $ 16,610   $ 30,982  

(2)    In considering the financial performance of the business, management and our chief operating decision maker analyze the primary financial performance measure of Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as operating income excluding: (1) stock-based compensation expense; (2) depreciation; and (3) acquisition-related items consisting of (i) amortization of intangible assets and impairments of goodwill and intangible assets and (ii) gains and losses recognized on changes in the fair value of contingent consideration arrangements.

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We believe Adjusted EBITDA is useful for analysts and investors as this measure allows a more meaningful comparison between our performance and that of our competitors. Moreover, our management uses this measure internally to evaluate the performance of our business as a whole. We exclude the above items from Adjusted EBITDA because these items are non-cash in nature, and we believe that by excluding these items, Adjusted EBITDA corresponds more closely to the cash operating income generated from our business, from which capital investments are made and debt is serviced.

Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool. It is not a presentation made in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial condition or liquidity and should not be considered as an alternative to operating income or net income determined in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA is not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. As a result, you should not consider Adjusted EBITDA in isolation from, or as a substitute analysis for, our results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP. See "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations—Principles of financial reporting."

The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to operating income for the periods presented:

 
  Years ended December 31,   Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Operating income

  $ 186,630   $ 221,333   $ 228,567   $ 161,029   $ 125,918  

Stock-based compensation expense

    16,064     12,228     20,851     16,610     30,982  

Depreciation

    16,341     20,202     25,547     17,122     19,804  

Amortization of intangibles

    17,455     17,125     11,395     6,841     14,130  

Acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustments

        343     (12,912 )   (13,581 )   (11,479 )

Adjusted EBITDA

  $ 236,490   $ 271,231   $ 273,448   $ 188,021   $ 179,355  


 
  As of December 31,    
 
 
  As of
September 30, 2015

 
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Combined balance sheet information:

                   

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 125,226   $ 127,630   $ 282,543  

Total current assets

    174,966     195,102     386,796  

Total assets

    1,292,122     1,308,034     1,515,047  

Total liabilities

    390,848     504,580     545,987  

Total shareholder equity

    877,026     799,776     962,146  

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Key Dating metrics

In connection with the management of our business, we identify, measure and assess a variety of key metrics. The principal metrics we use in managing our dating business are set forth below:

 
  Years ended December 31,   Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (in thousands, except ARPPU)
 

Direct Revenue:(1)

                               

North America

  $ 454,996   $ 493,729   $ 525,928   $ 391,546   $ 434,080  

International

    233,531     260,340     273,599     205,358     205,739  

Total Direct Revenue

    688,527     754,069     799,527     596,904     639,819  

Indirect Revenue(2)

    24,922     34,128     36,931     27,102     28,409  

Total Dating Revenue

  $ 713,449   $ 788,197   $ 836,458   $ 624,006   $ 668,228  

Average PMC:(3)

                               

North America

    1,920     2,169     2,404     2,395     2,643  

International

    876     1,020     1,097     1,087     1,347  

Total

    2,796     3,189     3,501     3,482     3,990  

ARPPU:(4)

                               

North America

  $ 0.65   $ 0.62   $ 0.60   $ 0.60   $ 0.60  

International

  $ 0.73   $ 0.70   $ 0.68   $ 0.69   $ 0.56  

Total

  $ 0.67   $ 0.65   $ 0.63   $ 0.63   $ 0.59  

(1)    "Direct Revenue" is revenue that is directly received from an end user of our products.

(2)    "Indirect Revenue" is revenue that is not received directly from an end user of our products, substantially all of which is currently advertising revenue.

(3)    "Average PMC" is calculated by summing the number of paid members, or paid member count, or PMC, at the end of each day in the relevant measurement period and dividing it by the number of calendar days in that period.

(4)   "ARPPU" or Average Revenue per Paying User, is Direct Revenue in the relevant measurement period divided by the Average PMC in such period divided by the number of calendar days in such period.

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Unaudited pro forma combined financial statements

The unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2014 and nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015 presents the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, the issuance of the Match Notes, borrowings under the Term Loan Facility, this offering and the related borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and the application of proceeds of these transactions as if each had been completed as of January 1, 2014. The unaudited pro forma combined balance sheet as of September 30, 2015 presents the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, the issuance of the Match Notes, borrowings under the Term Loan Facility, this offering and the related borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and the application of proceeds of these transactions as if each had been completed as of September 30, 2015. The pro forma adjustments give effect to the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, the issuance of the Match Notes, borrowings under the Term Loan Facility, this offering and the related borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and the application of proceeds of these transactions, as described below.

The unaudited pro forma combined financial statements should be read in conjunction with: (i) the historical combined financial statements of Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries for the year ended December 31, 2014 and the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015 and (ii) the historical consolidated financial statements of Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries for the year ended December 31, 2014 and the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2015. The following unaudited pro forma combined financial statements should be read in conjunction with "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations."

The assumptions used and pro forma adjustments derived from such assumptions are based on currently available information and management believes such assumptions are reasonable.

These unaudited pro forma combined financial statements are for informational purposes and are not necessarily indicative of our results of operations or financial condition had the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, the issuance of the Match Notes, borrowings under the Term Loan Facility, this offering and the related borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and the application of proceeds of these transactions been completed on the dates assumed. In addition, they may not reflect the results of operations or financial condition that would have resulted had we been operating as an independent publicly-traded company during such periods. These unaudited pro forma combined financial statements are not necessarily indicative of our future results of operations or financial condition.

Prior to completion of this offering, IAC has provided to us significant corporate and shared services related to corporate functions, such as executive oversight, risk management, information technology, accounting, audit, legal, investor relations, tax, treasury and other services. Following this offering, we expect IAC to continue to provide many of these services for a fee pursuant to the services agreement described in "Certain relationships and related party transactions." While we expect to incur additional expenses as a public company, including pursuant to the services agreement with IAC, we do not expect these expenses to materially affect our overall profitability or impede our growth prospects. No additional amounts have been included in the pro forma financial statements for the incremental expenses that we expect to incur as a public company.

Acquisition of PlentyOfFish

On October 28, 2015, we completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding equity interests of PlentyOfFish for aggregate consideration of $575.0 million. The acquisition price will be allocated to the fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed.

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The fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed are based upon preliminary estimates. Accordingly, the purchase price allocation and pro forma adjustments are subject to further adjustments as additional information becomes available and additional analyses are performed, and each further adjustment may be material.

The Match Notes, the Term Loan Facility and use of proceeds

The pro forma information has been prepared assuming:

$443.5 million of Match Notes are issued;
$800.0 million of borrowings under the Term Loan Facility; and
no amounts are drawn under the $500.0 million Revolving Credit Facility.

The $800 million in borrowings under the Term Loan Facility are assumed to be used as follows:

cash proceeds received of $788.0 million reflecting an original issue discount of 1.5%;

payment of $24.9 million in fees and expenses associated with the Term Loan Facility, the Match Notes and the Revolving Credit Facility;

repayment of $170.2 million of related party debt, inclusive of accrued interest, of Match Group; and

distribution of $575.5 million in cash to IAC so that Match Group will have $50.0 million of cash remaining on hand.

Public offering and use of proceeds

The pro forma information has been prepared assuming the issuance of 33,333,333 shares of common stock in exchange for net proceeds of approximately $403,666,663, based on an assumed initial public offering price of $13.00 per share (the midpoint of the offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus) and less underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

We currently intend to use all of the net proceeds from this offering to repay related-party indebtedness issued to IAC after the initial public offering price has been determined, but prior to the closing of this offering. The aggregate principal amount of such indebtedness will be equal to the total net proceeds to us from this offering, assuming the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares. If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, such related-party indebtedness will be repaid in full with the net proceeds of this offering. If the underwriters do not exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, we intend to incur borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility in order to repay the balance of the IAC related-party indebtedness. The IAC related-party indebtedness will bear interest at 2.25% per year and will mature within 30 days of the issuance of such indebtedness. We have assumed that the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares is not exercised, and $61.7 million is drawn under the Revolving Credit Facility.

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Match Group, Inc.
Unaudited pro forma combined balance sheet
September 30, 2015

(In thousands, except share data)
  Match
Group
Historical

  PlentyOfFish
Historical

  Acquisition
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note

  Subtotal

  Match
Notes and
Term Loan
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note

  Subtotal

  Offering
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note

  Match
Group
Pro Forma

 

ASSETS

                                                             

Current Assets:

                                                             

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 282,543   $ 21,289   $ (11,489 ) (a)         $ (20,000 ) (g)                        

                22,523   (a)           788,000   (h)                        

                (32,323 ) (a)           (170,228 ) (h)                        

                (230,000 ) (b)   $ 52,543     (24,861 ) (h)         $ 403,667   (m)        

                                (575,454 ) (h)   $ 50,000     (403,667 ) (n)   $ 50,000  

Accounts receivable, net of allowance

   
59,212
   
4,120
   
       
63,332
   
       
63,332
   
       
63,332
 

Other current assets

    45,041     2,899             47,940             47,940             47,940  

Total current assets

    386,796     28,308     (251,289 )       163,815     (2,543 )       161,272             161,272  

Property and equipment, net

   
42,586
   
3,728
   
       
46,314
   
       
46,314
   
       
46,314
 

Goodwill

    805,969         491,888   (b)     1,297,857             1,297,857             1,297,857  

Intangible assets, net

    200,516         78,500   (b)     279,016             279,016             279,016  

Receivables from related parties

        22,523     (22,523 ) (a)                              

Long-term investments

    65,156                 65,156             65,156             65,156  

Other non-current assets

    14,024     1,154     (149 ) (b)     15,029     17,976   (i)     33,005             33,005  

TOTAL ASSETS

  $ 1,515,047   $ 55,713   $ 296,427       $ 1,867,187   $ 15,433       $ 1,882,620   $       $ 1,882,620  

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER EQUITY

                                                             

LIABILITIES:

                                                             

Accounts payable

  $ 20,348   $ 1,107   $       $ 21,455   $       $ 21,455   $       $ 21,455  

Deferred revenue

    156,225     13,005     (13,005 ) (b)     156,225             156,225             156,225  

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

    93,221     2,860     (2,429 ) (b)     93,652     (4,799 ) (h)     88,853             88,853  

Note payable—IAC

                                    403,667   (l)        

                                                (403,667 ) (n)        

                                                61,724   (o)        

                                                (61,724 ) (o)      

Total current liabilities

    269,794     16,972     (15,434 )       271,332     (4,799 )       266,533             266,533  

Long-term debt—related party

   
185,429
   
   
       
185,429
   
(185,429

)

(g), (h)
   
   
       
 

Long-term debt

                        443,537   (f)                        

                                788,000   (h)     1,231,537     61,724   (o)     1,293,261  

Income taxes payable

    9,836     524             10,360             10,360             10,360  

Deferred income taxes

    41,528         5,078   (b)     46,606             46,606             46,606  

Other long-term liabilities

    39,400                 39,400             39,400             39,400  

Redeemable noncontrolling interests

   
6,914
   
   
       
6,914
   
       
6,914
   
       
6,914
 

Redeemable preferred stock

        11,489     (11,489 ) (a)                              

Contingencies and commitments

                                               
 
 
 
   
 
 

Shareholder Equity:

   
 
   
 
   
 
 
 
   
 
   
 
 
 
   
 
   
 
 
 
   
 
 

Class A, B, C and D shares no par value; no maximum shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding

                                             

Class E shares no par value, no maximum shares authorized; 1,000,000 shares issued and outstanding

                                             

Invested capital

    1,091,346         344,962   (b)     1,436,308     (443,537 ) (f)           (403,667 ) (l)        

                                                (61,724 ) (o)        

                                (575,454 ) (h)           403,465   (m), (q)        

                                (6,885 ) (i)     410,432     (348,506 ) (q)      

Common stock, $0.001 par value; 1,500,000,000 shares authorized; 33,333,333 shares issued and outstanding

            38   (b)     38             38     (38 ) (q)        

                                                33   (q)     33  

Class B common stock, $0.001 par value 1,500,000,000 shares authorized; 206,714,274 shares issued and outstanding

                                    38   (q)        

                                                169   (q)     207  

Class C common stock; $0.001 par value; 1,500,000,000 shares authorized; and no shares issued and outstanding

                                      (q)      

Additional paid-in capital

        1,417     (1,417 ) (b)                     348,506   (q)     348,506  

Retained earnings

   
   
25,311
   
(32,323

)

(a)
                         
 
 
 
   
 
 

                7,012   (b)                              

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

   
(129,200

)
 
   
       
(129,200

)
 
       
(129,200

)
 
       
(129,200

)

Total shareholder equity

    962,146     26,728     318,272         1,307,146     (1,025,876 )       281,270     (61,724 )       219,546  

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER EQUITY

  $ 1,515,047   $ 55,713   $ 296,427       $ 1,867,187   $ 15,433       $ 1,882,620   $       $ 1,882,620  

   

Derived from the historical unaudited balance sheets as of September 30, 2015 for Match Group and as of June 30, 2015 for PlentyOfFish.
See notes to unaudited pro forma combined financial statements.

53


Match Group, Inc.
Unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations
nine months ended September 30, 2015


(In thousands, except per share data)

  Match
Group
Historical

  PlentyOfFish
Historical

  Acquisition
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note

  Subtotal

  Match
Notes and
Term Loan
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note

  Subtotal

  Offering
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note

  Match
Group
Pro Forma

 

Revenue

  $ 752,857   $ 56,026   $ (501 ) (e)   $ 808,382   $       $ 808,382   $       $ 808,382  

Operating costs and expenses:

                                                             

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation shown separately below)

    131,118     5,308             136,426             136,426             136,426  

Selling and marketing expense

    289,844     10,806     (501 ) (e)     300,149             300,149             300,149  

General and administrative expense

    121,303     5,986     (1,633 ) (d)     125,656             125,656             125,656  

Product development expense

    50,740     836             51,576             51,576             51,576  

Depreciation

    19,804     1,737             21,541             21,541             21,541  

Amortization of intangibles

    14,130         805   (c)     14,935             14,935             14,935  

Total operating costs and expenses

    626,939     24,673     (1,329 )       650,283             650,283             650,283  

Operating Income

    125,918     31,353     828         158,099             158,099             158,099  

Interest expense—third party

   
   
   
       
   
(59,078

)

(j)

   
(59,078

)
 
(1,093

)

(p)

   
(60,171

)

Interest expense—related party

    (6,879 )               (6,879 )   6,415   (k)     (464 )           (464 )

Other income (expense), net

    8,341     (360 )           7,981             7,981             7,981  

Earnings from continuing operations before income taxes

    127,380     30,993     828         159,201     (52,663 )       106,538     (1,093 ) (p)     105,445  

Income tax provision

   
(42,632

)
 
(8,058

)
 
(395

)

(c), (d)

   
(51,085

)
 
19,806
 

(j), (k)

   
(31,279

)
 
404
 

(p)

   
(30,875

)

Net earnings

    84,748     22,935     433         108,116     (32,857 )       75,259     (689 )       74,570  

Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests

    42                 42             42             42  

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 84,790   $ 22,935   $ 433       $ 108,158   $ (32,857 )     $ 75,301   $ (689 )     $ 74,612  

Net earnings per share:(r)

                                                             

Basic earnings per share

  $ 0.32  

Diluted earnings per share

  $ 0.31  

   

Derived from the historical unaudited statements of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 for Match Group and the three
months ended December 31, 2014 plus the six months ended June 30, 2015 for PlentyOfFish.
See notes to unaudited pro forma combined financial statements.

54


Match Group, Inc.
Unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations
nine months ended September 30, 2014


(In thousands, except per share data)

  Match
Group
Historical

  PlentyOfFish
Historical

  Acquisition
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note

  Subtotal

  Match
Notes and
Term Loan
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note

  Subtotal

  Offering
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note

  Match
Group
Pro Forma

 

Revenue

  $ 649,272   $ 38,520   $ (661 ) (e)   $ 687,131   $       $ 687,131   $       $ 687,131  

Operating costs and expenses:

                                                             

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation shown separately below)

    82,079     3,103             85,182             85,182             85,182  

Selling and marketing expense

    271,236     4,969     (661 ) (e)     275,544             275,544             275,544  

General and administrative expense

    74,351     6,246             80,597             80,597             80,597  

Product development expense

    36,614     766             37,380             37,380             37,380  

Depreciation

    17,122     1,345             18,467             18,467             18,467  

Amortization of intangibles

    6,841         8,605   (c)     15,446             15,446             15,446  

Total operating costs and expenses

    488,243     16,429     7,944         512,616             512,616             512,616  

Operating Income

    161,029     22,091     (8,605 )       174,515             174,515             174,515  

Interest expense—third party

                        (59,078 ) (j)     (59,078 )   (1,093 ) (p)     (60,171 )

Interest expense—related party

    (23,214 )               (23,214 )   5,168   (k)     (18,046 )           (18,046 )

Other income, net

    8,628     1,047             9,675             9,675             9,675  

Earnings from continuing operations before income taxes

    146,443     23,138     (8,605 )       160,976     (53,910 )       107,066     (1,093 ) (p)     105,973  

Income tax provision

    (46,434 )   (6,078 )   2,237   (c)     (50,275 )   20,205   (j), (k)     (30,070 )   404   (p)     (29,666 )

Net earnings

    100,009     17,060     (6,368 )       110,701     (33,705 )       76,996     (689 )       76,307  

Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (522 )               (522 )           (522 )           (522 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc's. shareholder

  $ 99,487   $ 17,060   $ (6,368 )     $ 110,179   $ (33,705 )     $ 76,474   $ (689 )     $ 75,785  

Net earnings per share: (r)

                                                             

Basic earnings per share

  $ 0.33  

Diluted earnings per share

  $ 0.32  

   

Derived from the historical unaudited statements of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 for Match Group and the year ended
December 31, 2014 less the three months ended December 31, 2014 for PlentyOfFish.
See notes to unaudited pro forma combined financial statements.

55


Match Group, Inc.
Unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations
Year Ended December 31, 2014

(In thousands, except per share
data)

  Match
Group
Historical

  PlentyOfFish
Historical

  Acquisition
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note
  Subtotal
  Match
Notes and
Term Loan
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note
  Subtotal
  Offering
Pro Forma
Adjustments

  Note
  Match
Group
Pro Forma

 

Revenue

  $ 888,268   $ 54,126   $ (886 ) (e)   $ 941,508   $       $ 941,508   $       $ 941,508  

Operating costs and expenses:

                                                             

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation shown separately below)

    120,024     4,553             124,577             124,577             124,577  

Selling and marketing expense

    335,107     7,486     (886 ) (e)     341,707             341,707             341,707  

General and administrative expense

    117,890     8,480             126,370             126,370             126,370  

Product development expense

    49,738     1,029             50,767             50,767             50,767  

Depreciation

    25,547     2,010             27,557             27,557             27,557  

Amortization of intangibles

    11,395         8,873   (c)     20,268             20,268             20,268  

Total operating costs and expenses

    659,701     23,558     7,987         691,246             691,246             691,246  

Operating Income

    228,567     30,568     (8,873 )       250,262             250,262             250,262  

Interest expense—third party

   
   
   
       
   
(78,710

)

(j)

   
(78,710

)
 
(1,458

)

(p)

   
(80,168

)

Interest expense—related party

    (25,541 )               (25,541 )   7,396   (k)     (18,145 )           (18,145 )

Other income, net

    12,610     965             13,575             13,575             13,575  

Earnings from continuing operations before income taxes

    215,636     31,533     (8,873 )       238,296     (71,314 )       166,982     (1,458 ) (p)     165,524  

Income tax provision

   
(67,277

)
 
(8,260

)
 
2,307
 

(c)

   
(73,230

)
 
26,756
 

(j), (k)

   
(46,474

)
 
539
 

(p)

   
(45,935

)

Net earnings

    148,359     23,273     (6,566 )       165,066     (44,558 )       120,508     (919 )       119,589  

Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (595 )               (595 )           (595 )           (595 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 147,764   $ 23,273   $ (6,566 )     $ 164,471   $ (44,558 )     $ 119,913   $ (919 )     $ 118,994  

Net earnings per share:(r)

                                                             

Basic earnings per share

  $ 0.51  

Diluted earnings per share

  $ 0.50  

   

Derived from the historical audited statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2014 for Match Group and PlentyOfFish.
See notes to unaudited pro forma combined financial statements.

56


Match Group, Inc.
Notes to unaudited pro forma combined
financial statements

Note 1—Basis of presentation—availability of PlentyOfFish financial information:

PlentyOfFish is a private Canadian company and is not subject to public company reporting requirements. The latest period for which consolidated financial statements are available is as of and for the six months ended June 30, 2015. The unaudited pro forma combined financial statements were prepared using the following historical consolidated financial information for Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries:

(i)
the unaudited consolidated balance sheet of Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries as of June 30, 2015;

(ii)
the unaudited consolidated statement of operations of Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries for the trailing nine months ended June 30, 2015;

(iii)
the unaudited consolidated statement of operations of Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries for the nine months ended September 30, 2014; and

(iv)
the audited consolidated statement of operations of Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries for the year ended December 31, 2014.

As a result of this basis of presentation, the consolidated results of operations of Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries for the three months ended December 31, 2014 is included in both the pro forma combined statements of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and for the year ended December 31, 2014. Revenue, operating income and net earnings of Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries, in Canadian dollars, for the three months ended December 31, 2014 are $17.6 million, $9.6 million and $7.0 million, respectively.

The statement of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 for PlentyOfFish is calculated by taking the six months ended June 30, 2015 plus the three months ended December 31, 2014. The statement of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 for PlentyOfFish is calculated by taking the twelve months ended December 31, 2014 less the three months ended December 31, 2014.

The historical financial information of PlentyOfFish was prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and in Canadian dollars. The historical financial information was translated from Canadian dollars to U.S. dollars using the following historical exchange rates:

CAD/U.S.
 

Period end exchange rate as of June 30, 2015 (balance sheet)

    0.8101  

Average exchange rate for the trailing nine months ended June 30, 2015 (statement of operations)

    0.8355  

Average exchange rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 (statement of operations)

    0.9151  

Average exchange rate for the year ended December 31, 2014 (statement of operations)

    0.9070  

57


Note 2—Adjustments related to the PlentyOfFish acquisition:

(a)
To reflect PlentyOfFish transactions that will occur immediately prior to the closing of the acquisition: (1) the redemption of redeemable preferred stock; (2) the settlement of related party receivables; and (3) the distribution of cash to owners.

(b)
To reflect the acquisition of PlentyOfFish by Match Group. On October 28, 2015, we completed the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, which is being reflected in the unaudited pro forma combined balance sheet as if it had occurred on September 30, 2015. The $575.0 million purchase price was funded through a combination of $75.0 million of cash on hand and a $500.0 million cash contribution from IAC; $155.0 million of which was contributed prior to September 30, 2015 and is reflected in the Match Group combined balance sheet as of September 30, 2015. IAC will ultimately receive Match Group shares for the $500.0 million contribution. The number of shares that will be issued will be calculated using the initial public offering price. Match Group is in the process of preparing a preliminary allocation of the purchase price to the fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed.

    The funding of the acquisition and the purchase price allocation for the transaction is as follows:

(In thousands)
 

Calculation of allocable purchase price

       

Capital contribution from IAC prior to September 30, 2015

  $ 155,000  

Cash on hand

    75,000  

Subtotal

    230,000  

Capital contribution from IAC after September 30, 2015

    345,000  

Total purchase price

    575,000  

Net liabilities assumed

   
5,595
 

Purchase price in excess of net liabilities assumed

  $ 580,595  

Allocation of purchase price

       

Adjust deferred revenue to fair value

  $ 13,005  

Adjust income taxes payable to fair value

    2,429  

Record fair value of definite- and indefinite-lived intangible assets

   
78,500
 

Record deferred income taxes:

       

Write-off existing net deferred tax asset

    (149 )

Establish deferred tax liability

    (5,078 )

Goodwill

    491,888  

Total

  $ 580,595  
(c)
To reflect the amortization expense associated with the preliminary valuation of the definite-lived intangible assets acquired by Match Group in connection with its acquisition of PlentyOfFish. The assets are being amortized on a straight-line basis based on their estimated useful lives. The average useful lives range from 0.5 to 5 years. If the fair value assigned to the definite-lived intangible assets were 10% higher, amortization expense would be $0.9 million and $0.1 million higher in the year ended December 31, 2014 and the nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively. The income tax effect is calculated at 26%.

58


(d)
To reflect the elimination of costs incurred by Match Group related to the acquisition of PlentyOfFish for the nine month period ended September 30, 2015 as they are not expected to have a continuing impact on the combined results. The income tax effect is calculated at 37%.

(e)
To reflect the elimination of intercompany revenue between Match Group and PlentyOfFish. The related accounts receivable and accounts payable between Match Group and PlentyOfFish are immaterial.

Note 3—Adjustments related to the Match Notes and Term Loan Facility:

(f)
To reflect the Note Exchange and the related distribution to IAC. On October 16, 2015, we commenced a private exchange offer to eligible holders to exchange any and all of $500 million aggregate principal amount of outstanding 4.75% Senior Notes due 2022 issued by IAC, or the 2022 IAC Notes, for up to $500 million aggregate principal amount of new 6.75% Senior Notes due 2022 issued by us, or the Match Notes. This amount reflects the $443.5 million of IAC 2022 Notes that were tendered for exchange through November 6, 2015. An additional $1.7 million of IAC Notes 2022 was tendered before the exchange offer expired on November 13, 2015 and, on November 16, 2015, an additional $1.7 million of Match Notes was issued in exchange thereof. No cash was received from the issuance of the Match Notes. On November 16, 2015, the exchange offer and distribution to IAC was effected as follows: Match Group closed the exchange offer; Match Group received IAC 2022 Notes from the holders that elected to exchange; Match Group issued the Match Notes in exchange for IAC 2022 Notes; Match Group distributed the IAC 2022 Notes to IAC; and IAC cancelled such notes.

(g)
To reflect repayment of $20.0 million of related party long-term debt of Match Group with cash on hand.

(h)
To reflect $800.0 million in borrowings under the Term Loan Facility and the related application of proceeds. The $788.0 million in cash proceeds received reflects an original issue discount of 1.5%. The proceeds were used to pay $24.9 million in fees and expenses associated with the Term Loan Facility, the Match Notes and the Revolving Credit Facility and repay the remaining $170.2 million of related party long-term debt, inclusive of accrued interest, of Match Group. Match Group retained a portion of the proceeds so that it has $50.0 million in cash following the payment of the $575.5 million distribution to IAC.

(i)
To reflect capitalized fees and expenses of $18.0 million related to the Term Loan Facility and Revolving Credit Facility and $6.9 million expensed related to the Match Notes.

(j)
To reflect: (1) the interest expense related to the Match Notes and borrowings under the Term Loan Facility at an assumed combined interest rate of 6.00%; and (2) the amortization of fees and expenses related to the Term Loan Facility and the Revolving Credit Facility and the related income tax effect. The income tax effect is calculated at 37%.

If the assumed interest rate changed by 0.25%, interest expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015 would increase or decrease by $2.3 million and interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2014 would increase or decrease by $3.1 million.

(k)
To reflect the elimination of related party interest expense and the related income tax effect. The income tax effect is calculated at 32%.

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Note 4—Adjustments related to this offering:

(l)
To reflect the dividend distribution of the related-party indebtedness owed to IAC described in note (o).

(m)
To reflect the issuance of 33.3 million shares of our common stock in exchange for net proceeds of approximately $403.7 million, based on an assumed initial public offering price of $13.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting assumed underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses.

(n)
We currently intend to use all of the net proceeds of this offering to repay related-party indebtedness owed to IAC.

(o)
To reflect the issuance of note (or notes) to IAC. After the initial public offering price has been determined, but prior to the completion of this offering, we will issue to IAC related-party indebtedness with an aggregate principal amount equal to the total net proceeds to us of this offering, assuming the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares. If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, such related-party indebtedness will be repaid in full with the net proceeds from this offering. If the underwriters do not exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, we intend to incur borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility in order to repay the balance of the IAC related-party indebtedness. The IAC related-party indebtedness will bear interest at 2.25% per year and will mature within 30 days of the issuance of such indebtedness. We intend to incur additional borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility of up to $61.7 million (assuming an initial public offering price of $13.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus), in order to repay the balance of the IAC related-party indebtedness.

(p)
To reflect interest expense related to the Revolving Credit Facility at an assumed rate of 2.34% and the related income tax effect. The income tax effect is calculated at 37%.

If the assumed interest rate changed by 0.25%, interest expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015 would increase or decrease by $0.1 million and interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2014 would increase or decrease by $0.2 million.

(q)
To reflect the par value of the shares issued in this offering and the reclassification of invested equity to additional paid-in capital.

(r)
The following table sets forth the computation of pro forma basic and diluted earnings per share attributable to Match Group shareholders. The pro forma basic and diluted earnings per share available to common shareholders reflect the recapitalization of our capital stock, the shares issued to

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    IAC in connection with the PlentyOfFish acquisition and 33.3 million shares issued in connection with this offering.

 
  Nine months ended
September 30, 2015
  Nine months ended
September 30, 2014
  Year ended
December 31,
2014
 
 
  Basic
  Diluted
  Basic
  Diluted
  Basic
  Diluted
 

(In thousands, except per share data)

 

Numerator:

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

Net earnings

  $ 74,570   $ 74,570   $ 76,307   $ 76,307   $ 119,589   $ 119,589  

Net loss (earnings) attributable to noncontrolling interests

    42     42     (522 )   (522 )   (595 )   (595 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc. shareholders

  $ 74,612   $ 74,612   $ 75,785   $ 75,785   $ 118,994   $ 118,994  

Denominator:

                                     

Weighted average basic shares outstanding

    163,713     163,713     160,631     160,631     160,756     160,756  

Add: Pro forma adjustment to reflect assumed shares issued to IAC in connection with the PlentyOfFish acquisition and shares issued pursuant to the initial public offering

    71,795     71,795     71,795     71,795     71,795     71,795  

Pro forma weighted average basic shares outstanding

    235,508     235,508     232,426     232,426     232,551     232,551  

Dilutive securities including stock options and other securities

        8,449         7,243         7,323  

Pro forma denominator for earnings per share—weighted average shares

    235,508     243,957     232,426     239,669     232,551     239,874  

Pro forma earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc. shareholders

  $ 0.32   $ 0.31   $ 0.33   $ 0.32   $ 0.51   $ 0.50  

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Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our historical combined financial statements and the related notes and the other financial information included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our historical combined financial statements have been prepared on a stand-alone basis and are derived from the consolidated financial statements and accounting records of IAC. The combined financial statements reflect the historical financial position, results of operations and cash flows of our businesses since their respective dates of acquisition by IAC and the allocation to us of certain IAC corporate expenses relating to us based on the historical financial statements and accounting records of IAC. In the opinion of our management, the assumptions underlying our historical combined financial statements, including the basis on which the expenses have been allocated from IAC, are reasonable. However, the allocations may not reflect the expenses that we may have incurred as an independent, stand-alone company for the periods presented. For the purposes of our financial statements, income taxes have been computed for us on an as if stand-alone, separate tax return basis. Our historical results do not necessarily reflect what our historical financial position and results of operations would have been had we been a stand-alone public company during the periods presented. In addition, our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period, and results for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year.

This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results, performance and achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those discussed below and elsewhere in this prospectus, particularly under "Risk factors."

Overview

Match Group is the world's leading provider of dating products. Our mission is to increase romantic connectivity worldwide.

In the dating category, there is a wide spectrum of consumer preferences that dictate the type of dating product that has the most appeal to a given user. Accordingly, different brands resonate differently with different groups of people. As a result, we approach the category with a portfolio of trusted brands so that we are able to provide tailored products that collectively appeal to the broadest spectrum of consumer preferences. We believe that this portfolio approach maximizes our ability to capture the largest number of users at meaningfully better economics than we would be able to achieve with a single brand approach. We operate over 45 brands, including Match, OkCupid, Tinder, PlentyOfFish, Meetic, Twoo, OurTime and FriendScout24, and our products are offered in 38 languages in over 190 countries. We increasingly apply a centralized discipline to learnings, best-practices and technologies across our dating products in order to increase growth, reduce costs and maximize profitability. This approach allows us to quickly introduce and deploy products and features, optimize marketing strategies, reduce operational costs and more effectively focus talent across the organization.

All our dating products provide the use of certain features for free, and then offer a variety of additional features for paid members. Substantially all of our Dating revenue is derived directly from users in the form of recurring membership fees, which typically provide unlimited access to a bundle of features for a

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specific period of time, and fees paid for à la carte features, which are typically for a specific action or event.

We have historically grown our business both organically and through strategic acquisitions. We have developed a core competency for identifying, acquiring, integrating and scaling businesses. Since January 2009, we have successfully completed a total of 25 Dating acquisitions (including PlentyOfFish), enabling us to strengthen our business in existing markets and expand our product offerings globally. For example, in 2011, we acquired OkCupid which had a large and loyal user base in the United States, and in 2014, we acquired the remaining outstanding shares of Meetic that we did not already own in order to expand our operations in Europe.

While we currently offer our products in over 190 countries, we have been most heavily concentrated in North America and Western Europe. However, with the launch of Tinder, and the acquisitions of Twoo and Pairs, we are increasingly exploiting opportunities in the rest of the world, which we believe are significant. For the quarter ended September 30, 2015, 54% of our MAUs were outside North America, pro forma for PlentyOfFish.

Trends affecting our Dating business

Over the last several years, we have seen significant changes in our business. During this time, our portfolio has evolved from one dominated by our Match and affinity brands in North America, and Meetic internationally, to one in which Tinder, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish and Twoo now represent the majority of our overall user base. This portfolio evolution has led to, been driven by, or coincided with, a number of significant trends in our business, each of which is discussed below.

Significant user growth.    Over the last several years, our Dating business has seen very strong user growth, rising from approximately 8 million average MAU during the quarter ended September 30, 2011 to approximately 59 million average MAU during the quarter ended September 30, 2015, a compound annual growth rate of 63%. This rapid growth has been primarily organic, with a compound annual growth rate of 48% excluding acquisitions during this period. This growth has been led by Tinder, which is now the largest of our brands measured in terms of MAU, but we have seen growth across all of our major brands during this period. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, aggregate new users across Match North America, our affinity brands, Meetic, OkCupid and PlentyOFish were up more than 20% from the comparable period in 2014, with each of these brands contributing period-over-period growth.

Meaningful subscriber growth.    Over the last several years, we have also seen substantial growth in users paying for our products, with an average of 4.7 million paid members for the quarter ended September 30, 2015, pro forma for PlentyOfFish, up from an average of 2.1 million paid members for the quarter ended September 30, 2011. The number of our average paid members, excluding Tinder, increased 32% between the quarter ended September 30, 2013 and the quarter ended September 30, 2015, pro forma for PlentyOfFish. This growth, while substantial, has come at a slower pace than our user growth, as the mix of paid and free features at our Tinder, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish and Twoo brands inherently results in conversion of users to paid members ("conversion") at lower rates than our other brands. However, because these brands tend to grow their number of users at a more rapid pace, they contribute paid members in substantial numbers despite lower conversion rates. Additionally, we expect the percentage of users who are paid members (which we refer to as penetration) in these brands to increase meaningfully, as penetration tends to increase rapidly during the early years following the introduction of a Direct Revenue, or paying, model. This is driven by both the introduction of new features that attract different users to convert and by the dynamics of a subscription business in which members are retained for extended periods and new members are increasingly added. For example, at OkCupid, the penetration rate

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as of June 30, 2015, was 5.7x the penetration rate as of June 30, 2012 (which was the end of the first year in which we meaningfully focused on a Direct Revenue model for that product), and MAU doubled over the same period. Tinder, the brand for which we most recently launched a Direct Revenue model, had zero paid members at the end of the third quarter of 2014, and grew its average paid members to approximately 1,000, 96,000, 376,000 and 519,000 for each of the succeeding quarters, ending with 583,000 paid members as of September 30, 2015. We cannot predict whether Tinder's penetration will increase over the coming years at the same rate as that of OkCupid's historical increase, but Tinder's penetration rate after one year is higher than OkCupid's was in June 2012, and we expect its penetration to follow a similar directional course. PlentyOfFish similarly has significant opportunities to increase its penetration rate, as it currently has a penetration rate of only 65% of that of OkCupid as of September 30, 2015. We believe that our monetization know-how, developed over years across our portfolio, should help us meaningfully close that gap in the coming years. Thus, while we do expect the mix of users to continue to shift into these lower penetration brands, we expect penetration within these brands to increase meaningfully over the coming years.

Strong mobile adoption.    We have recently experienced strong growth in the usage of our products on mobile devices. The percentage of new users coming through mobile channels across our portfolio was 73% in the quarter ended September 30, 2015, compared to 35% during the quarter ended September 30, 2013, and an insignificant percentage just a few years prior to that. Mobile adoption leads to higher user engagement. For example, for the quarter ended September 30, 2015, mobile users of our Match product in North America were approximately 35% more engaged (measured as daily active users divided by monthly active users) than our desktop users. Mobile adoption also opens new customer acquisition channels. As a result, mobile adoption has represented, and continues to represent, a significant growth opportunity for us. However, it also requires dedication of additional product and technology resources and often requires the payment of additional fees to app stores. Additionally, our mobile products, taken as a whole, have tended to have lower conversion rates than our desktop products, when we control for other factors impacting conversion. This has led to challenges over the last few years for those of our brands that had significant pre-existing desktop businesses with high percentages of paid members. Unlike a mobile only brand like Tinder, where each new mobile user is incremental to the total number of users, for those brands with significant desktop usage, many new mobile users are users who previously would have been likely to sign up for those products using the desktop. As a result, as the mobile migration has been rapidly underway, we have seen our overall conversion rates challenged in those businesses. However, we expect to see this trend reverse itself for two reasons. First, the migration to mobile will either slow rapidly or end as mobile devices obtain a more stable level of penetration within the population. Second, we expect to be able to make significant product improvements to our mobile products over the coming years, driving meaningful conversion increases. Our mobile products are relatively early in their development stages, as we only began to devote meaningful resources to optimizing these products in the last two years; in contrast, we have focused on optimizing our desktop products for increased conversion for many years. For example, during the period between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2013, we increased conversion on our Match product in the United States by more than 50% (when comparing desktop users coming in through direct domain channels, which we believe is the purest way to isolate the relationship between product changes and conversion improvements); those improvements came after more than 10 years of that product's existence (as opposed to the relatively short history of our mobile products). Therefore, based on our prior experience with product improvement, and the finite nature of the mobile migration, we believe the conversion challenges we have been facing as a result of the rapid mobile migration in these businesses will level off and then reverse.

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Lower cost users.    All of our brands rely on word-of-mouth, or free, customer acquisition to varying degrees. Word-of-mouth acquisition is typically a function of scale (with larger communities driving greater numbers of referrals), youthfulness (with the viral effect being more pronounced in younger populations due, in part, to a significantly higher concentration of single people in any given social circle) and monetization rate (with people generally more likely to talk openly about using dating products that are less heavily monetized). Additionally, some, but not all, of our brands spend meaningfully on paid marketing. Accordingly, the average amount we spend to acquire a user differs significantly across brands based in large part on each brand's mix of paid and free acquisition channels. As our mix has shifted toward younger users, our mix of acquisition channels has shifted toward free channels, driving a decline of approximately 50% since 2011 in the average amount we spend to acquire a new user across our portfolio. Our costs of acquiring paid members has also declined meaningfully. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, our advertising spend per first time subscriber declined 25% (excluding the effects of foreign exchange) from the nine months ended September 30, 2013. We expect the dynamics that have led to the growth in word-of-mouth customer acquisition to continue going forward and for our brands to continue to acquire significant numbers of users through low-cost means.

Mix-driven decline in consolidated ARPPU.    Tinder, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish and Twoo all have a lower average revenue per paid user, or ARPPU, than our other brands. ARPPU for these brands was approximately 50% of the aggregate ARPPU of our other brands for the nine months ended September 30, 2015. As the number of paid members from the lower ARPPU brands has become an increasingly large percentage of our aggregate number of paid members, our overall or consolidated ARPPU has declined. For example, pro forma for PlentyOfFish, our consolidated ARPPU for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 was 9% lower compared to the first quarter of 2013 (excluding the effects of foreign exchange). However, within many of our significant brands individually, ARPPU is increasing. For example, for the quarter ended September 30, 2015, as compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2013 (excluding the effects of foreign exchange), ARPPU was approximately 5% higher at Match North America, 4% higher at our affinity brands, 7% higher at Meetic, 5% higher at OkCupid and 10% higher (comparing the quarter ended June 30, 2015 to the quarter ended March 31, 2013) at PlentyOfFish. Additionally, the decline in ARPPU has coincided with the decline in the cost of acquiring new users discussed above. Although brand mix shift is reducing consolidated ARPPU, we see continued ability to increase price at many of our brands. In the third quarter of 2015, prices at Match North America, Meetic, affinity brands, OkCupid, and Twoo were higher than they were in the comparable period a year earlier. For purposes of this paragraph, references to "Meetic" include Meetic and all of our other brands and businesses in Europe.

Younger users.    Over the last few years, while user growth in all age cohorts has continued, we have seen a significant acceleration of our growth in younger users. This, in part, correlates to the increase in mobile adoption and the brand mix shift toward Tinder and OkCupid, each of which tend to attract younger users. As of December 31, 2011, 36% of our users were under age 35, and by September 30, 2015, that percentage had grown to 62%. We view this significant increase in younger users as a positive indicator of future growth, given the significantly greater duration we have to potentially engage these users within our portfolio and convert them to paying members.

Changing paid acquisition dynamics.    Even as our acquisition of lower cost users increases, paid acquisition of users remains an important driver of our business. The channels through which we market our brands are always evolving, but we are currently in a period of rapid change as TV and video consumption patterns evolve and internet consumption shifts from desktop to mobile devices. However, advertising opportunities have not kept up with audience migration, putting pressure on our paid marketing activities. Recently, we have been able to increase our marketing spend despite these trends, and to bring down the costs of acquiring new users to our products through our paid channels. However,

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our increases in spend have generally been made in less effective channels, bringing in lower converting users. We believe that advertising opportunities will increasingly follow consumer usage patterns, and that as this occurs, and as we improve our expertise at exploiting these evolving marketing channels, we will be able to increase our marketing efficiency over time.

Other factors affecting the comparability of our results

Advertising spend.    Our advertising spend, which is included in our selling and marketing expense, has consistently been our largest operating expense. In recent periods, we have focused our adverting spend on display, mobile, television and search channels. We seek to optimize for total return on advertising spend by frequently analyzing and adjusting this spend through numerous campaigns to focus on marketing channels and markets that generate a high return. Our data-driven approach provides us the flexibility to scale and optimize our advertising spend. We spend marketing dollars against an expected lifetime value of a customer that is realized by us over a multi-year period; and while this marketing is intended to be profitable on that basis, it is nearly always negative during the period in which the expense is incurred. Accordingly, our operating results, in particular our profit measures, for a particular period may be meaningfully impacted by the timing, size, number or effectiveness of our advertising campaigns in that period. Additionally, advertising spend is typically higher during the first quarter of our fiscal year, and lower during the fourth quarter. See "—Seasonality."

Seasonality.    Historically, our Dating business has experienced seasonal fluctuations in quarterly operating results, particularly with respect to our profit measurements. This is driven primarily by a higher concentration of advertising spend in the first quarter, when advertising prices are lowest and demand for our products is highest, and a lower concentration of advertising spend in the fourth quarter, when advertising costs are highest and demand for our products is lowest.

International markets.    Our products are available in over 190 countries. Our international revenue represented 35% and 31% of our total revenue for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014 and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively. We vary our pricing to align with local market conditions and our international businesses typically earn revenue in local currencies, primarily the Euro. As foreign currency exchange rates change, translation of the statements of operations of our international businesses into U.S. dollars affects year-over-year comparability of operating results.

Business combinations.    Acquisitions are an important part of our growth strategy, and we expect to make additional acquisitions in the future. Since January 2009 we have invested approximately $1,284.0 million to acquire 25 new brands for our dating portfolio including OkCupid, Meetic, Twoo and PlentyOfFish. As a consequence of the contributions of these businesses and acquisition-related expenses, our combined results of operations may not be comparable between periods.

Public company expenses.    Prior to completion of this offering, IAC has provided to us significant corporate and shared services related to corporate functions such as executive oversight, risk management, information technology, accounting, audit, legal, investor relations, tax, treasury and other services. Following this offering, we expect IAC to continue to provide many of these services for a fee pursuant to the services agreement described in "Certain relationships and related party transactions." While we expect to incur additional expenses as a public company, including pursuant to the services agreement with IAC, we do not expect these expenses to materially affect our overall profitability or to impede our growth prospects.

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Non-dating business

In addition to our Dating business, we also operate a Non-dating business in the education category through our ownership of The Princeton Review. The Princeton Review provides a variety of test preparation, academic tutoring and college counseling services. We acquired this business because it relies on many of the same competencies as those relied upon by our Dating business, such as paid customer acquisition, a combination of paid and free business models, a deep understanding of the lifetime values of customers and a strong expertise in user-interface development. The Princeton Review's revenue consists primarily of fees received for in-person and online test preparation classes, access to online test preparation materials and individual tutoring services.

Key Dating metrics

In connection with the management of our businesses we identify, measure and assess a variety of key metrics. The principal metrics we use in managing our Dating business are set forth below:

Operating metrics

Direct Revenue is revenue that is directly received from an end user of our products.

Indirect Revenue is revenue that is not received directly from an end user of our products, substantially all of which is currently advertising revenue.

Average PMC is calculated by summing the number of paid members, or paid member count, or PMC, at the end of each day in the relevant measurement period and dividing it by the number of calendar days in that period. PMC as of any given time represents the number of users with a paid membership at that time. Users who purchase à la carte features from us do not qualify as paid members for purposes of PMC by virtue of such purchase, though often such purchasers are also paid members. At present, the number of users purchasing à la carte features who are not otherwise paid members is not material, and the mechanisms necessary to accurately track these users are not in place across our portfolio. Over time, as this cohort of users grows and we develop and implement the ability to accurately track these users, we may change this metric to include such users.

Average Revenue Per Paying User, or ARPPU, is Direct Revenue in any measurement period divided by the Average PMC in such period divided by the number of calendar days in such period.

Historically, there has been an inverse relationship between Average PMC and ARPPU. Increases in prices tend to lower the percentage of users who convert to paid members, while lowering prices tend to increase the percentage of users who convert to paid members. Since we seek to optimize the Company's business, both for financial performance and user experience, rather than seeking to maximize Average PMC or ARPPU, our brands are continuously engaged in calibrating between pricing and the impact of changes in pricing on the number of paid members.

Geographical metrics

Our Dating business consists of a portfolio of individual brands. Some of these brands operate within a single geographic territory while others operate across multiple geographies. While we do not organize our management around geographic territories, from a consumer perspective, our brands tend to be local, competing for local users with some, but not all, of the global competitive set. Accordingly, we provide our key metrics geographically to enable investors to understand our portfolio performance in key geographic markets in which we compete, even though it does not reflect the way that we manage the business.

Key components of results of operations

Revenue

Substantially all of our Dating revenue is derived directly from users in the form of recurring membership fees.

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Membership revenue is presented net of credits and credit card chargebacks. Revenue recognition occurs ratably over the terms of the applicable membership term, which primarily range from one to six months, beginning when there is persuasive evidence of an arrangement, delivery has occurred (access has been granted), the fees are fixed or determinable and collection is reasonably assured. Members pay in advance, primarily by using a credit card, and, subject to certain conditions identified in our terms and conditions, all purchases are final and nonrefundable. Fees collected in advance for memberships are deferred and recognized as revenue using the straight-line method over the terms of the applicable membership period. Dating deferred revenue was $116.5 million, $117.9 million and $135.6 million at December 31, 2013 and 2014 and September 30, 2015, respectively. We also earn Dating revenue from online advertising, the purchase of à la carte features and offline events. Online advertising revenue is recognized every time an advertisement is displayed. Revenue from the purchase of à la carte features is recognized based on usage. Revenue and the related expenses associated with offline events are recognized when each event occurs. A substantial majority of our pro forma revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 was derived from the following brands within our Dating segment: Match, Meetic, OurTime, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish and Tinder.

Non-dating revenue consists primarily of fees received for in-person and online test preparation classes, access to online test preparation materials and individual tutoring services. Fees from classes and access to online materials are recognized over the period of the course and the period of the online access, respectively. Tutoring fees are generally collected in the form of membership fees that entitle the member to a certain number of tutoring sessions over a certain period of time. These fees are recognized over the term of the membership based on usage. Non-dating deferred revenue was $3.5 million, $18.0 million and $21.5 million at December 31, 2013 and 2014 and September 30, 2015, respectively.

Cost of revenue

Cost of revenue consists primarily of compensation (including stock-based compensation) and other employee-related costs for personnel engaged in data center and customer care functions, in-app purchase fees, content acquisition costs, credit card processing fees, hosting fees, and data center rent, energy and bandwidth costs. In-app purchase fees are monies paid to Apple and Google for distribution and the facilitating of in-app purchase of product features. Content acquisition cost consists principally of payments made to tutors at The Princeton Review.

Selling and marketing expense

Selling and marketing expense consists primarily of advertising expenditures and compensation (including stock-based compensation) and other employee-related costs for personnel engaged in sales, and sales support functions. Advertising and promotional spend includes online marketing, including fees paid to search engines, offline marketing, which is primarily television advertising and partner-related payments to those who direct traffic to our brands. We plan to continue to expand sales and marketing efforts to attract new users, retain existing users and increase sales to both new and existing users.

General and administrative expense

General and administrative expense consists primarily of compensation (including stock-based compensation) and other employee-related costs for personnel engaged in executive management, finance, legal, tax and human resources, facilities costs and fees for professional services.

Product development expense

Product development expense consists primarily of compensation (including stock-based compensation) and other employee-related costs that are not capitalized for personnel engaged in the design, development, testing and enhancement of product offerings and related technology.

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Results of operations

The following table sets forth our combined statement of operations information for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015:

 
  Years ended December 31,   Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Revenue

  $ 713,449   $ 803,089   $ 888,268   $ 649,272   $ 752,857  

Operating costs and expenses:

                               

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation)                            

    72,794     85,945     120,024     82,079     131,118  

Selling and marketing expense

    304,597     321,870     335,107     271,236     289,844  

General and administrative expense

    76,711     93,641     117,890     74,351     121,303  

Product development expense

    38,921     42,973     49,738     36,614     50,740  

Depreciation

    16,341     20,202     25,547     17,122     19,804  

Amortization of intangibles

    17,455     17,125     11,395     6,841     14,130  

Total operating costs and expenses

    526,819     581,756     659,701     488,243     626,939  

Operating income

    186,630     221,333     228,567     161,029     125,918  

Interest expense—related party

    (29,489 )   (34,307 )   (25,541 )   (23,214 )   (6,879 )

Other (expense) income, net

    (7,428 )   217     12,610     8,628     8,341  

Earnings before income taxes

    149,713     187,243     215,636     146,443     127,380  

Income tax provision

    (59,432 )   (60,616 )   (67,277 )   (46,434 )   (42,632 )

Net earnings

    90,281     126,627     148,359     100,009     84,748  

Net (earnings) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (4,606 )   (1,624 )   (595 )   (522 )   42  

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 85,675   $ 125,003   $ 147,764   $ 99,487   $ 84,790  

The following table sets forth our combined statement of operations information as a percentage of total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015:

 
  Years ended December 31,   Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
  2014
  2015
 

Revenue

    100.0%     100.0%     100.0%     100.0%     100.0%  

Operating costs and expenses:

                               

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation)

    10.2%     10.7%     13.5%     12.6%     17.4%  

Selling and marketing expense                

    42.7%     40.1%     37.7%     41.8%     38.5%  

General and administrative expense                           

    10.8%     11.7%     13.3%     11.5%     16.1%  

Product development expense                

    5.5%     5.4%     5.6%     5.6%     6.7%  

Depreciation

    2.3%     2.5%     2.9%     2.6%     2.6%  

Amortization of intangibles

    2.4%     2.1%     1.3%     1.1%     1.9%  

Total operating costs and expenses

    73.8%     72.4%     74.3%     75.2%     83.3%  

Operating income

    26.2%     27.6%     25.7%     24.8%     16.7%  

Interest expense—related party

    (4.1)%     (4.3)%     (2.9)%     (3.6)%     (0.9)%  

Other (expense) income, net

    (1.0)%     0.0%     1.4%     1.3%     1.1%  

Earnings before income taxes

    21.0%     23.3%     24.3%     22.6%     16.9%  

Income tax provision

    (8.3)%     (7.5)%     (7.6)%     (7.2)%     (5.7)%  

Net earnings

    12.7%     15.8%     16.7%     15.4%     11.3%  

Net (earnings) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (0.6)%     (0.2)%     (0.1)%     (0.1)%     0.0%  

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

    12.0%     15.6%     16.6%     15.3%     11.3%  

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Results of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015

Revenue

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
 
  (dollars in thousands except ARPPU)
 

Direct Revenue:

                   

North America

  $ 391,546   $ 434,080     10.9%  

International

    205,358     205,739     0.2%  

Total Direct Revenue

    596,904     639,819     7.2%  

Indirect Revenue

    27,102     28,409     4.8%  

Total Dating Revenue

    624,006     668,228     7.1%  

Non-dating Revenue

    25,266     84,629     235.0%  

Total Revenue

  $ 649,272   $ 752,857     16.0%  

Percentage of Total Revenue:

                   

Direct Revenue:

                   

North America

    60.3%     57.7%        

International

    31.6%     27.3%        

Total Direct Revenue

    91.9%     85.0%        

Indirect Revenue

    4.2%     3.8%        

Total Dating Revenue

    96.1%     88.8%        

Non-dating Revenue

    3.9%     11.2%        

Total Revenue

    100.0%     100.0%        

Average PMC:

                   

North America

    2,395     2,643     10.3%  

International

    1,087     1,347     23.8%  

Total

    3,482     3,990     14.6%  

ARPPU:

                   

North America

  $ 0.60   $ 0.60     0.5%  

International

  $ 0.69   $ 0.56     (19.1)%  

Total

  $ 0.63   $ 0.59     (6.4)%  

Revenue increased $103.6 million, or 16.0%, in 2015 versus 2014, or 21.8% excluding the effects of foreign exchange.

North America Direct Revenue grew by $42.5 million, or 10.9%, in 2015 versus 2014, driven by 10.3% growth in Average PMC and a 0.5% increase in ARPPU. Average PMC growth was driven by an increase in the percentage of new users becoming paid members, growth in new users, and higher beginning PMC. ARPPU increased due to increases in mix-adjusted rates, offset by mix shifts to lower rate brands.

International Direct Revenue increased by $0.4 million, or 0.2%, in 2015 versus 2014, driven by 23.8% growth in Average PMC, offset by a 19.1% decline in ARPPU. Average PMC growth was driven by an increase in the percentage of new users becoming paid members, growth in new users, and higher beginning PMC. ARPPU decreased primarily due to the effects of foreign exchange. Adjusting for foreign exchange effects, International Direct Revenue grew 18.5%, and International ARPPU declined 4.4% due to a mix shift to lower rate brands, partially offset by mix-adjusted rate increases.

The Non-dating revenue increase of $59.4 million, or 235.0%, was driven by the acquisition of The Princeton Review.

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Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation)

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

Cost of revenue

  $ 82,079   $ 131,118     59.7%  

Percentage of revenue

    12.6%     17.4%        

Cost of revenue increased $49.0 million, or 59.7%, in 2015 versus 2014.

Dating cost of revenue increased $28.5 million, or 41.9%, meaningfully more than growth in revenue, driven primarily by a significant increase in in-app purchase fees given that our native mobile apps were largely introduced in the second quarter of 2014, as well as higher hosting fees driven by growth in users and product features.

Non-dating cost of revenue increased $20.5 million, or 147.4%, driven by the acquisition of The Princeton Review, for which cost of revenue represents a meaningfully larger percentage of revenue than in Dating.

Selling and marketing expense

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

Selling and marketing expense

  $ 271,236   $ 289,844     6.9%  

Percentage of revenue

    41.8%     38.5%        

Selling and marketing expense increased $18.6 million, or 6.9%, in 2015 versus 2014.

Dating selling and marketing expense increased $11.9 million, or 4.5%, largely in line with Dating revenue, driven by a decline in advertising as a percent of revenue, generally offset by an increase in stock-based compensation expense.

Non-dating selling and marketing expense increased $6.7 million, or 110.8%, primarily driven by the acquisition of The Princeton Review, for which selling and marketing represents a smaller percentage of revenue than in Dating.

General and administrative expense

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

General and administrative expense

  $ 74,351   $ 121,303     63.1%  

Percentage of revenue

    11.5%     16.1%        

General and administrative expense increased $47.0 million, or 63.1%, in 2015 versus 2014.

Dating general and administrative expense increased $20.4 million, or 34.0%, driven primarily by an increase of $5.9 million in severance expense and costs in the current year related to our ongoing consolidation and streamlining of technology systems and European operations, as well as an increase in

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stock-based compensation expense due to the modification of certain equity awards and new grants. Additionally, 2014 was impacted by a $3.9 million benefit related to the expiration of the statute of limitations for a non-income tax matter.

Non-dating general and administrative expense increased $26.5 million, or 185.0%, driven by the acquisition of The Princeton Review.

Product development expense

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

Product development expense

  $ 36,614   $ 50,740     38.6%  

Percentage of revenue

    5.6%     6.7%        

Product development expense increased $14.1 million, or 38.6%, in 2015 versus 2014, driven primarily by $4.0 million in severance expense and costs in the current year related to our ongoing consolidation and streamlining of technology systems and European operations at Dating, increased salaries and wages at existing businesses at Dating, and $3.2 million related to acquisitions.

Depreciation

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

Depreciation

  $ 17,122   $ 19,804     15.7%  

Percentage of revenue

    2.6%     2.6%        

Depreciation increased $2.7 million, or 15.7%, in 2015 versus 2014, driven by the acquisition of The Princeton Review, partially offset by a decline in depreciation of Dating.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure and is defined in "—Principles of financial reporting." Refer to Note 5 to our combined interim financial statements for reconciliations of Adjusted EBITDA to operating income and net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder.

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

Adjusted EBITDA

  $ 188,021   $ 179,355     (4.6)%  

Percentage of revenue

    29.0%     23.8%        

Adjusted EBITDA decreased $8.7 million, or 4.6%, in 2015 versus 2014.

Dating Adjusted EBITDA decreased $13.5 million, or 6.8%, despite higher revenue, primarily due to $14.8 million of costs in the current year across our expense categories related to our ongoing consolidation and streamlining of technology systems and European operations, an increase in cost of revenue and a $3.9 million benefit in the prior year related to the expiration of the statute of limitations for a non-income tax matter.

Non-dating Adjusted EBITDA loss declined $4.8 million, or 45.8%, primarily due to reduced losses from The Princeton Review.

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Operating income

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

Operating income

  $ 161,029   $ 125,918     (21.8)%  

Percentage of revenue

    24.8%     16.7%        

Operating income decreased $35.1 million, or 21.8%, in 2015 versus 2014.

Dating operating income decreased $32.6 million, or 18.6%, primarily due to the decrease of $13.5 million in Adjusted EBITDA described above and increases of $14.6 million in stock-based compensation expense. The increase in stock-based compensation expense is due to the modification of certain equity awards, new grants and a reassessment of certain performance-based RSUs.

Non-dating operating loss increased $2.5 million, or 17.3%, despite the reduced Adjusted EBITDA losses described above as a result of increases of $4.8 million in depreciation expense and $2.8 million in amortization expense, which are primarily due to the acquisition of The Princeton Review.

At September 30, 2015, there was $93.2 million of unrecognized compensation cost, net of estimated forfeitures, related to all equity-based awards, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of approximately 2.7 years.

Interest expense—related party

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

Interest expense—related party

  $ (23,214)   $ (6,879)     (70.4)%  

Percentage of revenue

    (3.6)%     (0.9)%        

Interest expense—related party includes interest charged by IAC and its subsidiaries on the outstanding long-term debt—related party notes, as well as on other acquisition related loans, a portion of which were capitalized on June 30, 2014.

Other income, net

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

Other income, net

  $ 8,628   $ 8,341     (3.3)%  

Percentage of revenue

    1.3%     1.1%        

Other income, net in 2014 and 2015 consists primarily of foreign currency exchange gains related to our €53 million 5.00% Note payable to an IAC subsidiary. The note was issued on April 8, 2014 and matures on December 15, 2021.

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Income tax provision

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
   
 
  2014
  2015
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Income tax provision

  $ (46,434 ) $ (42,632 ) (8.2)%

Effective income tax rate

    31.7%     33.5%    

The effective income tax rates for 2014 and 2015 are lower than the statutory rate of 35% due primarily to the non-taxable gain on contingent consideration fair value adjustments, partially offset by state taxes.

We are routinely under audit by federal, state, local and foreign authorities in the area of income tax as a result of previously filed separate company and consolidated tax returns with IAC. These audits include questioning the timing and the amount of income and deductions and the allocation of income and deductions among various tax jurisdictions. The Internal Revenue Service is currently auditing IAC's federal income tax returns for the years ended December 31, 2010 through 2012, which includes our operations. Various other jurisdictions are open to examination for various tax years beginning with 2009. Income taxes payable include reserves considered sufficient to pay assessments that may result from examination of prior year tax returns. Changes to reserves from period to period and differences between amounts paid, if any, upon the resolution of audits and amounts previously provided may be material. Differences between the reserves for income tax contingencies and the amounts owed by us are recorded in the period they become known.

At December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015, unrecognized tax benefits, including interest, are $12.1 million and $10.5 million, respectively. If unrecognized tax benefits at September 30, 2015 are subsequently recognized, $10.1 million, net of related deferred tax assets and interest, would reduce income tax provision. We believe that it is reasonably possible that our unrecognized tax benefits could decrease by approximately $1.4 million within twelve months of September 30, 2015.

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Results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014

Revenue

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2013
  2014
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands, except ARPPU)

Direct Revenue:

               

North America

  $ 493,729   $ 525,928   6.5%

International

    260,340     273,599   5.1%

Total Direct Revenue

    754,069     799,527   6.0%

Indirect Revenue

    34,128     36,931   8.2%

Total Dating Revenue

    788,197     836,458   6.1%

Non-dating Revenue

    14,892     51,810   247.9%

Total Revenue

  $ 803,089   $ 888,268   10.6%

Percentage of Total Revenue:

               

Direct Revenue:

               

North America

    61.5%     59.2%    

International

    32.4%     30.8%    

Total Direct Revenue

    93.9%     90.0%    

Indirect Revenue

    4.2%     4.2%    

Total Dating Revenue

    98.1%     94.2%    

Non-dating Revenue

    1.9%     5.8%    

Total Revenue

    100.0%     100.0%    

Average PMC:

               

North America

    2,169     2,404   10.8%

International

    1,020     1,097   7.5%

Total

    3,189     3,501   9.8%

ARPPU:

               

North America

  $ 0.62   $ 0.60   (3.9%)

International

  $ 0.70   $ 0.68   (2.3%)

Total

  $ 0.65   $ 0.63   (3.4%)

Revenue increased $85.2 million, or 10.6%, in 2014 versus 2013.

North America Direct Revenue grew by $32.2 million, or 6.5%, in 2014 versus 2013, driven by 10.8% growth in Average PMC, partially offset by a 3.9% decline in ARPPU. Average PMC growth was driven by a strong increase in beginning PMC and strong new user growth, partially offset by mix shift to brands where a lower percentage of new users become paid members. ARPPU decreased due to mix shifts to lower rate brands as well as a decline in mix-adjusted rates.

International Direct Revenue grew by $13.3 million, or 5.1%, in 2014 versus 2013, driven by 7.5% growth in Average PMC, partially offset by a 2.3% decline in ARPPU. Average PMC growth was driven by a strong

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increase in beginning PMC, the acquisition of FriendScout24 and growth in new users, partially offset by mix shift to brands where a lower percentage of new users become paid members. ARPPU decreased due to mix shift to lower rate brands, partially offset by mix-adjusted rate increases.

Non-dating revenue grew $36.9 million, or 247.9%, as a result of our acquisition of The Princeton Review in August 2014.

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation)

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2013
  2014
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Cost of revenue

  $ 85,945   $ 120,024   39.7%

Percentage of revenue

    10.7%     13.5%    

Cost of revenue increased $34.1 million, or 39.7%, in 2014 versus 2013.

Dating cost of revenue increased $16.0 million, or 20.4%, meaningfully more than the growth in revenue driven primarily by a significant increase in in-app purchases given that our native mobile apps were largely introduced in the second quarter of 2014, as well as higher hosting fees driven by growth in users and product features.

Non-dating cost of revenue increased $18.0 million, or 250.6%, driven by the acquisition of The Princeton Review, for which cost of revenue represents a meaningfully larger percentage of revenue than in Dating.

Selling and marketing expense

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2013
  2014
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Selling and marketing expense

  $ 321,870   $ 335,107   4.1%

Percentage of revenue

    40.1%     37.7%    

Selling and marketing expense increased $13.2 million, or 4.1%, in 2014 versus 2013.

Dating selling and marketing expense increased $8.3 million, or 2.6%, driven by an increase of $5.4 million from the acquisition of FriendScout24 and an increase in advertising spend.

Non-dating selling and marketing expense increased $5.0 million, or 91.7%, driven primarily by $4.5 million from the acquisition of The Princeton Review.

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General and administrative expense

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2013
  2014
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

General and administrative expense

  $ 93,641   $ 117,890   25.9%

Percentage of revenue

    11.7%     13.3%    

General and administrative expense increased $24.2 million, or 25.9%, in 2014 versus 2013.

Dating general and administrative expense increased $1.7 million, or 2.0%, primarily driven by an increase in compensation of $10.7 million at our existing businesses, primarily due to an increase of $8.5 million in stock-based compensation expense due to new grants and increases in headcount. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $13.3 million for an acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustment at Twoo driven by changes in the forecast of earnings and operating metrics, and a $3.9 million benefit recorded in the first quarter of 2014 related to the expiration of the statute of limitations for a non-income tax matter.

Non-dating general and administrative expense increased $22.5 million, or 327.2%, driven primarily by $21.2 million from the acquisition of The Princeton Review.

Product development expense

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2013
  2014
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Product development expense

  $ 42,973   $ 49,738   15.7%

Percentage of revenue

    5.4%     5.6%    

Product development expense increased $6.8 million, or 15.7%, in 2014 versus 2013, primarily driven by an increase in compensation driven by increased headcount at Tinder and Tutor.com (now The Princeton Review).

Depreciation

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2013
  2014
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Depreciation

  $ 20,202   $ 25,547   26.5%

Percentage of revenue

    2.5%     2.9%    

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Depreciation increased by $5.3 million, or 26.5%, in 2014 versus 2013, primarily driven by $3.8 million from the acquisition of The Princeton Review and the incremental depreciation associated with capital expenditures.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA is non-GAAP measure and is defined in "Principles of financial reporting." Refer to Note 9 to our combined audited financial statements for reconciliations of Adjusted EBITDA to operating income and net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder.

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2013
  2014
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Adjusted EBITDA

  $ 271,231   $ 273,448   0.8%

Percentage of revenue

    33.8%     30.8%    

Adjusted EBITDA increased $2.2 million, or 0.8%, in 2014 versus 2013.

Dating Adjusted EBITDA increased $11.8 million or 4.3%, due primarily to the increase in revenue of 6.1%, partially offset by the increase in cost of revenue, which grew at a meaningfully faster rate than revenue due to the factors described above.

Non-dating Adjusted EBITDA loss increased $9.6 million, or 154.2%, due primarily to losses from the acquisition of The Princeton Review.

Operating income

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2013
  2014
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Operating income

  $ 221,333   $ 228,567   3.3%

Percentage of revenue

    27.6%     25.7%    

Operating income increased $7.2 million, or 3.3%, in 2014 versus 2013.

Dating operating income increased $23.5 million, or 10.2%, primarily due to the increase of $11.8 million in Adjusted EBITDA described above and decreases of $13.3 million in acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustments and $7.7 million in amortization of intangibles, partially offset by an increase of $7.8 million in stock-based compensation expense. The change in acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustments was related to changes in Twoo's forecast of earnings and operating metrics. The decrease in amortization of intangibles was primarily related to lower amortization expense due to certain intangible assets becoming fully amortized. The increase in stock-based compensation expense was primarily due to new grants.

Non-dating operating loss increased $16.2 million, or 181.4%, primarily due to the increase in Adjusted EBITDA loss of $9.6 million described above as well as increases of $3.8 million in depreciation expense and $2.0 million in amortization of intangibles due primarily to the acquisition of The Princeton Review.

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Interest expense—related party

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2013
  2014
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Interest expense—related party

  $ (34,307 ) $ (25,541 ) (25.6%)

Percentage of revenue

    (4.3% )   (2.9% )  

Interest expense—related party includes interest charged by IAC and its subsidiaries on the outstanding long-term debt—related party notes, as well as on other acquisition related loans, a portion of which were capitalized on June 30, 2014.

Other income, net

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  % change
 
  2013
  2014
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Other income, net

  $ 217   $ 12,610   NM

Percentage of revenue

    0.0%     1.4%    

Other income, net in 2014 includes $8.3 million in foreign currency exchange gains related to our €53 million 5.00% Note payable to an IAC subsidiary. The note was issued on April 8, 2014 and is due on December 15, 2021.

Income tax provision

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2013
  2014
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Income tax provision

  $ (60,616 ) $ (67,277 ) 11.0%

Effective income tax rate

    32.4%     31.2%    

In 2013, the effective income tax rate was lower than the statutory rate of 35% due primarily to the settlements of uncertain tax positions. In 2014, the effective income tax rate was lower than the statutory rate of 35% due primarily to non-taxable contingent consideration fair value adjustments and non-taxable foreign currency exchange gains.

At December 31, 2013 and 2014, we had unrecognized tax benefits, including interest, of $12.4 million and $12.1 million, respectively. Included in unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2013 and 2014, is approximately $0.5 million and $0.7 million, respectively, for tax positions included in IAC's consolidated tax return filings. Unrecognized tax benefits, including interest, for the year ended December 31, 2014 decreased by $0.3 million due principally to foreign statute expirations. If unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2014 are subsequently recognized, $11.8 million, net of related deferred tax assets and interest, would reduce income tax expense. The comparable amount as of December 31, 2013 is $12.0 million. We believe that it is reasonably possible that its unrecognized tax benefits could decrease by approximately $1.2 million by December 31, 2015, primarily due to expirations of statutes of limitations.

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Results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2013

Revenue

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
   
   
   
(dollars in thousands, except ARPPU)

Direct Revenue:

               

North America

  $ 454,996   $ 493,729   8.5%

International

    233,531     260,340   11.5%

Total Direct Revenue

    688,527     754,069   9.5%

Indirect Revenue

    24,922     34,128   36.9%

Total Dating Revenue

    713,449     788,197   10.5%

Non-dating Revenue

        14,892   NA

Total Revenue

  $ 713,449   $ 803,089   12.6%

Percentage of Total Revenue:

               

Direct Revenue:

               

North America

    63.8%     61.5%    

International

    32.7%     32.4%    

Total Direct Revenue

    96.5%     93.9%    

Indirect Revenue

    3.5%     4.2%    

Total Dating Revenue

    100.0%     98.1%    

Non-dating Revenue

    —%     1.9%    

Total Revenue

    100.0%     100.0%    

Average PMC:

               

North America

    1,920     2,169   13.0%

International

    876     1,020   16.6%

Total

    2,796     3,189   14.1%

ARPPU:

               

North America

  $ 0.65   $ 0.62   (3.7)%

International

  $ 0.73   $ 0.70   (4.1)%

Total

  $ 0.67   $ 0.65   (3.7)%

Revenue increased $89.6 million, or 12.6%, in 2013 versus 2012.

North America Direct Revenue increased by $38.7 million, or 8.5%, in 2013 versus 2012, driven by 13.0% growth in Average PMC, partially offset by a 3.7% decline in ARPPU. Average PMC growth was driven by growth in new users, as well as an increase in beginning PMC, partially offset by mix shift to brands where a lower percentage of users become paid members. ARPPU decreased due to mix shifts to lower rate brands as well as a decline in mix-adjusted rates.

International Direct Revenue grew by $26.8 million, or 11.5%, in 2013 versus 2012, driven by 16.6% growth in Average PMC, partially offset by a 4.1% decline in ARPPU. Average PMC growth was driven by the acquisition of Twoo as well as new user growth, partially offset by mix shift to brands where a lower

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percentage of users become paid members. ARPPU decreased due to mix shifts to lower rate brands as well as a decline in mix-adjusted rates.

Non-dating revenue was $14.9 million in 2013 due to the contribution of Tutor.com (now The Princeton Review), which was acquired December 14, 2012.

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation)

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Cost of revenue

  $ 72,794   $ 85,945   18.1%

Percentage of revenue

    10.2%     10.7%    

Cost of revenue increased $13.2 million, or 18.1%, in 2013 versus 2012, driven primarily by an increase of $6.1 million in content acquisition costs from Tutor.com (now The Princeton Review), which was not included in the full prior year period and $5.1 million from acquisitions at Dating.

Selling and marketing expense

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Selling and marketing expense

  $ 304,597   $ 321,870   5.7%

Percentage of revenue

    42.7%     40.1%    

Selling and marketing expense increased $17.3 million, or 5.7%, in 2013 versus 2012, driven primarily by an increase of $10.5 million in advertising spend and an increase in compensation. The increase in compensation was primarily due to increased headcount at Meetic and acquisitions.

General and administrative expense

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

General and administrative expense

  $ 76,711   $ 93,641   22.1%

Percentage of revenue

    10.8%     11.7%    

General and administrative expense increased $16.9 million, or 22.1%, in 2013 versus 2012, driven primarily by $10.9 million from acquisitions, an increase in compensation at Dating, resulting from an increase in headcount, and an increase in professional fees due, in part, to transaction fees related to the tender offer by the Company in the fourth quarter of 2013 for the remaining 12.5% of Meetic that it did not already own.

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Product development expense

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Product development expense

  $ 38,921   $ 42,973   10.4%

Percentage of revenue

    5.5%     5.4%    

Product development expense increased $4.1 million, or 10.4%, in 2013 versus 2012, driven primarily by acquisitions.

Depreciation

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Depreciation

  $ 16,341   $ 20,202   23.6%

Percentage of revenue

    2.3%     2.5%    

Depreciation increased by $3.9 million, or 23.6%, in 2013 versus 2012, driven primarily by capital expenditures and acquisitions, partially offset by certain fixed assets becoming fully depreciated.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure and is defined in "Principles of financial reporting." Refer to Note 9 to the combined audited financial statements for reconciliations of Adjusted EBITDA to operating income and net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder.

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Adjusted EBITDA

  $ 236,490   $ 271,231   14.7%

Percentage of revenue

    33.1%     33.8%    

Adjusted EBITDA increased $34.7 million, or 14.7%, in 2013 versus 2012, primarily due to the revenue growth noted above.

Operating income

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Operating income

  $ 186,630   $ 221,333   18.6%

Percentage of revenue

    26.2%     27.6%    

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Operating income increased $34.7 million, or 18.6%, in 2013 versus 2012, primarily due to the increase of $34.7 million in Adjusted EBITDA described above and a decrease of $3.8 million in stock-based compensation expense, partially offset by a $3.9 million increase in depreciation. The decrease in stock-based compensation expense is primarily a result of the vesting of certain awards and an increase in the number of awards forfeited as compared to the prior year.

Interest expense—related party

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Interest expense—related party

  $ (29,489 ) $ (34,307 ) 16.3%

Percentage of revenue

    (4.1 )%   (4.3 )%  

Interest expense—related party includes interest charged by IAC and its subsidiaries on the outstanding long-term debt—related party notes, as well as on other acquisition related loans.

Other (expense) income, net

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Other (expense) income, net

  $ (7,428 ) $ 217   NM

Percentage of revenue

    (1.0 )%   0.0%    

Other expense, net in 2012 includes an $8.7 million other-than-temporary impairment charge related to a long-term marketable equity security as a result of our assessment of the investment's near-term prospects in relation to the severity and duration of its unrealized loss.

Income tax provision

 
  Years ended
December 31,
   
 
  2012
  2013
  % change
 
  (dollars in thousands)

Income tax provision

  $ (59,432 ) $ (60,616 ) 2.0%

Effective income tax rate

    39.7%     32.4%    

In 2012, the effective income tax rate was higher than the statutory rate of 35% due primarily to a valuation allowance on the deferred tax asset created by the other-than-temporary impairment charge related to a long-term marketable equity security. In 2013, the effective income tax rate was lower than the statutory rate of 35% due primarily to the settlements of uncertain tax positions.

Quarterly results of operations

The following table sets forth selected unaudited quarterly statement of operations information for each of the eleven quarters ended September 30, 2015. The information for each of these quarters has been

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prepared on the same basis as the audited annual financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus and, in the opinion of management, includes all adjustments, which includes only normal recurring adjustments, necessary for the fair presentation of the results of operations for these periods presented in accordance with GAAP. This information should be read in conjunction with our combined financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. These quarterly operating results are not necessarily indicative of our operating results for a full year or any future period.

 
  Three months ended  
 
  Mar 31,
2013

  Jun 30,
2013

  Sep 30,
2013

  Dec 31,
2013

  Mar 31,
2014

  Jun 30,
2014

  Sep 30,
2014

  Dec 31,
2014

  Mar 31,
2015

  Jun 30,
2015

  Sep 30,
2015

 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Revenue

  $ 192,555   $ 197,468   $ 204,521   $ 208,545   $ 209,785   $ 211,906   $ 227,581   $ 238,996   $ 235,069   $ 248,817   $ 268,971  

Operating costs and expenses:

                                                                   

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation shown separately below)

    20,164     20,827     21,700     23,254     24,145     24,487     33,447     37,945     38,953     44,529     47,636  

Selling and marketing expense

    92,460     77,729     82,997     68,684     101,577     83,014     86,645     63,871     111,965     88,181     89,698  

General and administrative expense

    26,592     24,980     22,046     20,023     23,273     28,054     23,024     43,539     29,738     45,584     45,981  

Product development expense

    10,529     10,038     10,682     11,724     12,479     11,633     12,502     13,124     16,451     17,478     16,811  

Depreciation

    4,706     4,838     5,043     5,615     5,778     5,570     5,774     8,425     7,045     6,622     6,137  

Amortization of intangibles

    4,540     5,105     3,153     4,327     1,837     1,683     3,321     4,554     3,877     5,901     4,352  

Total operating costs and expenses

    158,991     143,517     145,621     133,627     169,089     154,441     164,713     171,458     208,029     208,295     210,615  

Operating income

  $ 33,564   $ 53,951   $ 58,900   $ 74,918   $ 40,696   $ 57,465   $ 62,868   $ 67,538   $ 27,040   $ 40,522   $ 58,356  

The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to operating income for each of the eleven quarters ended September 30, 2015.

 
  Three months ended  
 
  Mar 31,
2013

  Jun 30,
2013

  Sep 30,
2013

  Dec 31,
2013

  Mar 31,
2014

  Jun 30,
2014

  Sep 30,
2014

  Dec 31,
2014

  Mar 31,
2015

  Jun 30,
2015

  Sep 30,
2015

 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Operating income

  $ 33,564   $ 53,951   $ 58,900   $ 74,918   $ 40,696   $ 57,465   $ 62,868   $ 67,538   $ 27,040   $ 40,522   $ 58,356  

Stock-based compensation expense

    4,152     418     3,283     4,375     4,997     5,809     5,804     4,241     6,299     11,626     13,057  

Depreciation

    4,706     4,838     5,043     5,615     5,778     5,570     5,774     8,425     7,045     6,622     6,137  

Amortization of intangibles

    4,540     5,105     3,153     4,327     1,837     1,683     3,321     4,554     3,877     5,901     4,352  

Acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustments

    1,458     4,249     632     (5,996 )   (27 )   728     (14,282 )   669     (11,011 )   (1,223 )   755  

Adjusted EBITDA

  $ 48,420   $ 68,561   $ 71,011   $ 83,239   $ 53,281   $ 71,255   $ 63,485   $ 85,427   $ 33,250   $ 63,448   $ 82,657  

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The following table sets forth our key Dating metrics for each of the eleven quarters ended September 30, 2015.

 
  Three months ended  
 
  Mar 31,
2013

  Jun 30,
2013

  Sep 30,
2013

  Dec 31,
2013

  Mar 31,
2014

  Jun 30,
2014

  Sep 30,
2014

  Dec 31,
2014

  Mar 31,
2015

  Jun 30,
2015

  Sep 30,
2015

 
 
  (in thousands, except ARPPU)
 

Direct Revenue:

                                                                   

North America

  $ 118,872   $ 122,778   $ 127,097   $ 124,982   $ 127,011   $ 130,210   $ 134,325   $ 134,382   $ 138,522   $ 146,830   $ 148,728  

International

    62,367     63,318     65,754     68,901     69,341     68,276     67,741     68,241     63,364     66,602     75,773  

Total Direct Revenue

    181,239     186,096     192,851     193,883     196,352     198,486     202,066     202,623     201,886     213,432     224,501  

Indirect Revenue

    7,622     8,225     8,218     10,063     8,680     9,081     9,341     9,829     8,261     9,518     10,630  

Total Dating Revenue

  $ 188,861   $ 194,321   $ 201,069   $ 203,946   $ 205,032   $ 207,567   $ 211,407   $ 212,452   $ 210,147   $ 222,950   $ 235,131  

Average PMC:

                                                                   

North America

    2,062     2,152     2,208     2,254     2,356     2,373     2,457     2,429     2,553     2,699     2,676  

International

    967     992     1,043     1,078     1,086     1,074     1,101     1,127     1,179     1,366     1,491  

Total

    3,029     3,144     3,251     3,332     3,442     3,447     3,558     3,556     3,732     4,065     4,167  

ARPPU:

                                                                   

North America

  $ 0.64   $ 0.63   $ 0.63   $ 0.60   $ 0.60   $ 0.60   $ 0.59   $ 0.60   $ 0.60   $ 0.60   $ 0.60  

International

  $ 0.72   $ 0.70   $ 0.69   $ 0.69   $ 0.71   $ 0.70   $ 0.67   $ 0.66   $ 0.60   $ 0.54   $ 0.55  

Total

  $ 0.66   $ 0.65   $ 0.64   $ 0.63   $ 0.63   $ 0.63   $ 0.62   $ 0.62   $ 0.60   $ 0.58   $ 0.59  

Quarterly trends

Quarterly Direct Revenue has generally increased sequentially, driven by growth in Average PMC in most periods, partially offset by sequential decreases in ARPPU in a number of periods. ARPPU decreases in sequential quarters are driven largely by mix shifts to lower monetizing brands. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, June 30, 2015 and September 30, 2015, foreign exchange movements meaningfully affected International Direct Revenue and total Direct Revenue growth. But for the significant effects of foreign exchange, International Direct Revenue and total Direct Dating Revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2015 would have also sequentially increased.

Our advertising spend is typically higher during the first quarter of a fiscal year, and lower during the fourth quarter. This mix is driven by the seasonally low cost of advertising during the first quarter, coupled with the seasonally high demand for our products at such time, and the seasonally high cost of advertising in the fourth quarter coupled with the seasonally low demand for our products at such time.

Adjusted EBITDA is generally increasing sequentially and on a year on year basis, but is impacted by the aforementioned selling and marketing trends, which drive lower or sometimes negative, year on year Adjusted EBTIDA growth in the first quarter of the fiscal year. Increased investment in Non-dating driven by the acquisition of The Princeton Review also negatively impacted Adjusted EBITDA beginning with the three months ended September 30, 2014 through the second quarter of 2015. Non-dating reported positive Adjusted EBITDA for the first time in the third quarter of 2015, which is its seasonally strongest quarter.

Liquidity and capital resources

The following table summarizes our total cash and cash equivalents as at December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and September 30, 2014 and 2015 as well as our operating, investing and financing activities for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015.

 
  Years ended December 31,   Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Cash and cash equivalents (end of period)

  $ 107,164   $ 125,226   $ 127,630   $ 134,797   $ 282,543  

Net cash provided by (used in):

                               

Operating activities

  $ 164,371   $ 174,797   $ 173,615   $ 129,224   $ 126,241  

Investing activities

    (79,355 )   (53,986 )   (140,200 )   (132,810 )   (69,030 )

Financing activities

    (47,968 )   (105,262 )   (20,058 )   18,270     101,163  

Effect of exchange rate on cash and cash equivalents

    1,814     2,513     (10,953 )   (5,113 )   (3,461 )

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

  $ 38,862   $ 18,062   $ 2,404   $ 9,571   $ 154,913  

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At September 30, 2015, we had $282.5 million of cash and cash equivalents. Internationally, cash equivalents primarily consist of AAA rated money market funds. Domestically, we participate in IAC's centrally managed U.S. treasury management function in which IAC sweeps our domestic cash. Long-term debt-related party consists of $79.0 million in notes payable in three installments of $26.3 million each due on September 1, 2021, 2023 and 2026, a €53 million ($59.4 million at September 30, 2015) note due December 15, 2021 and a $47.0 million note due December 15, 2021, all of which will be repaid in connection with this offering.

We and certain of our domestic subsidiaries were, until November 16, 2015, also guarantors of IAC's 2013 Senior Notes ($500 million aggregate principal amount of 4.875% Senior Notes due November 30, 2018) and 2012 Senior Notes ($500 million aggregate principal amount of 4.75% Senior Notes due December 15, 2022). IAC's $300 million revolving credit facility as amended and restated, which terminates on October 7, 2020, was also unconditionally guaranteed by us and the same domestic subsidiaries that guaranteed the 2013 and 2012 Senior Notes. At September 30, 2015, there are no outstanding borrowings under IAC's revolving credit facility. See "Certain relationships and related party transactions—Pre-offering relationship with IAC." We have not recorded a liability pursuant to this guarantor obligation because we did not agree to pay a specific amount through an arrangement with our co-obligors and we did not expect to pay any amount as a result of our guarantee of IAC's Senior Notes and IAC's revolving credit facility. On November 16, 2015, we became an unrestricted subsidiary of IAC for purposes of its debt facilities, and we ceased to guarantee any debt of IAC.

At September 30, 2015, $280.4 million of the $282.5 million of cash and cash equivalents was held by our foreign subsidiaries. We currently do not anticipate a need to repatriate these funds to finance our U.S. operations and it is our intent to indefinitely reinvest these funds outside of the U.S., and therefore, we have not provided for any U.S. income taxes.

On October 7, 2015, we entered into the Credit Agreement, which provides for the Revolving Credit Facility, a five-year $500 million revolving credit facility that includes a $40 million sub-limit for letters of credit. The obligations under the Credit Agreement are secured by the stock of certain of our subsidiaries and guaranteed by certain of our subsidiaries. On November 16, 2015, we entered into a seven-year, $800 million term loan facility under the Credit Agreement. On October 16, 2015, we commenced a private exchange offer to eligible holders to exchange any and all of $500 million aggregate principal amount of outstanding 4.75% Senior Notes due 2022 issued by IAC for up to $500 million aggregate principal amount of new 6.75% Senior Notes due 2022 issued by Match Group, with registration rights. The exchange offer expired on November 13, 2015, and, on November 16, 2015, we issued approximately $445.2 million in aggregate principal amount of the Match Notes. We did not receive any proceeds from the issuance of the Match Notes. See "Description of indebtedness."

Prior to this offering, our principal sources of liquidity have been cash flows generated from operations and the funding we receive from IAC, including loans from certain IAC foreign subsidiaries, as well as our cash and cash equivalents. These sources have been sufficient to enable us to fund our normal operating requirements, including capital expenditures, and our acquisitions. On October 28, 2015, we completed the acquisition of PlentyOfFish for $575 million, which was funded by a combination of cash on hand and a $500.0 million capital contribution from IAC; $155.0 million of which was contributed prior to September 30, 2015. IAC will ultimately receive Match Group shares for the $500.0 million contribution. The number of shares that will be issued will be calculated using the initial public offering price. We currently intend to use all of the net proceeds from this offering to repay related-party indebtedness owed to IAC. After the completion of this offering, IAC will own all of the shares of our outstanding Class B common stock, representing approximately 86.1% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.4% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock (or approximately

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84.4% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.2% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in this offering). As a result, IAC will have the ability to control our financing activities, including the issuance of additional debt and equity securities, or the incurrence of other indebtedness generally. We believe our existing cash and cash equivalents together with our expected positive cash flows generated from operations and available borrowing capacity under the Revolving Credit Facility, will be sufficient to fund our normal operating requirements, including capital expenditures and other commitments, for at least the next twelve months. Our liquidity could be negatively affected by a decrease in demand for our products and services. While we believe we will have the ability to access debt and equity markets if needed, such transactions may require the approval of IAC due to its control of the majority of our voting power. Additional financing may not be available at all or on terms favorable to us.

We expect that 2015 capital expenditures will be approximately 50% higher than those made in 2014, driven by our ongoing consolidation and streamlining of technology systems at our dating business.

Cash flows provided by operating activities

Net cash provided by operating activities consists of earnings adjusted for non-cash items, including stock-based compensation expense, depreciation, amortization of intangibles, excess tax benefits from stock-based awards, deferred income taxes, acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustments, and the effect of changes from working capital activities.

Net cash provided by operating activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2015 consists of net earnings of $84.7 million, adjustments for non-cash items of $2.2 million, and an increase from working capital activities of $39.3 million. Adjustments for non-cash items consist of $31.0 million of stock-based compensation expense, $19.8 million of depreciation and $14.1 million of amortization of intangibles, partially offset by $31.3 million of excess tax benefits from stock-based awards, $11.5 million of acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustments, $11.3 million of other adjustments, which mainly relate to non-cash foreign currency exchange gains on related party debt, and $8.6 million of deferred income taxes. The increase in cash from changes from working capital is due primarily to an increase in income taxes payable of $27.0 million, an increase of $24.0 million in deferred revenue and an increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities of $20.8 million, partially offset by an increase in accounts receivable of $25.1 million and an increase in other current assets of $7.4 million. The increase in income taxes payable is due to current year income tax accruals in excess of current year income tax payments. The increase in deferred revenue is primarily due to growth in membership fees in the Dating business, a seasonal increase in class enrollment in the Non-dating business and acquisitions. The increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities is primarily due to increased online spending, the timing of marketing payments and costs associated with the consolidation and streamlining of technology systems and European operations at the Dating business. The increase in accounts receivable is primarily due to growth from in-app purchases sold through Dating's mobile products. The increase in other current assets is primarily due to an increase in prepaid expenses and VAT refund receivables.

Net cash provided by operating activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2014 consists of net earnings of $100.0 million, adjustments for non-cash items of $18.7 million, and an increase from working capital activities of $10.5 million. Adjustments for non-cash items primarily consist of $17.1 million of depreciation, $16.6 million of stock-based compensation expense, $6.8 million of amortization of intangibles and $2.5 million of deferred income taxes, partially offset by $13.6 million in acquisition related contingent consideration fair value adjustments, $5.4 million of other adjustments, which mainly relate to non-cash foreign currency exchange gains on related party debt, and $5.3 million of excess tax benefits

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from stock-based awards. The increase in cash from changes in working capital is due primarily to an increase of $21.5 million in deferred revenue, partially offset by a decrease in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities of $6.2 million and an increase in accounts receivable of $5.6 million. The increase in deferred revenue is primarily due to growth in membership fees and the acquisition of The Princeton Review. The decrease in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities is primarily from the payment of the 2013 cash bonuses in 2014. The increase in accounts receivable is partly due to growth from in-app purchases sold through Dating's mobile products.

Net cash provided by operating activities in 2014 consists of net earnings of $148.4 million, adjustments for non-cash items of $24.6 million and an increase from working capital activities of $0.6 million. Adjustments for non-cash items primarily consist of $25.5 million of depreciation, $20.9 million of stock-based compensation expense and $11.4 million of amortization of intangibles, partially offset by $12.9 million in acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustments, $9.0 million in other, net, principally related to an $8.3 million foreign currency gain on the €53 million note, $5.9 million of deferred income taxes and $5.3 million of excess tax benefits from stock based awards. The changes from working capital activities primarily consist of an increase in other current assets of $10.6 million and a decrease of $8.0 million in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities, partially offset by an increase in deferred revenue of $8.6 million and an increase in income taxes payable of $8.1 million. The increase in other current assets is due to an increase in prepaid marketing at Dating and an increase in prepaid hosting fees in connection with the growth at Tinder. The decrease in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities is due to the timing of payments. The increase in deferred revenue is primarily due to the acquisition of The Princeton Review and growth in subscription revenue. The increase in income taxes payable is due to current year income tax accruals in excess of current year income tax payments.

Net cash provided by operating activities in 2013 consists of net earnings of $126.6 million, adjustments for non-cash items of $35.7 million and an increase from working capital activities of $12.4 million. Adjustments for non-cash items primarily consist of $20.2 million of depreciation, $17.1 million of amortization of intangibles and $12.2 million of stock-based compensation expense, partially offset by $10.8 million of excess tax benefits from stock-based awards. The changes from working capital activities primarily consist of an increase in deferred revenue of $12.4 million and an increase in income taxes payable of $4.8 million, partially offset by an increase in accounts receivable of $3.7 million. The increase in deferred revenue is primarily due to the growth in membership revenue. The increase in income taxes payable is due to current year income tax accruals in excess of current year income tax payments. The increase in accounts receivable is primarily due to growth in advertising revenue.

Net cash provided by operating activities in 2012 consists of net earnings of $90.3 million, adjustments for non-cash items of $47.6 million and an increase from working capital activities of $26.5 million. Adjustments for non-cash items primarily consist of $17.5 million of amortization of intangibles, $16.3 million of depreciation, $16.1 million of stock-based compensation expense and an $8.7 million asset impairment charge related to a long-term marketable security, partially offset by $8.4 million of excess tax benefits from stock-based awards. The changes from working capital activities primarily consist of an increase in income taxes payable of $15.1 million and an increase in deferred revenue of $8.7 million. The increase in income taxes payable is due to current year income tax accruals in excess of current year income tax payments. The increase in deferred revenue is primarily due to the growth in membership revenue.

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Cash flows used in investing activities

Net cash used in investing activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2015 includes cash consideration used in acquisitions of $40.7 million and capital expenditures of $19.9 million, primarily related to the internal development of software to support our products and services.

Net cash used in investing activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2014 includes cash consideration used in acquisitions and investments of $118.4 million and capital expenditures of $14.6 million, primarily related to the internal development of software to support our products and services.

Net cash used in investing activities in 2014 includes acquisitions of $114.1 million, which include The Princeton Review, and capital expenditures of $21.8 million, primarily related to the internal development of software to support our products and services.

Net cash used in investing activities in 2013 includes acquisitions of $32.1 million, which include Twoo, and capital expenditures of $19.8 million primarily related to the internal development of software to support our products and services.

Net cash used in investing activities in 2012 includes acquisitions of $59.5 million, primarily related to Tutor.com and Date Hookup, and capital expenditures of $19.9 million primarily related to the internal development of software to support our products and services.

Cash flows used in financing activities

Net cash provided by financing activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2015 includes net cash transfers of $75.9 million from IAC and $31.3 million in excess tax benefits from stock-based awards, partially offset by $5.5 million in contingent consideration payments. The net cash transfers include a $155.0 million capital contribution to partially fund the PlentyOfFish acquisition, partially offset by cash transfers to IAC of $79.1 million that relate to IAC's centrally managed U.S. treasury management function.

Net cash provided by financing activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2014 includes $119.1 million in proceeds from the issuance of related party debt, the return of $12.4 million of funds held in escrow related to the Meetic tender offer and $5.3 million in excess tax benefits from stock-based awards, partially offset by cash transfers of $80.8 million to IAC, $30.3 million for the purchase of noncontrolling interests and $7.4 million in contingent consideration payments related to the 2013 Twoo acquisition.

Net cash used in financing activities in 2014 includes cash transfers of $108.1 million to IAC, $33.2 million for the purchase of noncontrolling interests in Tinder and Meetic and a $7.4 million contingent consideration payment related to the 2013 Twoo acquisition, partially offset by $111.6 million in proceeds from the issuance of related party debt, the return of $12.4 million of funds held in escrow related to the Meetic tender offer and $5.3 million in excess tax benefits from stock based awards.

Net cash used in financing activities in 2013 includes $71.5 million held in escrow related to the Meetic tender offer and $52.6 million for the purchase of noncontrolling interests in Meetic, partially offset by $10.8 million in excess tax benefits from stock-based awards and cash transfers of $9.7 million from IAC.

Net cash used in financing activities in 2012 includes cash transfers of $53.4 million to IAC, partially offset by $8.4 million in excess tax benefits from stock-based awards.

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Contractual obligations and contingencies

Our principal commitments consist of obligations under related party debt and operating leases for equipment and office space. The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of September 30, 2015.

 
  Payments due by period  
 
  Less than
1 year

  1 to 3
years

  3 to 5
years

  More than
5 years

   
 
 
  Total
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Long-term debt—related party(1)(2)

  $ 8,565   $ 17,129   $ 17,129   $ 206,319   $ 249,142  

Operating leases(3)

    12,938     16,684     5,826     6,250     41,698  

Purchase obligations(4)

    2,004     8     8         2,020  

Total contractual obligations(5)

  $ 23,507   $ 33,821   $ 22,963   $ 212,569   $ 292,860  

(1)     Long-term debt—related party consists of $79.0 million in notes payable in three installments of $26.3 million each due on September 1, 2021, 2023 and 2026, a €53 million ($59.4 million at September 30, 2015) note due December 15, 2021 and a $47.0 million note due December 15, 2021, all of which will be repaid in connection with this offering. We and certain of our domestic subsidiaries were, prior to November 16, 2015, also guarantors of IAC's senior notes and IAC's credit facility. On November 16, 2015, we became an unrestricted subsidiary of IAC for purposes of its debt facilities, and we ceased to guarantee any debt of IAC. See "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations–Liquidity and capital resources." The amounts in the table above are inclusive of interest.

(2)    Pro forma long-term debt information is provided below.

(3)    We lease office space, data center facilities and equipment used in connection with our operations under various operating leases, many of which contain escalation clauses. In addition, future minimum lease payments include our allocable share of an IAC data center lease.

(4)    Purchase obligations primarily include advertising commitments, which commitments are reducible or terminable such that these commitments can never exceed associated revenue by a meaningful amount.

(5)    We have excluded $10.1 million in unrecognized tax benefits and related interest from the table above as we are unable to make a reasonably reliable estimate of the period in which these liabilities might be paid. For additional information on income taxes, see Note 3 to our audited combined financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

In addition to what is included in the table above, as of September 30, 2015, we may be required to pay, in connection with our acquisitions, up to an additional $170.3 million of cash consideration based on the combination of earnings performance and user growth at the businesses acquired. A substantial portion of the $170.3 million maximum liability ($81.7 million) relates to the contingent consideration arrangement entered into in connection with one acquisition, which has its final measurement period at the end of 2015. Based on current forecasts and the fact that the relevant measurement period for that acquisition is nearly completed, the Company believes that it will not have to make any further payments with respect to this acquisition. The Company has other contingent consideration arrangements for which it has accrued $28.6 million as of September 30, 2015.

We also had $0.3 million of surety bonds outstanding as of September 30, 2015 that could potentially require performance by the Company in the event of demands by third parties or contingent events.

Pro forma long-term debt

 
  Payments due by period  
 
  Less than
1 year

  1 to 3
years

  3 to 5
years

  More than
5 years

   
 
 
  Total
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Long-term debt(1)(2)

  $ 143,301   $ 222,399   $ 213,574   $ 1,200,579   $ 1,779,853  

(1)     Assumes long-term debt includes $800 million Term Loan Facility, the issuance of $443.5 million of Match Notes (this amount reflects the $443.5 million of IAC 2022 Notes that were tendered for exchange through November 6, 2015. An additional $1.7 million of IAC Notes 2022 was tendered before the exchange offer expired on November 13, 2015, and an additional $1.7 million of Match Notes was issued in exchange thereof on November 16, 2015), $61.7 million of outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and the repayment of existing long-term debt to a related party. The amounts in the table above are inclusive of interest.

(2)    Borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility and $800 million Term Loan Facility will be at variable rates of interest. Assumes the full $500 million Revolving Credit Facility is drawn down, with interest at LIBOR plus 2%. Interest on the $800 million Term Loan Facility is LIBOR plus 4.5%. Assuming a 100 basis point increase (decrease) in LIBOR rates, the annual interest payments on the Revolving Credit Facility and $800 million Term Loan Facility will increase (decrease) $5 million and $8 million, respectively. Such potential increases or decreases are based on certain simplifying assumptions, including a constant level and rate of variable-rate debt and an immediate across-the-board increase or decrease in the level of interest rates with no other subsequent changes for the remainder of the period.

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Off-balance sheet arrangements

Other than the items described above, we have no significant off-balance sheet arrangements.

Principles of financial reporting

We report Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure to GAAP. This measure is one of the primary metrics by which we evaluate the performance of our businesses, on which our internal budgets are based and by which management is compensated. We believe that investors should have access to, and we are obligated to provide, the same set of tools that we use in analyzing our results. This non-GAAP measure should be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with GAAP, but should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results. We endeavor to compensate for the limitations of the non-GAAP measure presented by providing the comparable GAAP measure with equal or greater prominence and descriptions of the reconciling items, including quantifying such items, to derive the non-GAAP measure. We encourage investors to examine the reconciling adjustments between the GAAP and non-GAAP measure, which we discuss below.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as operating income excluding: (1) stock-based compensation expense; (2) depreciation; and (3) acquisition-related items consisting of (i) amortization of intangible assets and impairments of goodwill and intangible assets and (ii) gains and losses recognized on changes in the fair value of contingent consideration arrangements. We believe this measure is useful for analysts and investors as this measure allows a more meaningful comparison between our performance and that of our competitors. Moreover, our management uses this measure internally to evaluate the performance of our business as a whole. The above items are excluded from our Adjusted EBITDA measure because these items are non-cash in nature, and we believe that by excluding these items, Adjusted EBITDA corresponds more closely to the cash operating income generated from our business, from which capital investments are made and debt is serviced. Adjusted EBITDA has certain limitations in that it does not take into account the impact to our combined statement of operations of certain expenses.

Non-cash expenses that are excluded from Adjusted EBITDA

Stock-based compensation expense consists principally of expense associated with the grants of stock options, restricted stock units, or RSUs, and performance-based RSUs. These expenses are not paid in cash. Upon the exercise of certain stock options and vesting of RSUs and performance-based RSUs, the awards are settled, at the Company's discretion, on a net basis, with the Company remitting the required tax-withholding amount from its current funds.

Depreciation is a non-cash expense relating to our property and equipment and is computed using the straight-line method to allocate the cost of depreciable assets to operations over their estimated useful lives.

Amortization of intangible assets and impairments of goodwill and intangible assets are non-cash expenses. At the time of an acquisition, the identifiable definite-lived intangible assets of the acquired company, such as customer lists, content, trade names, technology and franchise rights are valued and amortized over their estimated lives. Value is also assigned to acquired indefinite-lived intangible assets, which comprise trade names and trademarks, and goodwill that are not subject to amortization. An impairment is recorded when the carrying value of an intangible asset or goodwill exceeds its fair value. While it is likely that we will have significant intangible amortization expense as we continue to acquire companies, we believe that intangible assets represent costs incurred by the acquired company to build value prior to acquisition and the related amortization and impairment charges of goodwill or intangible assets, if applicable, are not ongoing costs of doing business.

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Gains and losses recognized on changes in the fair value of contingent consideration arrangements are accounting adjustments to report contingent consideration liabilities at fair value. These adjustments can be highly variable and are excluded from our assessment of performance because they are considered non-operational in nature and, therefore, are not indicative of current or future performance or ongoing costs of doing business.

We define Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by operating activities, less capital expenditures. We believe Free Cash Flow is useful to investors because it represents the cash that our operating businesses generate, before taking into account cash movements that are non-operational. Free Cash Flow has certain limitations in that it does not represent the total increase or decrease in the cash balance for the period, nor does it represent the residual cash flow for discretionary expenditures. Therefore, we think it is important to evaluate Free Cash Flow along with our combined statements of cash flows. Free Cash Flow should not be considered as a substitute for, nor superior to, GAAP measures.

Quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risk

Equity price risk

At December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015, we have one investment in an equity security of a publicly traded company. This available-for-sale marketable equity security is reported at fair value based on its quoted market price with any unrealized gain or loss, net of tax, included as a component of "Accumulated other comprehensive loss" in the accompanying combined balance sheet. Investments in equity securities of publicly traded companies are exposed to significant fluctuations in fair value due to the volatility of the stock market. During 2013 and 2014 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, we did not record any other-than-temporary impairment charges related to this available-for-sale marketable equity security. During 2012, we recorded an $8.7 million other-than-temporary impairment charge related to this available-for-sale marketable equity security. The other-than-temporary impairment charge is included in "Other (expense) income, net" in the accompanying combined statement of operations.

Foreign currency exchange risk

We conduct business in certain foreign markets, primarily in the European Union. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, international revenue accounted for 31% of combined revenue. Our primary exposure to foreign currency exchange risk relates to investments in foreign subsidiaries that transact business in a functional currency other than the U.S. Dollar, primarily the Euro. As foreign currency exchange rates change, translation of the statements of operations of our international businesses into U.S. dollars affects year-over-year comparability of operating results. The average Euro versus the U.S. Dollar exchange rate was 18% lower in the first nine months of 2015 than 2014. The decrease had a significant impact to revenue. Total revenue, Dating revenue and International Dating Revenue would have increased approximately 22%, 13% and 18%, respectively, as compared to the reported increases of 16%, 7% and less than 1%, respectively, had the foreign currency exchange rates been the same as the first nine months of 2014.

Foreign currency exchange gains and losses included in our earnings for both the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015 are gains of $6.5 million. Included in the September 30, 2015 amount is a foreign currency exchange gain of $5.2 million related to our €53 million 5.00% Note that was issued to an IAC subsidiary on April 8, 2014 in connection with the financing of the purchase of the remaining publicly-traded shares of Meetic. This related party debt is a liability of one of our subsidiaries with a U.S. dollar functional currency and the gain is due to the significant strengthening of the U.S. dollar versus the Euro in 2015. This related party debt is our primary exposure to foreign currency exchange transaction risk and will be repaid in connection with this offering.

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The impact on foreign currency exchange gains for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, assuming a 10% increase in the Euro to the U.S. dollar would increase foreign currency exchange gains by $0.5 million. Assuming a 10% decrease in the Euro to the U.S. dollar, foreign currency exchange gains would decrease by $0.5 million. Such potential increase or decrease is based on certain simplifying assumptions, including a constant level and rate of debt and an immediate across-the-board increase or decrease in the exchange rate with no other subsequent changes for the remainder of the period.

Historically, we have not hedged any foreign currency exposures. Our continued international expansion increases our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations and as a result such fluctuations could have a significant impact on our future results of operations.

Critical accounting policies

The following disclosure is provided to supplement the descriptions of our accounting policies contained in Note 2 to our combined financial statements in regard to significant areas of judgment. Management of the Company is required to make certain estimates, judgments and assumptions during the preparation of its combined financial statements in accordance with GAAP. These estimates, judgments and assumptions impact the reported amount of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses and the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the date of the combined financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Because of the size of the financial statement elements to which they relate, some of our accounting policies and estimates have a more significant impact on our combined financial statements than others. What follows is a discussion of some of our more significant accounting policies and estimates.

Business combinations

The purchase price of each acquisition is attributed to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their fair values at the date of acquisition, including identifiable intangible assets that either arise from a contractual or legal right or are separable from goodwill. The fair value of these intangible assets is based on detailed valuations that use information and assumptions provided by management. The excess purchase price over the net tangible and identifiable intangible assets is recorded as goodwill.

In connection with some business combinations, the Company has entered into contingent consideration arrangements that are determined to be part of the purchase price. Each of these arrangements are recorded at its fair value at the time of the acquisition and reflected at current fair value for each subsequent reporting period thereafter until settled. The contingent consideration arrangements are generally based upon earnings performance and/or operating metrics. The Company generally determines the fair value of contingent consideration using probability-weighted analyses over the period in which the obligation is expected to be settled, and, to the extent the arrangement is long-term in nature, applies a discount rate that appropriately captures the risk associated with the obligation. Significant changes in forecasted earnings or operating metrics would result in a significantly higher or lower fair value measurement. Determining fair value is inherently difficult and subjective and can have a material impact on our combined financial statements. The changes in the remeasured fair value of the contingent consideration arrangements each reporting period are recognized in "General and administrative expense" in the accompanying combined statement of operations. See Note 6 to our combined financial statements for a discussion of contingent consideration arrangements.

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Recoverability of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets

Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets, which consist of our acquired trade names and trademarks, are assessed annually for impairment as of October 1 or more frequently if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit or the fair value of an indefinite-lived intangible asset below its carrying value. The 2012, 2013 and 2014 annual assessments identified no material impairments. The value of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets that is subject to annual assessment for impairment is $793.8 million and $180.6 million, respectively, at December 31, 2014.

We have the option to qualitatively assess whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value. If we elect to perform a qualitative assessment and conclude it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value, no further assessment of that reporting unit's goodwill is necessary; otherwise goodwill must be tested for impairment using a two-step process. The first step involves a comparison of the estimated fair value of each of our reporting units to its carrying value, including goodwill. In performing the first step, we determine the fair value of a reporting unit using both an income approach based on discounted cash flows, or DCF, and a market approach based on multiples of earnings. Determining fair value requires the exercise of significant judgment with respect to several items, including judgment about the amount and timing of expected future cash flows and appropriate discount rates. The expected cash flows used in the DCF analyses are based on our most recent budget and, for years beyond the budget, our estimates, which are based, in part, on forecasted growth rates. The discount rate used in the DCF analysis are intended to reflect the risks inherent in the expected future cash flows of the respective reporting units. Assumptions used in the DCF analyses, including the discount rate, are assessed annually based on the reporting units' current results and forecast, as well as macroeconomic and industry specific factors. The discount rate used in our annual goodwill impairment assessment was approximately 16%. If the estimated fair value of a reporting unit exceeds its carrying value, goodwill of the reporting unit is not impaired and the second step of the impairment test is not necessary. If the carrying value of a reporting unit exceeds its estimated fair value, then the second step of the goodwill impairment test must be performed. The second step of the goodwill impairment test compares the implied fair value of the reporting unit's goodwill with its carrying value to measure the amount of impairment, if any. The implied fair value of goodwill is determined in the same manner as the amount of goodwill recognized in a business combination. In other words, the estimated fair value of the reporting unit is allocated to all of the assets and liabilities of that unit (including any unrecognized intangible assets) as if the reporting unit had been acquired in a business combination and the fair value of the reporting unit was the purchase price paid. If the carrying value of the reporting unit's goodwill exceeds the implied fair value of that goodwill, an impairment is recognized in an amount equal to that excess.

Any impairment charge that might result in the future would be determined based upon the excess of the carrying value of goodwill over its implied fair value using the second step of the impairment analysis that is described above but, in any event, would not be expected to be lower than the excess of the carrying value of the reporting unit over its fair value. A primary driver in the DCF valuation analyses and the determination of the fair values of our reporting units is the estimate of future revenue and profitability. Generally, we would expect an impairment if forecasted revenue and profitability are no longer expected to be achieved and as a result, the carrying value of a reporting unit(s) exceeds its fair value. This assessment would be based, in part, upon the performance of its businesses relative to budget, our assessment of macroeconomic factors, industry and competitive dynamics and the strategies of its businesses in response to these factors.

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We also have the option to qualitatively assess whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of an indefinite-lived intangible asset is less than its carrying value. If we elect to perform a qualitative assessment and conclude it is not more likely than not that the fair value of an indefinite-lived intangible asset is less than its carrying value, the fair value of the asset does not need to be determined; otherwise the fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible asset must be determined and compared to its carrying value. If the carrying value of the intangible asset exceeds its fair value, an impairment loss is recognized in an amount equal to that excess. The estimates of fair value of indefinite-lived intangible assets are determined using an avoided royalty DCF valuation analysis. Significant judgments inherent in this analysis include the selection of appropriate royalty and discount rates and estimating the amount and timing of expected future cash flows. The discount rates used in the DCF analyses are intended to reflect the risks inherent in the expected future cash flows generated by the respective intangible assets. The royalty rates used in the DCF analyses are based upon an estimate of the royalty rates that a market participant would pay to license our trade names and trademarks. Assumptions used in the avoided royalty DCF analyses, including the discount rate and royalty rate, are assessed annually based on the actual and projected cash flows related to the asset, as well as macroeconomic and industry specific factors. The discount rates used in our annual indefinite-lived impairment assessment ranged from 10% to 18% in 2013 and 10% to 20% in 2014, and the royalty rates used ranged from 3% to 7% in both 2013 and 2014.

Recoverability of long-lived assets

We review the carrying value of all long-lived assets, comprising property and equipment and definite-lived intangible assets, for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. The carrying value of a long-lived asset is not recoverable if it exceeds the sum of the undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use and eventual disposition of the asset. If the carrying value is deemed not to be recoverable, an impairment loss is recorded equal to the amount by which the carrying value of the long-lived asset exceeds its fair value. The carrying value of property and equipment and definite-lived intangible assets is $70.1 million at December 31, 2014.

Income taxes

We recognize liabilities for uncertain tax positions based on the two-step process. The first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of related appeals or litigation processes, if any. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount which is more than 50% likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement. This measurement step is inherently difficult and requires subjective estimations of such amounts to determine the probability of various possible outcomes. We consider many factors when evaluating and estimating our tax positions and tax benefits, which may require periodic adjustments and which may not accurately anticipate actual outcomes. At December 31, 2014, we had unrecognized tax benefits of $12.1 million, including interest. Changes to reserves from period to period and differences between amounts paid, if any, upon resolution of issues raised in audits and amounts previously provided may be material. Differences between the reserves for income tax contingencies and the amounts owed by us are recorded in the period they become known.

We account for income taxes under the liability method, and deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying values of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. A valuation allowance is provided on deferred tax assets if it is determined that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will not be realized. As of

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December 31, 2014, the balance of deferred tax liabilities, net, is $40.9 million. Actual income taxes could vary from these estimates due to future changes in income tax law, state income tax apportionment or the outcome of any review of our tax returns by the various tax authorities, as well as actual operating results that vary significantly from our anticipated results.

Stock-based compensation

The stock-based compensation expense reflected in our combined statements of operations consists of expense related to our stock options, IAC stock options and restricted stock units issued to our employees prior to this offering, restricted shares issued to employees of Meetic, which was publicly-traded prior to its acquisition by us in 2011, and stock options and stock appreciation rights issued by certain of our other subsidiaries.

Prior to this offering, the equity awards that relate to our common stock or the common stock of certain of our subsidiaries are settlable in shares of IAC common stock having a value equal to the difference between the exercise price and the fair market value of our common stock or that of the relevant subsidiary. Upon completion of this offering, the options that relate to our common stock will be adjusted in accordance with their terms to provide that the awards are exercisable for shares of our common stock, and the equity awards that relate to these subsidiaries will provide that the awards will be settlable, at IAC's election, in shares of IAC common stock or in shares of our common stock. To the extent shares of IAC common stock are issued in settlement of these awards, we will reimburse IAC for the cost of those shares by issuing IAC additional shares of our common stock.

Equity awards denominated in the shares of our subsidiaries primarily relate to stock options and stock appreciation rights denominated in the equity of Tinder, OkCupid and The Princeton Review. The aggregate number of IAC common shares that would be required to settle these interests at current estimated fair values at September 30, 2015 is 3.8 million shares; of this amount, 2.5 million shares relate to vested awards and 1.3 million shares relate to unvested awards. The aggregate number of our common shares that would be required to settle these interests at current estimated fair values at September 30, 2015 is approximately 18.9 million shares; of this amount, 12.3 million shares relate to vested awards and 6.6 million shares relate to unvested awards. The number of IAC common shares, or our common shares, required to settle these awards could be greater than these amounts if the value of these subsidiaries determined at the time of settlement of these awards is greater than our current estimated fair values, or if the value of the IAC common shares or our common shares used in settlement of these awards declines.

We measure and recognize compensation expense for all stock-based awards based on the grant date fair value of the awards. The fair value of stock options is estimated using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. Fair value is generally recognized as an expense on a straight-line basis, net of estimated forfeitures, over the requisite service period, which is the vesting period of the award. For awards with vesting subject to both a service condition and a performance measure, the expense is measured at the grant date and expensed over the vesting term if the performance measure is considered probable of being achieved.

The Black-Scholes option-pricing model requires the use of highly subjective and complex assumptions, the most significant of which include estimating the fair value of the underlying shares, expected term, expected volatility of the underlying shares, risk-free interest rates and the expected dividend yield. In addition, the recognition of stock-based compensation expense is impacted by our estimated forfeiture rates. The assumptions used in our option pricing model represent management's best estimates. If factors change and different assumptions are used, our stock-based compensation expense could be materially different in the future.

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The key assumptions used in our option-pricing model are estimated as follows:

Fair value of shares.  Because our shares have no publicly-traded history, we must estimate the grant date fair value of these shares, as described in "—Stock option grants and common stock valuations" below.

Expected term.  Our stock options have generally had one window each year during which an option holder could exercise options and the expected term is based upon the mid-point of the first and last exercise window.

Expected volatility.  In the absence of a trading history for our common stock, we estimated the expected price volatility of our stock options by making reference to a peer group of companies. Prior to 2014, we used the historical volatilities of a peer group whose members were chosen on the basis of their similarity to us in terms of consumer use, monetization model, margin and growth characteristics and brand strength, operating across the following sectors: dating and matching, gaming, social, subscription, eCommerce without inventory, and branded consumer internet companies with strong earnings growth. As the value of our company continued to represent an increasingly large percentage of the overall value of IAC, at the beginning of 2014 we concluded that the most relevant reference point for determining our volatility was IAC's historical volatility. Therefore, since that time, IAC's historical volatility has been used to estimate our volatility. We intend to continue to consistently apply this process for our equity awards until a sufficient amount of historical information regarding the volatility of our own stock price becomes available.

Risk-free interest rate.  We base the risk-free interest rate for all awards on U.S. Treasuries equal to the expected term of the option on the grant date.

Expected dividend yield.  The expected dividend assumption for our stock options was zero at the time of grant based on the expectation of not paying dividends in the foreseeable future.

The following table summarizes the weighted-average assumptions used in our option pricing model for option grants made during the periods indicated for our stock option awards:

 
  Year ended
December 31,
2013

  Year ended
December 31,
2014

  Nine months
ended
September 30,
2015

 

Grant date fair value of shares

  $ 238.28   $ 325.06   $ 418.68  

Expected term (in years)

    4.2     4.2     4.0  

Expected volatility

    41%     29%     28%  

Risk-free interest rate

    0.8%     1.3%     1.3%  

Expected dividend yield

    —%     —%     —%  

In addition to the above assumptions, we also estimate a forfeiture rate to calculate stock-based compensation expense, which is based on an analysis of our historical forfeitures. We will continue to evaluate the appropriateness of the forfeiture rate based on our actual forfeiture experience, analysis of employee turnover and other factors. Changes in the estimated forfeiture rate can have a significant impact on our stock-based compensation expense as the cumulative effect of adjusting the forfeiture rate is recognized in the period in which the estimate is changed. If a revised forfeiture rate is higher than the previously estimated forfeiture rate, an adjustment is made resulting in a decrease to the stock-based compensation expense recognized in our combined financial statements. If a revised forfeiture rate is lower

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than the previously estimated forfeiture rate, an adjustment is made resulting in an increase to the stock-based compensation expense recognized in our combined financial statements.

We will continue to use judgment in evaluating the assumptions related to our stock-based awards on a prospective basis. As we continue to accumulate additional data related to our awards, we may have refinements to our estimates and forfeiture rates, which could materially impact our future stock-based compensation expense.

Based on the Black-Scholes assumptions in the table above, the weighted average fair value of stock options granted during the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, are $79.57, $83.24 and $102.28, respectively.

Stock option grants and common stock valuations

We granted stock options with the following exercise prices between January 1, 2014 and September 30, 2015(1):

Grant date
  Number of
awards granted (#)

  Exercise price ($)
  Grant date fair
value per unit ($)

 

January 20, 2014

    144,534   $ 319.76   $ 319.76  

February 11, 2014

    163,375   $ 319.76   $ 319.76  

April 22, 2014

    500   $ 319.76   $ 319.76  

May 27, 2014

    1,000   $ 319.76   $ 319.76  

June 9, 2014

    300   $ 319.76   $ 319.76  

July 7, 2014

    5,000   $ 319.76   $ 319.76  

August 11, 2014

    11,300   $ 319.76   $ 319.76  

October 6, 2014

    25,100   $ 393.90   $ 393.90  

February 11, 2015

    345,150   $ 403.78   $ 403.78  

June 15, 2015

    26,445   $ 403.78   $ 403.78  

September 17, 2015

    173,450   $ 446.43   $ 446.43  

(1)    The number of options, exercise price and fair value per share for these awards reflects information before giving effect to the adjustments to be made in connection with the recapitalization of our equity that will occur prior to the completion of this offering and the distributions to be made by us to IAC. Prior to this offering, these options were and are settleable in shares of IAC common stock having a value equal to the difference between the option exercise price and the fair market value of our common stock. Upon completion of the offering, these options will be adjusted in accordance with their terms and conditions to provide that the awards are exercisable for shares of our common stock.

We are required to estimate the fair value of our common stock when performing fair value calculations with the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The fair values of our common stock were approved by the Compensation and Human Resources Committee of the IAC Board of Directors, or the IAC Committee, after consultation with IAC management and based on valuations prepared by IAC management and valuations prepared by an unrelated third party valuation advisory firm. The IAC Committee intended all options granted to be exercisable at a price per share not less than the per share fair value of our common stock on the grant date. In the absence of a public trading market of our shares, the IAC Committee exercised its reasonable judgment and considered numerous objective and subjective factors to determine what it believed to be the best estimate of the fair value of our shares. These factors generally included the following:

our actual operating and financial performance;

current business conditions and our financial projections;

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the market performance of comparable publicly-traded companies;

recent valuations performed at periodic intervals by an unrelated third-party valuation advisory firm; and

the U.S. capital market conditions.

Estimates and assumptions will no longer be necessary to determine the fair value of our common stock once it begins trading.

IAC management performed valuations of our company as of January 2014, February 2014, October 2014, February 2015, June 2015 and September 2015. The valuation advisory firm prepared valuations of our company as of January 1, 2014, February 1, 2015 and September 1, 2015. The dates of our valuation reports were not always contemporaneous with the grant dates of our stock-based awards. In determining whether it was reasonable to rely on the most recent valuation, we considered whether there were any material changes to our business since the date of such valuation, taking into account our actual operating and financial performance, current business conditions, our financial projections, the market performance of comparable publicly traded companies, the U.S. capital market conditions generally, and any other factors we deemed relevant at the time. There were significant judgments and estimates inherent in these valuations, which included assumptions regarding our future operating performance and the determinations of the appropriate valuation methods to be applied. If we had made different estimates or assumptions, our stock-based compensation expense and net income could have been significantly different from those reported in this prospectus.

In valuing our shares, we determined our equity value by assessing by a combination of the value indicators using a market comparable approach and an income approach. The valuation method ultimately selected to determine valuation was the market comparable approach after determining that the resulting valuation was reasonable given the range of valuations determined using the income approach.

Market comparable approach

The market comparable approach considers multiples of financial metrics based on both acquisitions and trading multiples of a selected peer group of companies. From the comparable companies, a representative market multiple is determined which is applied to financial metrics to estimate the value of our company.

To determine our peer group of companies, we considered companies relevant in terms of consumer use, monetization model, margin and growth characteristics and brand strength operating in these sectors: dating and matching, gaming, social, subscription, eCommerce without inventory, and branded consumer internet companies with strong earnings growth.

Income approach

For the income approach, a discounted cash flow method was utilized to estimate the enterprise value based on the estimated present value of future net cash flows we are expected to generate over a forecasted period and an estimate of the present value of cash flows beyond that period. The present value was estimated using a discount rate, which accounts for the time value of money and the appropriate degree of risks inherent in the business. For these valuations, we prepared financial projections to be used in the income approach. The financial projections took into account our historical financial results of operations, our business experiences and our future expectations. We factored the risk associated with achieving our forecasts into selecting the appropriate exit multiple and discount rate. There

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is inherent uncertainty in these estimates, as the assumptions we used were highly subjective and subject to change as a result of new operating data and economic and other conditions that impact our business.

In connection with the recapitalization of our equity that will occur prior to the completion of this offering and the transfer of a portion of the net proceeds of this offering to IAC, we will make appropriate adjustments to outstanding awards that are denominated in the equity of our company to reflect the transactions contemplated in connection with this offering. Any such adjustments will be made in accordance with our stock incentive plans and applicable tax rules.

Long-term investments

At December 31, 2014, long-term investments include three cost method investments and a marketable equity security.

We evaluate our cost method investments for indicators of impairment on a quarterly basis, and recognizes an impairment loss if the decline in value is deemed to be other-than-temporary. Future events may result in reconsideration of the nature of losses as other-than-temporary and market and other factors may cause the value of our investments to decline.

We employ a methodology that considers available evidence in evaluating potential other-than-temporary impairments of its investments. Investments are considered to be impaired when a decline in fair value below the amortized cost basis is determined to be other-than-temporary. Such impairment evaluations include, but are not limited to: the length of time and extent to which fair value has been less than the cost basis, the current business environment, including competition; going concern considerations such as financial condition, the rate at which the investee utilizes cash and the investee's ability to obtain additional financing to achieve its business plan; the need for changes to the investee's existing business model due to changing business and regulatory environments and its ability to successfully implement necessary changes; and comparable valuations. During 2012, we recorded an impairment charge of $8.7 million related to its long-term marketable equity security.

Recent accounting pronouncements

For a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements, see Note 2 to the audited combined financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

JOBS Act

As a company with less than $1.0 billion in revenue during our last fiscal year, we qualify as an "emerging growth company" as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. We will continue to be an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of:

the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of this offering;

the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.0 billion in annual revenues;

the last day of the fiscal year in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common shares which are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30; or

the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion of nonconvertible debt during the prior three-year period.

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Until we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of reduced reporting requirements generally unavailable to other public companies. Those provisions allow us to:

provide less than five years of selected financial data in an initial public offering registration statement;

provide reduced disclosure regarding our executive compensation arrangements pursuant to the rules applicable to smaller reporting companies, which means we do not have to include a compensation discussion and analysis and certain other disclosure regarding our executive compensation; and

not provide an auditor attestation of our internal control over financial reporting.

The JOBS Act also permits an emerging growth company such as us to take advantage of an extended transition period to comply with new or revised accounting standards applicable to public companies, and exempts an emerging growth company such as us from Sections 14A(a) and (b) of the Exchange Act, which require companies to hold shareholder advisory votes on executive compensation and golden parachute compensation.

We have elected to adopt the reduced disclosure requirements described above for purposes of the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. In addition, for so long as we qualify as an emerging growth company, we expect to take advantage of certain of the reduced reporting and other requirements of the JOBS Act with respect to the periodic reports we will file with the SEC and proxy statements that we use to solicit proxies from our stockholders.

We have elected to not take advantage of the extended transition period that allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies, which means that the financial statements included in this prospectus, as well as financial statements we file in the future, will be subject to all new or revised accounting standards generally applicable to public companies. Our election not to take advantage of the extended transition period is irrevocable.

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Our business

Our mission

Establishing a romantic connection is a fundamental human need. Whether it's a good date, a meaningful relationship or an enduring marriage, romantic connectivity lifts the human spirit. Our mission is to increase romantic connectivity worldwide.

Who we are

Match Group is the world's leading provider of dating products. We operate a portfolio of over 45 brands, including Match, OkCupid, Tinder, PlentyOfFish, Meetic, Twoo, OurTime and FriendScout24, each designed to increase our users' likelihood of finding a romantic connection. Through our portfolio of trusted brands, we provide tailored products to meet the varying preferences of our users. We currently offer our dating products in 38 languages across more than 190 countries, and we had approximately 59 million MAU, and approximately 4.7 million paid members, using our dating products for the quarter ended September 30, 2015.

Our target market includes all adults in North America, Western Europe and other select countries around the world who are not in a committed relationship and who have access to the internet, which, based on a study by Research Now commissioned by us in July 2015, we estimate at approximately 511 million people, compared to an estimated 360 million people in 2011. Consumer preferences within this population vary significantly, influenced in part by demographics, geography, religion and sensibility. As a result, the market for dating products is fragmented, and no single product has been able to effectively serve the dating category as a whole.

Given wide ranging consumer preferences, we approach the category with a brand portfolio strategy, through which we attempt to offer dating products that collectively appeal to the broadest spectrum of consumers. We believe that this approach maximizes our ability to capture additional users, as demonstrated by our MAU and paid member count compound annual growth rates between the quarter ended September 30, 2011 and the quarter ended September 30, 2015 of 63% and 23%, respectively. We increasingly apply a centralized discipline to learnings, best practices and technologies across our brands in order to increase growth, reduce costs and maximize profitability. This approach allows us to quickly introduce new products and features, optimize marketing strategies, reduce operating costs and more effectively deploy talent across our organization.

Coinciding with the general trend toward mobile technology, we have experienced a meaningful shift in our user base from desktop devices to mobile devices, and now offer mobile experiences on substantially all of our dating products. During the quarter ended September 30, 2015, pro forma for PlentyOfFish, 73% of our new users signed up for our products through mobile channels, as compared to only 35% during the quarter ended September 30, 2013. This shift has enabled us to reach groups of users which had previously proven elusive, such as the millennial audience; for example, Tinder, a mobile-only product, has been able to tap into this audience rapidly over the last few years. Additionally, in previously desktop-oriented products like Match, the shift to mobile has led to increased usage of our products, as mobile users on average access our products at meaningfully higher rates than do those users who access our products on desktop. According to data obtained from mobile analytics firm AppAnnie, during the three months ended June 30, 2015, we operated four of the top five revenue grossing dating applications across the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in North America, and three of the top five worldwide, in each case, pro forma for the acquisition of PlentyOfFish, which we completed on October 28, 2015. In addition,

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according to AppAnnie, our Tinder product was the most downloaded mobile dating application in North America for that same period.

Substantially all of our dating revenue is derived directly from our users. The significant majority of that revenue comes from recurring membership fees, which typically provide unlimited access to a bundle of features for a specific period of time, and the balance from à la carte features, where users pay a fee for a specific action or event. Examples of à la carte features include "Profile Pro," through which a user receives assistance with the preparation of a profile and "Boost/TopSpot," which allows a user to gain increased exposure within the community for a fixed period of time. Each of our brands offers a combination of free and paid features targeted to its unique community. On a brand-by-brand basis, our monetization decisions seek to optimize user growth, revenue and the vibrancy and productivity of the relevant community of users. In addition to direct revenue from our users, we generate revenue from online advertisers who pay to reach our large audiences.

In addition to our dating business, we also operate a non-dating business in the education industry through our ownership of The Princeton Review. The Princeton Review provides a variety of test preparation, academic tutoring and college counseling services. We acquired this business because it relies on many of the same competencies as our dating business, such as paid customer acquisition, a combination of free and paid features, deep understanding of the lifetime values of customers, and strong expertise in user interface development. Substantially all of our revenue from our non-dating business, or non-dating revenue, is derived directly from our students.

Our revenue increased from $713.4 million in 2012 to $803.1 million in 2013 and then to $888.3 million in 2014, representing year-over-year increases of 13% and 11%, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, our revenue increased 16% over the comparable period in 2014 to $752.9 million. In 2012, 2013, 2014 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, we generated Adjusted EBITDA of $236.5 million, $271.2 million, $273.4 million and $179.4 million, respectively, operating income of $186.6 million, $221.3 million, $228.6 million and $125.9 million, respectively, and net earnings of $90.3 million, $126.6 million, $148.4 million and $84.7 million, respectively. See "Selected historical combined financial and other information" for a description of how we define Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to operating income.

Market opportunity

Connecting with people and fostering relationships are critical needs that influence everyone's happiness. As a result, the dating market presents a significant opportunity for Match Group. We consider our addressable market to be all adults in North America, Western Europe and other select countries around the world who are not in committed relationships and who have access to the internet, which, based on a study by Research Now commissioned by us in July 2015, we estimate at approximately 511 million people.

In countries with developed economies such as the United States, our addressable market has been expanding due to the aging population, increasing internet use among older adults and growth in singles as a percent of the total population. In countries with emerging economies, such as India and China, growth in the addressable market is driven by similar factors, most notably pronounced growth in internet access. Overall, our addressable market is expected to grow from approximately 511 million people to approximately 672 million people by 2019, assuming the single population in each country grows in line with the projected growth rate of the country's total population.

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Enabling dating in a digital world

Prior to the proliferation of computers and mobile devices, human connections traditionally were limited by social circles, geography and time. Today, the adoption of the internet and mobile technology has significantly expanded the ways in which people can build relationships, create new interactions and develop romantic connections.

We believe that the rapid adoption of dating products is changing lives. According to data obtained from Research Now, since 2011, more than 12 million relationships and more than three million marriages in North America have begun with a dating product. In fact, according to Research Now, one-third of all dates, relationships and marriages in the United States now begin with a dating product. According to studies by MarketTools and Research Now commissioned by us, the number of singles in the United States who met their most recent first date using a dating product was 32% higher in 2014 than in 2010, and singles in the United States using a dating product are more than twice as likely to have been in a relationship in the last four years than those who have not used a dating product.

We believe dating products serve as a natural extension of the traditional means of meeting people and provide a number of benefits for their users, including:

Expanded options:  Dating products provide users access to a large number of like-minded people they otherwise would not have a chance to meet.

Efficiency:  The search and matching features, as well as the profile information available on dating products, allow users to filter a large number of options in a short period of time, increasing the likelihood that users will make a connection with someone.

More comfort and control:  Compared to the traditional ways that people meet, dating products provide an environment that makes the process of reaching out to new people less uncomfortable. This leads to many people who would otherwise be passive participants in the dating process taking a more active role.

Convenience:  The nature of the internet and the proliferation of mobile devices allow users to connect with new people at any time of the day, regardless of where they are.

Depending on a person's circumstances at any given time, dating products can act as supplement to, or substitute for, the traditional means of meeting people. When selecting a dating product, we believe that users consider the following attributes:

Brand recognition:  Brand is very important. Users generally associate strong dating brands with a higher likelihood of success and a higher level of security. Successful dating brands typically depend on large, active communities of users, strong algorithmic filtering technology and awareness of successful usage among similar users.

Successful experiences:  Demonstrated success of other users attracts new users through word-of-mouth recommendations. Successful experiences also drive repeat usage.

Community identification:  Users typically look for dating products that offer a community with which the user most strongly associates. By selecting a dating product that is focused on a particular demographic, religion, geography or intent (for example, casual dating or more serious relationships), users can increase the likelihood that they will make a connection with someone with whom they may identify.

Product features and user experience:  Users tend to gravitate towards dating products that offer features and user experiences that resonate with them, such as question-based matching algorithms,

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    location-based features, offline events or searching capabilities. User experience is also driven by the type of user interface (for example, swiping versus scrolling), a particular mix of free and paid features, ease of use and security. Users expect every interaction with a dating product to be seamless, intuitive and secure.

Our competitive advantages

We believe the following attributes provide us with competitive advantages in the dating business:

Strong brand recognition:  A strong brand is one of the primary factors people consider when choosing a dating product. Brands drive organic traffic, significantly affect ranking in search engines and app stores and increase the efficiency of paid marketing. Strong nationally recognized brands in the dating category traditionally take many years to build. According to data obtained from Research Now, four of the top five dating brands by unaided awareness in North America are owned by us, and 89% of singles in North America recognize at least one of our brands when shown a list of dating brands. According to this same data, 70% of singles in Western Europe recognize at least one of our brands when shown a list of dating brands. And in other countries, 20% of singles recognize, on an unaided basis, at least one of our brands. In fact our products rank highest in aided brand awareness among all dating products in 13 different countries across North America and Western Europe.

Scale:  Significant scale of users in the local markets in which a dating brand operates is an advantage in providing the most effective user experience. Large scale offers more opportunities for potential connections and leads to better outcomes for a brand's users. This in turn drives a higher frequency of word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied users, which is then multiplied across a broader base of users, creating a reinforcing loop in which scale drives further scale. We currently own and operate four of the top five brands in North America measured in terms of unaided awareness. Our members sent an average of more than 75 million messages to other members on our products each day during the quarter ended September 30, 2015, and on our Tinder product, during the month ended September 30, 2015, our users "swiped" through an average of more than 1.4 billion user profiles each day. Our products have led to the start of approximately 8.4 million relationships, and approximately 2.5 million marriages, in North America over the last four years alone, each pro forma for PlentyOfFish. We believe that this scale is one of the big competitive advantages for our principal brands.

Multi-brand approach to customer acquisition:  We currently have more brands than any other participant in our category. Based on a study by Research Now commissioned by us in July 2015, we own and operate (pro forma for PlentyOfFish) the top four brands used by respondents in North America in the 30 days preceding the survey; the fifth most used brand had less than 50% of the usage of our fourth most used brand. Our multi-brand approach allows us to provide dating products that appeal to a wide spectrum of users. By positioning what we believe to be the most relevant brand to each user segment, we are able to achieve greater reach at lower overall customer acquisition costs. Additionally, we are increasingly placing advertisements for our products within our other products. When such an advertisement is successful and a user of one of our products becomes a user of another of our products, the second product has acquired a new customer for no incremental cost. Because the second product would otherwise have had to engage in its own marketing efforts to acquire the customer, we are able to decrease the average cost of customer acquisition across our entire portfolio. For the quarter ended September 30, 2015, our Match brand and affinity brands in North America generated approximately 11% of new registrations via this type of cross-promotion.

Scale-driven customer acquisition competency:  We efficiently utilize online and offline advertising to increase brand awareness and drive new user registrations. Our long history and significant scale has

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    allowed us to develop analytical and operational approaches that we believe are more sophisticated than any of our single brands would be able to develop as a standalone company. We believe that no one else in the category approaches the scale of our paid customer acquisition efforts.

Monetization expertise:  On a brand-by-brand basis, we continually test and customize our offerings to determine which features to offer for a fee and which features to offer for free. Over the course of our operating history, these tests have helped us develop significant expertise in maximizing revenue while maintaining a brand's ability to attract new users and maintain a vibrant and active community of users. We believe that our approach to monetization is more sophisticated than any of our single brands would have been able to develop on its own.

Ability to monetize through advertising:  Given the significant size and diversity of our user base, advertisers could reach an average of approximately 59 million MAU across our brands for the quarter ended September 30, 2015. We offer advertisers the ability to customize their advertisements based on analytics we collect about user interests and behavior. We believe that our scale and analytics-driven marketing make us more attractive to advertisers as compared to our competitors.

Commitment to product development:  Each of our brands has a robust product roadmap. Product development and innovation are generally brand-specific and significant resources are devoted to constant improvements of our various products. Accordingly, we have multiple product development teams working at any given time on a variety of features at a breadth that, we believe, could not be replicated by any of our single brands as standalone entities.

Shared learning:  While maintaining each brand's unique character, we facilitate knowledge and experience sharing across our portfolio in the areas of marketing and customer acquisition, monetization and product development. While each brand generally is responsible for its own progress in these areas, the ability for each to quickly leverage the successes of other brands and avoid their failures, substantially increases the success rates for each brand in each of these key drivers of business performance.

Demonstrated ability to incubate new businesses:  We have a history of successfully introducing new dating brands. For example, OurTime was launched in 2011 and Tinder in 2012. We expect to continue to devote resources to developing new dating products and believe our industry expertise and significant cash flow provide a unique ability to succeed in this endeavor.

Identifying opportunistic acquisitions:  We have developed a core competency for identifying, acquiring, integrating and scaling businesses. Since January 2009, we have invested approximately $1,284.0 million to acquire 25 new brands for our dating portfolio, including OkCupid, Meetic, Twoo and PlentyOfFish.

Our strategy

We are pursuing the following principal strategies to grow our dating business:

Focus on product development:  We devote substantial resources to developing new features and functionalities for our products. We believe there are meaningful improvements that can be made to the efficacy and appeal of products in our category, both through existing and emerging technologies. Increasing product efficacy and appeal are two of the major drivers of increased category adoption.

Become even more mobile:  We are increasingly concentrated on mobile development. For the quarter ended September 30, 2015, pro forma for PlentyOfFish, 73% of our new registrations were from a mobile device. We are currently allocating resources to more rapidly increase our mobile development, which we believe represents a significant growth opportunity for our business.

Improve customer acquisition efforts:  We continue to focus on building our traditional paid acquisition channels, including offline media, with the intent to reach new customers, increase the demand for dating products and drive repeat usage. Additionally, we are developing our expertise in paid mobile acquisition and digital video channels. Finally, we are focused on expanding the virality of our brands and maintaining a high rank in app stores. We believe we have the ability to expand our marketing reach over time.

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Drive advertising revenue:  Generating advertising revenue has historically not been a principal focus for us. As a result, we believe our advertising revenue is substantially below what we should be able to achieve. Part of our strategy is to meaningfully increase the sell-through at our Tinder brand, which is currently below 2% of available ad inventory. We believe that Tinder's strong user engagement, with an average of approximately 9.6 million daily active users during the month ended September 30, 2015, each spending, on average, more than 35 minutes per day using the product and "swiping," on average, through 145 user profiles per day, makes it a very attractive platform for advertisers. We also intend to meaningfully increase the percentage of ad inventory on our other brands sold on a direct basis, which currently is below 2% of total ad inventory sold. We believe that there is meaningful upside to our current revenue levels if we achieve these objectives.

Dynamically monetize our brands:  We will continue to optimize pricing and the bundle of free and paid offerings for each brand. We also expect to continue to develop new features that will both improve the user experience and increase the number of people willing to pay for the use of our products. We believe that most of our products have the opportunity to increase both the percentage of users who are paid members and the amount that those users pay us over time.

Continue to expand our portfolio:  In the past, we have successfully completed acquisitions such as OkCupid, Meetic, Twoo and PlentyOfFish, as well as launched OurTime and Tinder. Each acquisition or new product launch has resulted in increased adoption levels either within a given geography or demographic. We intend to continue to pursue strategic opportunities in existing and new markets globally, and expect that additional growth will be generated through these pursuits.

Leverage our portfolio:  We believe we are only beginning to realize the benefits that ownership of multiple brands brings to our company. We intend to continue to optimize our operations across brands to reduce both fixed and variable costs, increase success rates in product development and customer acquisition and accelerate speed to market.

Organizational approach

We operate a portfolio of brands that both compete and collaborate with each other. We attempt to empower individual business leaders with the authority and incentives to grow each of our brands. Our businesses compete with each other and with third-party businesses in our category on brand characteristics, product features, and business model. We also attempt to centrally facilitate excellence and efficiency across the entire portfolio by:

centralizing certain administrative areas, like legal, human resources and finance across the entire portfolio to enable each brand to focus more on growth;

centralizing other areas across certain businesses where we have strength in personnel and sufficient commonality of business interest (for example, ad sales, online marketing and technology centralized across some, but not all, businesses);

developing talent across the portfolio to allow for expertise development and career advancement while giving us the ability to deploy the best talent in the most critical positions across the company at any given time; and

sharing data to leverage product and marketing successes across our businesses rapidly for competitive advantage.

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Our portfolio

Dating is a highly personal endeavor and consumers have a wide variety of preferences that determine what type of dating product they choose. For example, some users may look for a specific type of user interface, while others may look for a dating product that offers a community of people with similar demographic characteristics or that has a particular mix of free and paid features.

As a result, we approach the category with a portfolio strategy in order to reach a broad range of users. Our portfolio consists of over 45 brands, available in 38 languages, and offered in over 190 countries. The following is a list of our key brands:

Match

Match was launched in 1995 and helped create the online dating category. Among its distinguishing features is the ability to both search profiles, receive algorithmic matches and the ability to attend live events, promoted by Match, with other members. Because the ability to communicate between members is generally a component of paid membership, Match has a high percentage of paying users which generally indicates a higher level of intent than some of our other brands. Match relies heavily on word-of-mouth traffic, repeat usage and paid marketing, and has a relatively balanced age distribution across the single population. According to data obtained from Research Now, Match is the category leader in North America and the United Kingdom, based on unaided awareness.

Meetic

Meetic was founded in 2001 and enjoys market leadership by number of users in France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. Similar to Match, among its distinguishing features is the ability to both search profiles and receive algorithmic matches, and the ability to attend live events, promoted by Meetic, with other members. Also, similar to Match, because the ability to communicate between members is generally a component of paid membership, Meetic's high percentage of paying users indicates a generally higher level of intent than some of our other brands. Meetic relies heavily on word-of-mouth traffic, repeat usage and paid marketing, and has a relatively balanced age distribution across the single population.

OkCupid

OkCupid was launched in 2004, and has attracted users through a mathematical and Q&A approach to the category. Additionally, it has published much of the data it collects in its popular blog, generating a bold and edgy reputation. OkCupid has grown meaningfully over the years without significant marketing spend. OkCupid has a loyal user base in many major United States cities, which tends, on average, to be younger than the user base of Match.

Tinder

Tinder was launched in 2012, and has since risen to scale and popularity faster than any other product in the dating category. According to data obtained from mobile analytics firm AppAnnie, Tinder has been downloaded almost 30 million times in the U.S. since inception. Tinder's mobile-only offering and distinctive "right swipe" and location-based features have led to significant adoption among the millennial generation, previously underserved by the dating category: for the quarter ended September 30, 2015, approximately 86% of Tinder MAUs were under 35 years old.

PlentyOfFish

PlentyOfFish was launched in 2003 and acquired by us on October 28, 2015. Similar to Match, among its distinguishing features is the ability to both search profiles and receive algorithmic matches. Similar to OkCupid, PlentyOfFish has grown to popularity over the years with very limited marketing spend.

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PlentyOfFish has broad appeal in the central United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and a number of other international markets.

OurTime, BlackPeopleMeet and our other affinity brands

Our affinity brands serve the needs of individuals for whom commonalities around age, religion, ethnicity or circumstance are of fundamental importance when making a romantic connection. For example, OurTime is age-centric, and its user base is the largest community of singles over age 50 of any dating product, while BlackPeopleMeet is race-centric.

Twoo

Twoo was founded in 2011 and has been highly successful in creating dating products seeded through existing social networks. Its viral acquisition tactics and internationalized platform have enabled Twoo to rapidly expand in over 190 countries and 38 languages in a relatively short time. Twoo's user base is concentrated in Europe, Asia and South America.

FriendScout24

Founded in 2007, FriendScout24 is the market leader in dating products in Germany with a strong presence in Austria and Switzerland. It is characterized by its search-based product offering, in contrast to the "matching" products which are otherwise predominant in the German markets.

All our Dating products enable a user to establish a profile and review other people's profiles without charge. Each of them also offers additional features, some of which are free, and some of which require payment depending on the particular product. For example, in order to send emails to, and read emails from, other users, Match, Meetic, OurTime and BlackPeopleMeet require a paid membership, while communicating with other members on Tinder, OkCupid and PlentyOfFish does not. Conversely, on Match you can search profiles for free in any geographic area, whereas Tinder requires payment in order to review profiles outside a user's current geography. Similarly, on Match, a non-paying user can perform custom searches and change their username for free, whereas OkCupid only enables these features for paying users. On certain products, like OkCupid and Tinder, purchasing a premium package eliminates a viewer's exposure to advertisements. In general, access to premium features requires a paid membership, which is typically offered in packages from one-month to 12 months, depending on the product and circumstance. Prices differ meaningfully within a given brand by the duration of membership purchased, by the bundle of paid features that a user chooses to access, and by whether or not a customer is taking advantage of any special offers. In addition to paid memberships, many of our products, such as Match, Meetic and OkCupid, now offer the user the ability to promote themselves for a given period of time, or to review certain profiles without any signaling to the other members, and these features are offered on a pay-per-use basis. The precise mix of paid and premium features is established over time on a brand-by-brand basis and is constantly subject to iteration and evolution.

For the quarter ended September 30, 2015, 54% of our MAU were outside North America, pro forma for PlentyOfFish.

Non-Dating business

In addition to our Dating business, we also operate a Non-Dating business through our ownership of The Princeton Review, which provides a variety of educational test preparation, academic tutoring and college counseling services. The Princeton Review includes Tutor.com (acquired in 2012) and The Princeton Review (acquired in 2014). Through Tutor.com, The Princeton Review provided online, on demand, one-on-one tutoring services to approximately 6,000 students every school night during the period from September 1, 2014 through May 31, 2015 and more than 12 million such sessions during the period from January 1, 2001

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to the present. According to Google Analytics, www.princetonreview.com had over 12 million unique viewers during the period from October 31, 2014 to October 31, 2015. The Princeton Review brand reaches approximately 70 million people through media coverage annually by virtue of appearances by its representatives on The Today Show and other national media outlets.

Geographic markets

Our geographic reach includes more than 190 countries around the world. Our primary market is North America, where we derived 69% of our total dating revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2015.

In the same period, we derived 31% of our total dating revenue from international markets compared to 11% during the same period in 2011.

Sales and marketing

We attract the majority of our users through word-of-mouth and other free channels. In addition, many of our brands rely on paid customer acquisition for a significant percentage of their users. Our online marketing activities generally consist of purchasing banner and other display advertising, search engine marketing, email campaigns and business development or partnership deals. Our offline marketing activities generally consist of television advertising and related public relations efforts, as well as events.

Technology

Consistent with our general operating philosophy, each of our brands tends to develop its own technology systems to support its product, leveraging both open-source and vendor supported software technology. Each of our brands has dedicated engineering teams responsible for software development and creation of new features to support our products across the full range of devices, from desktop to mobile-web to native mobile applications. Our engineering teams use an agile development process, allowing us to deploy frequent iterative releases for product features. The Company spent $38.9 million, $43.0 million, $49.7 million, $36.6 million and $50.7 million in the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015, respectively, on product development.

We are currently working to modernize the software and technology supporting certain of our North American brands and to consolidate their back-end services such as billing and payments, online marketing, chat and photos, as well as reusable API services that will be leveraged by an adaptive desktop and mobile web front end unique to each brand. This will, among other things, allow us to be more efficient in terms of ongoing development on our desktop platform while being able to deploy a greater percentage of our total development resources to our mobile products. We will continue to support brand-specific native mobile applications that will integrate to the common back-end and API services layer. Similar efforts are underway at Meetic and our other predominantly European brands. We expect these initiatives will allow us to increase speed to market, reduce execution time and drive cost efficiencies.

We host the majority of our brands in leased data centers located within the general geography served by the brand. Other brands utilize Amazon Web Services to support their infrastructure.

Acquisition strategy

In addition to growing our brands organically, we opportunistically pursue acquisitions of brands and businesses that will enhance our portfolio offering. Since January 2009, we have invested approximately $1,284.0 million to acquire 25 new brands for our dating portfolio including OkCupid, Meetic, Twoo, Pairs

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and PlentyOfFish, enabling us to strengthen our business in existing markets and expand our product offerings globally. These acquired businesses have generated significant Adjusted EBITDA, have grown meaningfully since acquisition, and we expect them to increasingly contribute to future earnings.

On October 28, 2015, we completed the acquisition of PlentyOfFish for approximately $575.0 million in cash. At closing, approximately $71.9 million of the consideration was placed in escrow as security for potential purchase price adjustments and indemnification claims.

Founded in 2003, PlentyOfFish has steadily grown to become one of the largest dating communities in the United States, Canada, and Australia. PlentyOfFish has a broader age distribution, and less urban concentration, than both OkCupid and Tinder.

We believe that our expertise as the world's leading provider of dating products enables us to understand the growth prospects of dating businesses better than most other parties. We expect that there will continue to be opportunities from time to time for us to expand our portfolio of dating brands by acquiring companies at favorable valuations.

Additionally, we purchased Tutor.com and then The Princeton Review in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Successful operation of these businesses depends in substantial part on a common set of competencies with our dating business, and we believe we can expand the portfolio of assets over which we can leverage our competencies beyond dating. It is possible that we may acquire other non-dating assets if they meet the relevant criteria and provide the right value creation opportunity.

Competition

The dating industry is competitive and has no single, dominant brand. We compete primarily with other companies that provide similar dating and matchmaking products, including eHarmony, Spark Networks (Jdate, ChristianMingle), Zoosk, Parship, ElitePartner, e-Darling and Badoo.

In addition to other online dating brands, we compete indirectly with offline dating services, such as in-person matchmakers, and social media platforms. Arguably, our biggest competition comes from the traditional ways that people meet each other, and the choices some people make to not utilize dating products or services.

We believe that our ability to compete successfully will depend primarily upon the following factors:

our ability to increase consumer acceptance of dating products;

the continued strength of our brands;

the breadth and depth of our active communities of users relative to our competitors;

our ability to evolve our products in response to our competitors' offerings, user requirements, social trends and the technological landscape;

our ability to continue to optimize our monetization strategies; and

the design and functionality of our products.

The majority of users in our category use multiple dating products at any given time, making our broad portfolio of brands a competitive advantage.

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Government regulation

We are subject to foreign and domestic laws and regulations that affect companies conducting business on the internet generally, including laws relating to the liability of providers of online services for their operations and the activities of their users. As a result, we could be subject to actions based on negligence, various torts and trademark and copyright infringement, among other actions. See "Risk factors—Risks relating to our business—Inappropriate actions by certain of our users could be attributed to us and damage our brands' reputation, which in turn could adversely affect our business" and "Risk factors—Risks relating to our business—We may fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or may be accused of infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties."

Because we receive, store and use a substantial amount of information received from or generated by our users, we are also impacted by laws and regulations governing privacy, use of personal data and data breaches, primarily in the case of our operations in the European Union. As a result, we could be subject to various private and governmental claims and actions. See "Risk factors—Risks relating to our business—Unauthorized access of personal data could give rise to liabilities as a result of governmental regulation, conflicting legal requirements or differing views of personal privacy rights."

As the provider of dating products with a membership-based element, we are also subject to laws and regulations in certain U.S. states and other countries that apply to our automatically-renewing membership payment models. Finally, certain U.S. states and certain countries in Asia have laws that specifically govern dating services.

Employees

As of September 30, 2015, we had approximately 1,500 full-time employees and approximately 3,300 part-time employees worldwide. Substantially all of our part-time employees are employed by our non-dating businesses and perform academic tutoring, test preparation and college counseling services. We are not subject to any collective bargaining agreements and believe that our relationship with our employees is good.

Intellectual property

We regard our intellectual property rights, including trademarks, domain names and other intellectual property, as critical to our success.

For example, we rely heavily upon the use of trademarks (primarily Match, Meetic, OkCupid, OurTime, Tinder and The Princeton Review, and associated domain names, taglines and logos) to market our dating products and applications and build and maintain brand loyalty and recognition. We have an ongoing trademark and service mark registration program, pursuant to which we register our brand names and product names, taglines and logos and renew existing trademark and service mark registrations in the United States and other jurisdictions to the extent we determine it to be necessary or otherwise appropriate and cost-effective. In addition, we have a trademark and service mark monitoring policy pursuant to which we monitor applications filed by third parties to register trademarks and service marks that may be confusingly similar to ours, as well as potential unauthorized use of our material trademarks and service marks. Our enforcement of this policy affords us valuable protection under current laws, rules and regulations. We also reserve and file registrations (to the extent available) and renew existing registrations for domain names that we believe are material to our business.

We also rely upon a combination of in-licensed third-party and proprietary trade secrets, including proprietary algorithms, and to a lesser extent, upon patented and patent-pending technologies, processes

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and features relating to our matching process systems or related features, products and services with expiration dates from 2025 to 2034. We have an ongoing invention recognition program pursuant to which we apply for patents to the extent we determine it to be necessary or otherwise appropriate and cost-effective.

We rely on a combination of internal and external controls, including applicable laws, rules and regulations and contractual restrictions with employees, contractors, customers, suppliers, affiliates and others, to establish, protect and otherwise control access to our various intellectual property rights.

Facilities

Our corporate headquarters are located in Dallas, Texas. We do not own any real property.

Our facilities, which we lease (in some cases, from IAC) both in the United States and abroad, consist of executive and administrative offices and data centers. Certain significant properties that we lease, all of which consist of executive and administrative offices, are described in the table immediately below.

Location
  Approximate Area
  Lease Expiration Date
  Use

Dallas, Texas

  50,000 square feet   September 30, 2016(1)   Corporate/Match headquarters

Paris, France

  41,000 square feet   December 31, 2021   Meetic headquarters

New York, New York

  11,000 square feet   October 31, 2017   OkCupid headquarters

West Hollywood, California

  14,000 square feet   December 31, 2016(2)   Tinder headquarters

Ghent, Belgium

  12,000 square feet   December 31, 2018   Twoo headquarters

(1)    In October 2015, we entered into a new lease for our Corporate/Match headquarters in Dallas, Texas, pursuant to which we have agreed to lease approximately 73,000 square feet through March 31, 2027. We will move our Corporate/Match headquarters to this space on or before the expiration of the lease related to our current space.

(2)    In October 2015, Tinder moved its headquarters to a building owned by IAC and intends to remain in this space pursuant to the services agreement following the completion of this offering. The original lease term runs through December 31, 2016, and will automatically renew unless terminated by either party.

We also lease space in four data centers: two for our North American, Latin American and Asian operations (one in North Dallas, Texas from a third party and another in Ashburn, Virginia from IAC), and two for our European operations (one in Paris, France and another in Zaventem, Belgium, both from third parties).

We believe that our current facilities are adequate to meet our ongoing needs. We also believe that, if we require additional space, we will be able to lease additional facilities on commercially reasonable terms.

Legal proceedings

From time to time, we are involved in various legal proceedings arising in the normal course of business activities, such as patent infringement claims, trademark oppositions and consumer or advertising complaints. Although the results of legal proceedings and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, we are not currently a party to any legal proceedings the outcome of which, we believe, if determined adversely to us, would individually or in the aggregate have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. See "Risk factors—Risks relating to our business—We are subject to litigation and adverse outcomes in such litigation could have an adverse effect on our financial condition."

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Management

Executive officers

The following table sets forth information as of the date of this prospectus regarding individuals who currently serve, and are expected to continue to serve following the completion of this offering, as our executive officers.

Name
  Age
  Current position

Gregory R. Blatt

    47   Chairman, Match Group

Sam Yagan

    38   Chief Executive Officer, Match Group

Gary Swidler

    45   Chief Financial Officer, Match Group

Amarnath Thombre

    42   Chief Strategy Officer, Match Group

Jeffrey Dawson

    40   Chief Financial Officer, Dating

Executive biographies

Gregory R. Blatt has been the Chairman of Match Group since December 2013. Prior to his current role, Mr. Blatt served as the Chief Executive Officer of IAC from December 2010 through December 2013, and prior to that as head of its Match segment and as its General Counsel. Prior to joining IAC, Mr. Blatt was General Counsel at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and an associate at the law firms Grubman Indursky & Shire and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. He has a B.A. from Colgate University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Sam Yagan has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Company since December 2013. Prior to that time, Mr. Yagan served as Chief Executive Officer of Match.com, Inc. since September 2012. Prior to that time, Mr. Yagan served as Chief Executive Officer of OkCupid, which he co-founded in May 2003 and IAC acquired in February 2011. Mr. Yagan also co-founded SparkNotes, an online provider of educational study guides, eDonkey, a file sharing network, and Techstars Chicago, a mentorship-driven startup accelerator. Mr. Yagan has an A.B. from Harvard College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Gary Swidler has served as Chief Financial Officer of Match Group since September 2015. Prior to that time, Mr. Swidler was a Managing Director and Head of the Financial Institutions Investment Banking Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch ("Merrill Lynch") from April 2014 to August 2015. Prior to that time, Mr. Swidler held a variety of positions at Merrill Lynch and its predecessors since 1997, most recently as Managing Director and Head of Specialty Finance from April 2009 to April 2014. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Swidler was an associate at the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Mr. Swidler has a BSE from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from NYU School of Law.

Amarnath Thombre has served as Chief Strategy Officer of Match Group, where he oversees the Company's strategy, research and analytics functions, since March 2015. Prior to that time, he served in a variety of roles at the Company, most recently as President, Match North America from April 2013 to March 2015 and prior to that time, as Senior Vice President and Vice President, Analytics. Prior to joining the Company in 2008, Mr. Thombre held various management and strategy roles at i2 Technologies, Inc., where he worked closely with multiple consumer businesses in order to drive the company's growth through supply chain innovation. Mr. Thombre holds an undergraduate degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai and a master's degree in Engineering from the University of Arizona.

Jeffrey Dawson has served as Chief Financial Officer of the Company's Dating business since May 2013. Prior to this time, Mr. Dawson served in a variety of finance related roles since joining the Company in

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2008, most recently as Vice President, Finance from January 2011 to April 2013, Director, Finance from February 2010 to December 2010 and Director, International Finance from February 2009 to January 2010. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Dawson served as a financial analyst for American Airlines and prior to joining American Airlines, served in a variety of roles for several technology startups. Mr. Dawson began his career as a management consultant at Price Waterhouse. Mr. Dawson holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business.

Match Group announced that it will be consolidating the roles of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman by the end of 2015, and that this position will be held by Gregory R. Blatt, the current Chairman. Sam Yagan will continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer until that time and is expected to continue to serve in a senior leadership position with the Company thereafter.

Board of directors upon completion of the offering

Upon the commencement of the trading of our common stock on NASDAQ, we expect our board of directors to have eight members, including Mr. Blatt, three IAC representatives and four directors who satisfy applicable director independence requirements (see "Director independence"). The following table sets forth information as of the date of this prospectus regarding individuals who are expected to serve as members of our board of directors upon commencement of the trading of our common stock on NASDAQ.

Name
  Age
 

Gregory R. Blatt

    47  

Sonali De Rycker

    42  

Joseph Levin

    36  

Thomas J. McInerney

    51  

Pamela S. Seymon

    60  

Alan G. Spoon

    64  

Mark Stein

    47  

Gregg Winiarski

    45  

Non-executive director biographies

Sonali De Rycker has served as a Partner at Accel Partners in London, a leading global venture firm, where she focuses on investments in the consumer internet and digital media sectors, since April 2008. Prior to her tenure at Accel, Ms. De Rycker was a Partner at Atlas Venture in London from August 2000 to April 2008, where she focused on investments in the internet and software service sectors. Prior to her venture capital work, Ms. De Rycker was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs from August 1995 to August 1998. Ms. De Rycker also has served as a director of IAC since September 2011 and serves on the boards of directors of a number of private consumer internet and other companies. In nominating Ms. De Rycker, the Board considered her private equity experience (particularly in the consumer internet and media sectors), which the Board believes gives her particular insight into investments in, and the development of, early stage companies, as well as her high level of financial literacy and expertise regarding mergers, acquisitions, investments and other strategic transactions.

Joseph Levin has served as Chief Executive Officer of IAC since June 2015 and prior to that time, served as Chief Executive Officer of IAC Search & Applications, overseeing the desktop software, mobile applications and media properties that comprise IAC's Search & Applications segment, since January 2012. From November 2009 to January 2012, Mr. Levin served as Chief Executive Officer of Mindspark Interactive Network, an IAC subsidiary that builds, markets and delivers a wide range of consumer software products,

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and previously served in various capacities at IAC in strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions and finance since joining IAC in 2003. Prior to joining IAC, Mr. Levin worked in the Technology Mergers & Acquisitions group for Credit Suisse First Boston (now Credit Suisse) advising public and private technology and e-commerce companies on a variety of transactions. Mr. Levin has served on the board of directors of IAC since June 2015 and served on the boards of directors of LendingTree, Inc., an online loan marketplace for consumers, from August 2008 through November 2014, and The Active Network, a provider of online registration software and event management software, beginning prior to its 2011 initial public offering through its sale in December 2013. In nominating Mr. Levin, the Board considered the unique knowledge and experience regarding the Match Group and its businesses that he has gained through his various roles with IAC since 2003, most recently his role as Chief Executive Officer of IAC, as well as his high level of financial literacy and expertise regarding mergers, acquisitions, investments and other strategic transactions.

Thomas J. McInerney served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of IAC from January 2005 to March 2012. From January 2003 through December 2005, he served as Chief Executive Officer of the retailing division of IAC, which included HSN, Inc. and Cornerstone Brands. From May 1999 to January 2003, Mr. McInerney served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Ticketmaster, formerly Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch, Inc., a live entertainment ticketing and marketing company. From 1986 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1999, Mr. McInerney worked at Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm, most recently as a Principal. Mr. McInerney has served on the board of directors of HSN, Inc. and Interval Leisure Group, Inc. since August 2008, on the board of directors of Yahoo! Inc. since April 2012, and on the board of directors of Cardlytics, Inc. since July 2015. In nominating Mr. McInerney, the Board considered his extensive senior leadership experience at IAC and his related knowledge and experience regarding the Match Group, as well as his expertise in finance, restructuring, mergers and acquisitions and operations and his public company board and committee experience.

Pamela S. Seymon was a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a New York law firm ("WLRK"), from January 1989 to January 2011, and prior to that time, was an associate at WLRK since 1982. During her tenure at WLRK, Ms. Seymon specialized in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, securities and corporate governance, and represented public and private corporations on offense as well as defense, in both friendly and unsolicited transactions. Ms. Seymon is a graduate of Wellesley College, where she was a Wellesley Scholar, and the New York University School of Law. In nominating Ms. Seymon, the Board considered her extensive experience representing public and private corporations in connection with a wide array of complex, sophisticated and high profile matters, as well as her high level of expertise regarding mergers, acquisitions, investments and other strategic transactions.

Alan G. Spoon has been a Partner at Polaris Partners (formerly Managing General Partner and now Partner Emeritus) since May 2000. Polaris is a private investment firm that provides venture capital and management assistance to development-stage information technology and life sciences companies. Mr. Spoon was Chief Operating Officer and a director of The Washington Post Company from March 1991 through May 2000 and served as President from September 1993 through May 2000. Prior to that, he held a wide variety of positions at The Washington Post Company, including President of Newsweek from September 1989 to May 1991. Mr. Spoon has served as a member of the board of directors of Danaher Corporation since July 1999, as a member of the board of directors of IAC since February 2003 and as a member of the board of Cable One since July 2015. In his not-for-profit affiliations, Mr. Spoon was a member of the Board of Regents at the Smithsonian Institution (formerly Vice Chairman) and is now a member of the MIT Corporation, where he also serves as a member of the board of directors of edX (an online education platform). In nominating Mr. Spoon, the Board considered his extensive private and public

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company board and committee experience and public company management experience, all of which the Board believes give him particular insight into business strategy, leadership and marketing. The Board also considered Mr. Spoon's private equity experience, which the Board believes gives him particular insight into trends in the internet and technology industries, as well as into acquisition strategy and finance.

Mark Stein has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of IAC since September 2015 and prior to that time, he served as both Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at IAC (since January 2008) and Chief Strategy Officer of IAC Search & Applications, the desktop software, mobile applications and media properties that comprise IAC's Search & Applications segment (since November 2012). Prior to his service in these roles, Mr. Stein served in several other capacities for IAC and its businesses, including as Chief Strategy Officer of Mindspark Interactive Network, an IAC subsidiary that builds, markets and delivers a wide range of consumer software products, from 2009 to 2012, and prior to that time as Executive Vice President of Corporate and Business Development of IAC Search & Media. Prior to his tenure at IAC, Mr. Stein served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Interactive Search Holdings, Inc. from its inception (as iWon.com) in 1999 through its acquisition by Ask Jeeves, Inc. (now Ask.com) in 2004, and then served as Executive Vice President of Corporate and Business Development at Ask Jeeves, Inc. prior to its acquisition by IAC in 2005. Earlier in his career, Mr. Stein was an attorney with Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, focusing on clients in the fields of entertainment, technology and professional sports. In nominating Mr. Stein, the Board considered the unique knowledge and experience that he has gained through his various roles with IAC since 2005, as well as his high level of financial and legal literacy, experience in operating a variety of online consumer service businesses, and expertise regarding investments, partnerships and other strategic transactions.

Gregg Winiarski has served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of IAC since February 2014 and previously served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of IAC from February 2009 to February 2014. Mr. Winiarski previously served as Associate General Counsel of IAC since February 2005, during which time he had primary responsibility for all legal aspects of IAC's mergers and acquisitions and other transactional work. Prior to joining IAC in February 2005, Mr. Winiarski was an associate with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, a global law firm, from 1996 to February 2005. Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Winiarski was a certified public accountant with Ernst & Young in New York. In nominating Mr. Winiarski, the Board considered the unique knowledge and experience regarding the Match Group and its businesses that he has gained through his various roles with IAC since 2005, most recently his role as Executive Vice President and General Counsel, as well as his high level of financial literacy and expertise regarding mergers, acquisitions, investments and other strategic transactions.

Corporate governance

Upon completion of this offering, IAC will continue to control a majority of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. As a result, we will be a "controlled company" under the Marketplace Rules. As a controlled company, we will be exempt from the obligation to comply with certain corporate governance requirements under the Marketplace Rules, including the requirements that:

a majority of our board of directors consists of "independent" directors, as defined under the Marketplace Rules;

we have a compensation committee that is composed entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee's purpose and responsibilities; and

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we have a nominating/governance committee that is composed entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee's purpose and responsibilities.

We do not currently intend to establish a separate nominating/governance committee, and nomination and corporate governance functions will be managed by the full board of directors until the Marketplace Rules change, we cease to be a "controlled company" or we otherwise determine to do so. The "controlled company" exemption does not modify the independence requirements for the audit committee, and we will comply with the requirements of the SEC and Marketplace Rules requiring that our audit committee be composed exclusively of independent directors.

Director independence

Pursuant to the Marketplace Rules, our board of directors will have a responsibility to make an affirmative determination that those members of our board of directors that serve as independent directors do not have any relationships with us and our businesses that would impair their independence. In addition to determining whether each director satisfies the independence requirements set forth in the Marketplace Rules, in the case of members of the Audit and Compensation Committees, our board will also have to make an affirmative determination that such members also satisfy separate independence requirements and current standards imposed by the SEC and Marketplace Rules for audit committee members and by the SEC, the Marketplace Rules and the Internal Revenue Service for compensation committee members. In connection with these determinations, our board will review information regarding transactions, relationships and arrangements involving us and our businesses and each director that we deem relevant to independence, including those required by the Marketplace Rules and the rules of the SEC and the Internal Revenue Service, as applicable. This information is obtained from director responses to a questionnaire that will be circulated by our management, our records and publicly available information. Following these determinations, our management will monitor those transactions, relationships and arrangements that are relevant to such determinations, as well as solicit updated information potentially relevant to independence from internal personnel and directors, in order to determine whether there have been any developments that could potentially have an adverse impact on our prior independence determinations.

Compensation Committee interlocks and insider participation

No member of our Compensation Committee is or has been one of our officers or employees, and none has any relationships with us of the type that is required to be disclosed under Item 404 of Regulation S-K. None of our executive officers serves or has served as a member of the board of directors, compensation committee or other board committee performing equivalent functions of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving as one of our directors or on our Compensation Committee.

Board committees

Our board of directors will establish standing committees in connection with the discharge of its responsibilities. Upon the commencement of the trading of our common stock on NASDAQ, these committees will include an Audit Committee and a Compensation Committee. Our board of directors also may establish such other committees as it deems appropriate, in accordance with applicable law and regulations and our corporate governance documents.

Audit Committee.    The Audit Committee will function pursuant to a written charter adopted by the board of directors. The Audit Committee will be appointed by the board to assist the board with a variety of matters described in its charter, which include monitoring: (i) the integrity of our financial statements, (ii) the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, (iii) the qualifications and

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independence of our independent registered public accounting firm, (iv) the performance of our internal audit function and independent registered public accounting firm, (v) our risk assessment and risk management policies as they relate to financial and other risk exposures and (vi) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. In fulfilling its purpose, the Audit Committee will maintains free and open communication among itself, our independent registered public accounting firm, our internal auditors and management.

Upon the commencement of the trading of our common stock on NASDAQ, the Audit Committee will be composed solely of members who satisfy the applicable independence and other requirements of the Marketplace Rules and the SEC for audit committees, and at least one of its members will be an "audit committee financial expert."

Compensation Committee.    The Compensation Committee will function pursuant to a written charter adopted by the board of directors. The Compensation Committee will be appointed by the board to assist the board with all matters relating to the compensation of our executive officers and will have overall responsibility for approving and evaluating all compensation plans, policies and programs of the company as they affect our executive officers. The Compensation Committee will have the ability to form and delegate authority to subcommittees, as well as delegate authority to one or more of its members. The Compensation Committee will also have the ability to delegate the authority to make grants of equity based compensation to eligible individuals (other than directors or executive officers) to one or more of our executive officers to the extent allowed under applicable law.

Upon the commencement of the trading of our common stock on NASDAQ, the Compensation Committee will be composed solely of members who satisfy the applicable independence and other requirements of the Marketplace Rules, the SEC and the Internal Revenue Service for compensation committee members.

Code of business conduct and ethics

Prior to the completion of this offering, our board of directors will adopt a code of business conduct and ethics, or the Code of Ethics, that will apply to all of our directors, officers and employees, including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer and persons performing similar functions. The Code of Ethics will be available upon written request to our corporate secretary or on our website, which we currently intend to make available at www.matchgroupinc.com following the completion of this offering. If we amend or grant any waiver from a provision of our Code of Ethics that applies to our executive officers, we will publicly disclose such amendment or waiver on our website and as required by applicable law, including by filing a Current Report on Form 8-K.

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Executive compensation

The following section provides compensation information pursuant to the scaled disclosure rules applicable to "emerging growth companies" under the rules of the SEC, including reduced narrative and tabular disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation.

Overview

This Executive compensation section sets forth certain information regarding total compensation earned by our named executives for the years set forth below, as well as equity awards held by our named executives on December 31, 2014. Our compensation packages for executive officers primarily consist of salary, annual bonuses, equity awards and, in certain instances, perquisites and other benefits. During the years covered in the tables below, our named executives were granted a mix of equity awards denominated in IAC equity and stock options and stock appreciation rights denominated in the equity of certain IAC subsidiaries, including Match Group, Inc. Information regarding these awards is included below.

Summary compensation table

Name and principal position
  Year
  Salary
($)

  Bonus
($)(1)

  Stock
awards
($)(2)

  Option
awards
($)(3)

  All other
compensation
($)(4)

  Total
($)

 

Gregory R. Blatt(5)

    2014   $ 500,000   $ 500,000       $ 7,398,118   $ 295,257   $ 8,693,375  

Chairman

    2013   $ 1,000,000   $ 2,500,000   $ 4,000,006   $ 4,016,742   $ 199,398   $ 11,716,146  

    2012   $ 1,000,000   $ 3,500,000           $ 172,318   $ 4,672,318  

Sam Yagan

   
2014
 
$

500,000
 
$

600,000
   
 
$

3,712,192
 
$

7,800
 
$

4,819,992
 

Chief Executive Officer

    2013   $ 500,000   $ 1,100,000           $ 7,650   $ 1,607,650  

    2012   $ 460,962   $ 550,000       $ 5,318,963   $ 7,500   $ 6,337,425  

Jeffrey Dawson

   
2014
 
$

250,000
 
$

175,000
   
 
$

376,599
 
$

14,754
 
$

816,353
 

Chief Financial Officer

    2013   $ 226,923   $ 225,000           $ 6,807   $ 458,730  

    2012   $ 189,615   $ 125,000       $ 448,808   $ 2,134   $ 765,557  

(1)    Annual bonuses are discretionary. The determination of bonus amounts is based on a non-formulaic assessment of factors that vary from year to year. In determining individual annual bonus amounts, we consider a variety of factors regarding the Company's overall performance, such as growth in profitability or achievement of strategic objectives by the Company, an individual's performance and contribution to the Company, and general bonus expectations previously established between the Company and the executive. We do not quantify the weight given to any specific element or otherwise follow a formulaic calculation; however, Company performance tends to be the dominant driver of the ultimate bonus amount. For 2014 bonuses, we considered a variety of factors, including year-over-year revenue and Adjusted EBITDA growth, levels of cash flow generated from operations, and certain strategic accomplishments.

(2)    Reflects the dollar value of IAC RSUs, calculated by multiplying the closing market price of IAC common stock on the grant date by the number of RSUs awarded.

(3)    These amounts represent the grant date fair value of awards granted in the year indicated, computed in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718, excluding the effect of estimated forfeitures. The grant date fair value of awards reflects an estimate as of the grant date and may not correspond to the actual value that will be recognized by the named executive officers. Option Awards granted in 2014 consist of options to purchase Match Group, Inc. common stock, or Match stock options, which were valued using a Black-Scholes option pricing model. The Black-Scholes model incorporates various assumptions, including expected volatility, expected term and risk-free interest rates. The expected stock price volatilities are estimated based on IAC's historical volatility. The risk-free interest rates are based on the U.S. Treasury yields for notes with comparable terms as the awards, in effect at the grant date. The expected term is based upon the mid-point of the first and last window for exercises. For option awards granted to the named executive officers during 2014, the Black-Scholes option pricing model assumptions were as follows:

Name
  Grant date
  Expected term
(years)

  Risk-free
interest rate

  Expected
volatility

  Assumed annual
dividend yield

G. Blatt

  1/20/14     5.00   1.6255%   30.427%   0%

S. Yagan

  2/11/14     3.47   0.9239%   28.778%   0%

J. Dawson

  2/11/14     3.47   0.9239%   28.778%   0%

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(4)   Additional information regarding all other compensation amounts for each named executive in 2014 is as follows:

 
  Gregory R.
Blatt

  Sam
Yagan

  Jeffrey
Dawson

 

Personal use of corporate aircraft(a)

  $ 9,957          

Dividend credits(b)

  $ 277,500       $ 6,954  

401(k) plan Company match

  $ 7,800   $ 7,800   $ 7,800  

Total

  $ 295,257   $ 7,800   $ 14,754  

(a)    Reflects the incremental cost for personal use of aircraft in which IAC has purchased a fractional ownership interest. We calculate the incremental cost to us for personal use of our aircraft based on the average variable operating costs to us. The variable costs are calculated by multiplying the hours flown for personal use by the hourly flight and fuel charges, plus airport arrival or departure fees, if applicable, and does not include monthly management fees for such aircraft.

(b)   Represents cash amounts paid upon the vesting of IAC RSUs in 2014 for dividends credited to unvested RSUs. The terms of IAC RSUs granted prior to January 1, 2012 provide that grantees are credited for ordinary cash dividends (in an amount equal to the number of unvested RSUs outstanding on the applicable dividend record date, multiplied by the applicable dividend rate). These amounts are paid in cash upon the vesting of the underlying IAC RSUs.

(5)    Information for 2012 and 2013 reflects compensation received by Mr. Blatt in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of IAC. Mr. Blatt was appointed as Chairman of The Match Group, a segment of IAC, in December 2013. In connection with this new role, in January 2014, an aggregate of 352,037 IAC stock options granted to Mr. Blatt in May 2013 were canceled and replaced with Match stock options, The Princeton Review stock appreciation rights and DailyBurn stock appreciation rights. The amount in the table reflects the incremental expense associated with this modification.

Outstanding equity awards at 2014 fiscal year-end

The table below provides information regarding IAC RSUs, IAC stock options and Match stock options held by our named executives on December 31, 2014. The Match stock options in the table give pro forma effect to estimated adjustments to be made to the Match stock options in connection with the distribution to be made by us to IAC, and to the recapitalization of our equity that will occur, in each case, immediately prior to the completion of this offering. The market value of the IAC RSU award is based on the closing price of IAC common stock on December 31, 2014 ($60.79).

 
  Option awards   Stock awards  
Name
  Number of
securities
underlying
unexercised
options
(#)

  Number of
securities
underlying
unexercised
options
(#)

  Option
exercise
price
($)

  Option
expiration
date

  Number of
shares or
units of stock
that have not
vested
(#)(1)

  Market value
of shares or
units of stock
that have not
vested
($)(1)

 
 
  (Exercisable)
  (Unexercisable)
   
   
   
   
 

Gregory R. Blatt(2)

                                     

Match stock options

    912,128       $ 4.16     2/16/20          

Match stock options

    1,373,266     2,746,532 (3) $ 11.22     5/2/23          

IAC RSUs

                    84,998   $ 5,167,028  

Sam Yagan

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

Match stock options

    1,681,736       $ 7.08     6/8/18          

Match stock options

    746,520     746,520 (4) $ 8.32     12/31/19          

Match stock options

        1,475,082 (5) $ 11.22     2/11/24          

IAC stock options

    25,000     25,000 (6) $ 35.62     6/8/21          

IAC stock options

    25,000     25,000 (7) $ 60.00     2/2/22          

IAC stock options

        50,000 (8) $ 49.18     10/3/22          

Jeffrey Dawson

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

Match stock options

    74,680     74,680 (4) $ 8.32     12/31/19          

Match stock options

        149,646 (5) $ 11.22     2/11/24          

(1)    Mr. Blatt held 84,998 IAC RSUs on December 31, 2014 which were granted on May 3, 2013. One-half of the RSUs vested on May 3, 2015 and the other half will vest on May 3, 2016, subject to continued employment. No other named executive held any IAC RSUs on December 31, 2014.

(2)    In connection with Mr. Blatt's employment arrangement for his role as Chairman of The Match Group, an aggregate of 352,037 IAC stock options granted to Mr. Blatt in May 2013 were canceled and replaced with Match stock options, The Princeton Review stock appreciation rights and DailyBurn stock appreciation rights, which awards have exercise prices equal to the fair market value on the grant date. The table above excludes The Princeton Review and DailyBurn stock appreciation rights. One-third of each of these awards vested on December 18, 2014, and another one-third will vest on each of December 18, 2015 and 2016, subject to continued employment. The Match Group, The Princeton Review and DailyBurn awards provide for (i) the acceleration of vesting upon the earlier of a change in control of the issuer of such award or a

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change in control of IAC at a time during which the issuer of the award is a controlled subsidiary of IAC, (ii) the acceleration of vesting of any awards that would have vested during the twelve months following the date of his involuntary termination of employment, and (iii) an 18-month period to exercise all vested options following the date of his involuntary termination of employment. Prior to this offering, the Match stock options and The Princeton Review and DailyBurn stock appreciation rights are settlable in shares of IAC common stock. Upon completion of this offering, the Match stock options will be exercisable for shares of our common stock, and The Princeton Review stock appreciation rights will be settlable, at IAC's election, in shares of IAC common stock or in shares of our common stock. See "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations—Critical accounting policies—Stock-based compensation."

(3)    These Match options vest in two equal installments on December 18, 2015 and 2016, subject to continued employment.

(4)   These Match options vest on December 31, 2015, subject to continued employment.

(5)    These Match options vest in two equal installments on December 31, 2015 and 2016, subject to continued employment.

(6)   These IAC options vested on June 8, 2015.

(7)    These IAC options vested/vest in two equal installments on February 2, 2015 and 2016, subject to continued employment.

(8)   These IAC options vest in two equal installments on October 3, 2015 and 2016, subject to continued employment.

Compensatory arrangements for certain executive officers

On November 17, 2015, we increased the base salary of Gregory Blatt, our Chairman, to $1,000,000 per annum, which such increase shall be effective upon Mr. Blatt assuming the consolidated role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at the end of 2015. During the term of his employment as Chairman and Chief Executive, Mr. Blatt will remain eligible to receive discretionary cash bonuses, equity awards and such other employee benefits as may be reasonably determined by the compensation committee of our board of directors.

In addition, following the pricing of the offering, Mr. Blatt will receive a stock option to purchase 3.5 million of our shares, with a per share exercise price equal to the offering price. The option will vest in four equal annual installments on the first, second, third and fourth anniversaries of the grant date, subject to Mr. Blatt's continued employment. The vesting of one-half of the shares covered by the option will also be subject to a requirement that our stock price equal or exceed 133% of the offering price for twenty consecutive trading days during the term of the option.

On September 8, 2015, we appointed Gary Swidler as our Chief Financial Officer. In connection with his employment, Mr. Swidler will be eligible to receive an annual base salary (currently $500,000), discretionary annual cash bonuses with a target of $700,000 per annum (and he will receive a guaranteed bonus of no less than $700,000 for 2015), equity awards and such other employee benefits as may be reasonably determined by the compensation committee of our board of directors.

In addition, Mr. Swidler received a grant of: (i) Match stock options with an exercise price equal to the fair market value of a share of our common stock on the date of grant, and vesting in four equal annual installments on the first, second, third and fourth anniversaries of the grant date; and (ii) Match restricted stock units, vesting in three equal installments on the first, second and third anniversaries of the grant date. After giving effect to the recapitalization of our equity that will occur prior to completion of this offering, and the distributions to be made by us to IAC, this award will represent approximately 1.25 million options and 102,158 restricted stock units.

Compensation risk assessment

In connection with this offering, our board of directors has reviewed the potential risks associated with the structure and design of our various compensation plans, including a comprehensive review of the material compensation plans and programs for all employees. Our board of directors has concluded that our compensation plans and programs operate within our larger corporate governance and review structure that serves and supports risk mitigation and discourages excessive or unnecessary risk-taking behavior.

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2015 Stock and Annual Incentive Plan

Prior to the completion of this offering, Match expects to adopt a stock and annual incentive plan which will be effective upon completion of the IPO and will have terms substantially as set forth below.

Overview

The purpose of the Match Group, Inc. 2015 Stock and Annual Incentive Plan, or the 2015 Plan, is to give the Company a competitive advantage in attracting, retaining and motivating officers and employees and to provide them with incentives that are directly linked to the future growth and profitability of Match Group and its businesses.

The 2015 Plan will replace the Amended and Restated 2009 Match.com, Inc. Equity Incentive Program and the Amended and Restated Match Group, Inc. 2014 Incentive Plan, which we refer to as the Prior Plans, and the Prior Plans will be automatically terminated and replaced and superseded by the 2015 Plan. Any awards granted under the Prior Plans, which we refer to as Prior Plan Awards will remain in effect pursuant to their terms under the 2015 Plan.

The 2015 Plan also will cover any shares of our common stock that may be delivered in settlement of equity awards in certain subsidiaries within Match Group, Inc. that are outstanding as of the date of this prospectus. For purposes of this summary, we refer to these awards as "Subsidiary Equity Awards." For a description of these Subsidiary Equity Awards, see "Note 8—Stock-based compensation" to our historical financial statements contained elsewhere in this prospectus. See also "Certain relationships and related party transactions—Employee matters agreement" and "Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations—Critical accounting policies—Stock-based compensation."

The 2015 Plan also will cover any awards relating to IAC common stock that may be converted into awards relating to our common stock in the event that Match Group is spun off from IAC. For purposes of this summary, we refer to these awards as "Adjusted Awards."

Summary of terms of the 2015 Plan

The principal features of the 2015 Plan are described below. This summary is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the 2015 Plan, a copy of which has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.

Administration.    The 2015 Plan will be administered by the Compensation Committee of our board of directors (or such other committee of our board of directors may from time to time designate). Among other things, the Compensation Committee will have the authority to select individuals to whom awards may be granted, to determine the types of awards (as well as the number of shares of common stock to be covered by each such award) granted and to determine and modify the terms and conditions of any such awards.

Eligibility.    In addition to any individuals who hold Prior Plan Awards, Subsidiary Equity Awards and/or Adjusted Awards at any time, current or prospective officers, employees, directors and consultants of Match Group and its subsidiaries and affiliates (other than IAC and its subsidiaries and affiliates) will be eligible to be granted awards under the 2015 Plan.

Shares Subject to the 2015 Plan.    The aggregate number of shares of our common stock that may be delivered to satisfy awards under the 2015 Plan cannot exceed 20,000,000 shares, plus the number of shares delivered to satisfy Prior Plan Awards, Subsidiary Equity Awards and Adjusted Awards. No participant may be granted, in each case, during any calendar year: (i) performance-based awards (other than stock options and stock appreciation rights, or SARs) intended to qualify under Section 162(m) of the

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Internal Revenue Code, or the Code, covering in excess of 10,000,000 shares; or (ii) stock options and SARs covering in excess of 10,000,000 shares. The maximum number of shares that may be granted pursuant to incentive stock options is 10,000,000. The foregoing share limits are subject to adjustment in certain circumstances by the Compensation Committee to prevent dilution or enlargement.

The shares subject to grant under the 2015 Plan will be made available from authorized but unissued shares or from treasury shares, as determined from time to time by the Board. Other than with respect to Prior Plan Awards and Adjusted Awards, to the extent that any award is forfeited or any stock option or SAR terminates, expires or lapses without being exercised or any award is settled for cash, the shares underlying such awards will again be available for awards under the 2015 Plan. If the exercise price of any stock option and/or the tax withholding obligations relating to any award are satisfied by delivering shares (by either actual delivery or by attestation), only the number of shares issued net of the shares delivered or attested to will be deemed delivered for purposes of the limits in the 2015 Plan. To the extent any shares subject to an award are withheld to satisfy the exercise price (in the case of a stock option) and/or the tax withholding obligations relating to such award, such shares are not deemed to have been delivered for purposes of the limits set forth in the plan.

Stock Options and SARs.    Stock options granted under the 2015 Plan can either be incentive stock options, or ISOs, or nonqualified stock options. SARs granted under the 2015 Plan can be granted either alone or in tandem with a stock option. The exercise price of options and SARs cannot be less than 100% of the fair market value of the stock underlying the options or SARs on the date of grant. Stock options and SARs cannot be repriced without stockholder approval. Optionees may pay the exercise price in cash or, if approved by the Compensation Committee, in shares (valued at their fair market value on the date of exercise) or a combination thereof, or by way of a "cashless exercise" through a broker approved by the Company or by withholding shares otherwise receivable on exercise.

The term of stock options and SARs are as determined by the Compensation Committee, but a stock option may not have a term longer than ten years from the date of grant. The Compensation Committee determines the vesting and exercise schedule of stock options and SARs, which the Compensation Committee may waive or accelerate at any time, and the extent to which they will be exercisable after the award holder's employment terminates. Generally, unvested stock options and SARs will terminate upon the termination of employment, and vested stock options and SARs will remain exercisable for one year after the award holder's death, disability or retirement and 90 days after the award holder's termination for any other reason. Vested stock options and SARs also terminate upon the optionee's termination for cause. Stock options and SARs are transferable only by will or by the laws of descent and distribution or pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order or, in the case of nonqualified stock options or SARs, as otherwise expressly permitted by the Compensation Committee, including, if so permitted, pursuant to a transfer to the participant's family members or to a charitable organization, whether directly or indirectly or by means of a trust or partnership or otherwise.

Restricted Stock.    The 2015 Plan provides for the award of shares that are subject to forfeiture and restrictions on transferability as set forth in the 2015 Plan and as may be otherwise determined by the Compensation Committee. Except for these restrictions and unless otherwise determined by the Compensation Committee, upon the grant of a restricted stock award, the recipient will have rights of a stockholder with respect to the underlying restricted stock, including the right to vote the restricted stock and to receive all dividends and other distributions paid or made with respect to such restricted stock on such terms as are set forth in the applicable award agreement. Unless otherwise determined by the Compensation Committee: (i) cash dividends on the shares that are the subject of the restricted stock award shall be automatically reinvested in additional restricted stock, held subject to the vesting of the underlying restricted stock; and (ii) dividends payable in shares shall be paid in the form of additional

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restricted stock, held subject to the vesting of the underlying restricted stock. Restricted stock granted under the 2015 Plan may or may not be subject to performance conditions. During the restriction period set by the Compensation Committee, the recipient may not sell, transfer, pledge, exchange or otherwise encumber the restricted stock. Generally, all shares of unvested restricted stock shall be forfeited upon the award holder's termination, unless otherwise agreed or the Compensation Committee waives such forfeiture.

RSUs.    The 2015 Plan authorizes the committee to grant restricted stock units, or RSUs. RSUs are awards denominated in shares that will be settled, subject to the terms and conditions of the RSUs, in an amount in cash, shares or both, based upon the fair market value of a specified number of shares. RSUs are not shares of our common stock and do not entitle the recipients to the rights of a stockholder. The award agreement for RSUs will specify whether, to what extent and on what terms and conditions the participant will be entitled to receive current or delayed payments of cash, shares or other property corresponding to the dividends payable on the shares. RSUs granted under the 2015 Plan may or may not be subject to performance conditions. The recipient may not sell, transfer, pledge or otherwise encumber RSUs granted under the 2015 Plan prior to their vesting. Generally, all shares of unvested RSUs shall be forfeited upon the award holder's termination, unless otherwise agreed or the Compensation Committee waives such forfeiture.

Other Stock-Based Awards.    Other stock-based and other awards that are valued in whole or in part by reference to, or are otherwise based on, shares, including unrestricted stock, dividend equivalents and convertible debentures, may be granted under the 2015 Plan. Shares covered by the 2015 Plan may be used to satisfy obligations with respect to equity-based awards that correspond to shares of subsidiaries of the Match Group.

Cash-Based Awards.    Cash-based awards may be granted under the 2015 Plan. No participant may be granted cash-based awards that have an aggregate maximum payment value in any calendar year in excess of $10.0 million if the awards are intended to qualify as tax-deductible performance-based compensation under Section 162(m) of the Code.

Performance Goals.    The 2015 Plan provides that performance goals may be established by the Compensation Committee in connection with the grant of any award under the 2015 Plan. In the case of an award intended to qualify for the performance-based compensation exception of Section 162(m) of the Code, such goals will be based on the attainment of specified levels of one or more of the following measures: specified levels of earnings per share from continuing operations, net profit after tax, EBITDA, EBITA, gross profit, cash generation, unit volume, market share, sales, asset quality, earnings per share, operating income, revenues, return on assets, return on operating assets, return on equity, profits, total stockholder return (measured in terms of stock price appreciation and/or dividend growth), cost saving levels, marketing-spending efficiency, core non-interest income, change in working capital, return on capital, and/or stock price, with respect to the Company or any subsidiary, affiliate, division or department of the Company.

Change in Control.    Unless otherwise provided by the Compensation Committee in an award agreement or otherwise, in the event that, during the two-year period following a change in control, a participant's employment is terminated by Match Group (other than for cause or disability) or a participant resigns for good reason:

any stock options and SARs outstanding as of the date of termination of employment that were outstanding as of the date of the change in control will become fully exercisable and vested and will remain exercisable for the greater of: (i) the period that they would remain exercisable absent the

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    change in control provision and (ii) the lesser of the original term or one year following such termination of employment;

the restrictions applicable to restricted stock awards will lapse, and such restricted stock will become free of all restrictions and fully vested and transferable; and

all RSUs will be considered to be earned and payable in full, any restrictions will lapse and such RSUs will be settled in cash or shares as promptly as practicable.

The Compensation Committee or Board may provide for different treatment in the event of a change in control, including the vesting of awards upon a change in control.

Amendment and Discontinuance.    The 2015 Plan may be amended, altered or discontinued by the Board, but no amendment, alteration or discontinuance may impair the rights of an optionee under a stock option award or a recipient of a SAR award, restricted stock award, RSU award or cash-based award previously granted without the consent of the optionee or recipient. Amendments to the 2015 Plan will require stockholder approval to the extent such approval is required by law or the listing standards of the applicable exchange. The 2015 Plan will terminate on the ten-year anniversary of the completion of the IPO.

U.S. federal income tax consequences

The following is a summary of certain federal income tax consequences of awards made under the 2015 Plan based upon the laws in effect as of the date of this prospectus. The discussion is general in nature and does not take into account a number of considerations which may apply in light of the circumstances of a particular participant under the 2015 Plan. The income tax consequences under applicable state and local tax laws may not be the same as under federal income tax laws.

Non-Qualified Stock Options.    A participant will not recognize taxable income when a non-qualified stock option is granted and we will not be entitled to a tax deduction at such time. A participant will recognize compensation taxable as ordinary income (and subject to income tax withholding in the case of employees) upon the exercise of a non-qualified stock option in an amount equal to the excess of the fair market value of the shares purchased over their exercise price, and we generally will be entitled to a corresponding deduction.

Incentive Stock Options.    A participant will not recognize taxable income when an incentive stock option is granted. A participant will not recognize taxable income (except for purposes of the alternative minimum tax) upon the exercise of an incentive stock option. If the shares acquired upon the exercise of an incentive stock option are held for the longer of two years from the date the stock option was granted and one year from the date the shares were transferred, any gain or loss arising from a subsequent disposition of such shares will be taxed as long-term capital gain or loss, and we will not be entitled to any deduction. If, however, such shares are disposed of within such two- or one-year periods, then in the year of such disposition, the participant will recognize compensation taxable as ordinary income in an amount equal to the excess of the lesser of the amount realized upon such disposition and the fair market value of such shares on the date of exercise over the exercise price, and we generally will be entitled to a corresponding deduction. The excess of the amount realized through the disposition date over the fair market value of the stock on the exercise date will be treated as capital gain.

SARs.    A participant will not recognize taxable income when a SAR is granted and we will not be entitled to a tax deduction at such time. Upon the exercise of a SAR, a participant will recognize compensation taxable as ordinary income (and subject to income tax withholding in the case of employees) in an amount

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equal to the fair market value of any shares delivered and the amount of cash paid by us, and we generally will be entitled to a corresponding deduction.

Restricted Stock.    A participant will not recognize taxable income at the time shares of restricted stock are granted and we will not be entitled to a tax deduction at such time, unless the participant makes an election under Section 83(b) of the Code to be taxed at grant. If such an election is made, the participant will recognize compensation taxable as ordinary income (and subject to income tax withholding in the case of employees) at the time of the grant in an amount equal to the excess of the fair market value of the shares at such time over the amount, if any, paid for such shares. If such an election is not made, the participant will recognize compensation taxable as ordinary income (and subject to income tax withholding in the case of employees) at the time the restrictions lapse in an amount equal to the excess of the fair market value of the shares at such time over the amount, if any, paid for such shares. The Company is entitled to a corresponding deduction at the time the ordinary income is recognized by the participant, except to the extent the deduction limits of Section 162(m) of the Code apply. In addition, a participant receiving dividends with respect to restricted stock for which the above-described election has not been made and prior to the time the restrictions lapse will recognize compensation taxable as ordinary income (and subject to income tax withholding in the case of employees), rather than dividend income. The Company will be entitled to a corresponding deduction, except to the extent the deduction limits of Section 162(m) of the Code apply.

Restricted Stock Units.    A participant will not recognize taxable income when restricted stock units are granted, and we will not be entitled to a tax deduction at such time. A participant will recognize compensation taxable as ordinary income (and subject to income tax withholding in the case of employees) at the time of settlement of the award equal to the fair market value of any shares delivered and the amount of cash paid by us, and we will be entitled to a corresponding deduction, except to the extent the deduction limits of Section 162(m) of the Code apply.

Section 162(m) Limitations.    As explained above, Section 162(m) of the Code generally places a $1 million annual limit on a Company's tax deduction for compensation paid to certain senior executives, other than compensation that qualifies as "performance-based compensation," as defined under Section 162(m) of the Code. The 2015 Plan is designed so that stock options and SARs qualify for this exemption, and it also permits the Compensation Committee to grant other awards designed to qualify for this exception. However, the Compensation Committee reserves the right to grant awards that do not qualify for this exception, and, in some cases, the exception may cease to be available for some or all awards that otherwise so qualify. Thus, it is possible that Section 162(m) of the Code may disallow compensation deductions that would otherwise be available to the Company.

The foregoing general tax discussion is intended for the information of stockholders and not as tax guidance to participants in the 2015 Plan. Participants are strongly urged to consult their own tax advisors regarding the federal, state, local, foreign and other tax consequences to them of participating in the 2015 Plan.

Subsidiary Stock Awards

IAC has granted equity awards in certain subsidiaries within Match Group, Inc. to certain employees. For a description of these subsidiary equity awards, see "Note 8—Stock-based compensation" to our historical financial statements contained elsewhere in this prospectus.

Pursuant to an employee matters agreement that we will enter into with IAC upon the closing of this offering, these equity awards will vest over a period of years and are settleable, at IAC's option, in shares of IAC's common stock or in shares of our common stock. To the extent shares of IAC common stock are issued, we will reimburse IAC for the cost of these shares by issuing IAC additional shares of our common stock. See "Certain relationships and related party transactions—Post-offering relationship with IAC—Employee matters agreement."

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Principal stockholders

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock and Class B common stock immediately prior to and following the completion of this offering for:

each person known by us to beneficially own more than 5% of our capital stock;
each executive officer named in the Summary Compensation Table under "Executive compensation";
each of our directors; and
all of our directors and executive officers as a group.

Beneficial ownership for the purposes of the following table is determined in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC. These rules generally provide that a person is the beneficial owner of securities if they have or share the power to vote or direct the voting thereof, or to dispose or direct the disposition thereof or have the right to acquire such powers within 60 days following the date of this prospectus. Accordingly, the following table does not include equity awards that are not exercisable (or do not vest) within the next 60 days nor any shares of common stock that our directors and executive officers may purchase in this offering, including through the directed share program described in "Underwriting—Directed share program."

For each listed holder, the number of shares of our common stock and percent of such class listed assumes the conversion or exercise of any Match equity securities owned by such holder that are or will become convertible or exercisable, and the vesting of any Match equity awards that will vest, within 60 days of the date of this prospectus, but does not assume the conversion, exercise or vesting of any Match equity securities owned by any other holder. Shares of Class B common stock may, at the option of the holder, be converted on a one-for-one basis into shares of our common stock. The percentage of votes for all classes of capital stock is based on one vote for each share of our common stock and ten votes for each share of our Class B common stock.

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The address of each director and executive officer shown in the table below is c/o Match Group, Inc., 8300 Douglas Avenue, Suite 800, Dallas, TX 75225.

 
  Beneficial ownership before this
offering(1)(3)
  Beneficial ownership after this
offering(2)(3)
 
 
  Shares of
common
stock
beneficially
owned
  Shares of
Class B
common
stock
beneficially
owned
  Total   Shares of
common
stock
beneficially
owned
  Shares of
Class B
common
stock
beneficially
owned
  Total  
 
  Number
  Number
  Number
  %
  Number
  Number
  Number
  %
 

Greater than 5% stockholders

                                                 

IAC/InterActiveCorp. 

    206,714,274         206,714,274     100 %       206,714,274     206,714,274     86.1 %

Executive officers and directors

                                                 

Gregory R. Blatt

    3,658,660 (4)       3,658,660 (4)   *     3,658,660 (4)       3,658,660 (4)   1.5 %

Sam Yagan

    3,912,317 (5)       3,912,317 (5)   *     3,912,317 (5)       3,912,317 (5)   1.6 %

Gary Swidler

                                 

Amarnath Thombre

    441,099 (6)       441,099 (6)   *     441,099 (6)       441,099 (6)   **  

Jeffrey Dawson

    224,183 (7)       224,183 (7)   *     224,183 (7)       224,183 (7)   **  

Sonali De Rycker

                                 

Joseph Levin

                                 

Thomas J. McInerney

                                 

Pamela S. Seymon

                                 

Alan G. Spoon

                                 

Mark Stein

                                 

Gregg Winiarski

                                 

All directors and executive officers, as a group (12 persons)

    214,950,533         214,950,533     100 %   8,236,259     206,714,274     214,950,533     86.6 %

*      Prior to this offering, Match options were settled in shares of common stock of IAC. Accordingly, regardless of the number of Match options outstanding, IAC owned 100% of the shares of our common stock outstanding prior to this offering.

**     Represents less than one percent of our total shares outstanding.

(1)    The number of shares of our Class B common stock held by IAC reflects 38,461,538 additional shares to be issued in connection with the completion of PlentyOfFish acquisition.

(2)    Assumes that the underwriters will not exercise their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock.

(3)    Share and option numbers are adjusted to reflect the reclassification of each share of our common stock outstanding immediately prior to this offering into 16 shares.

(4)   Consists of 2,285,394 vested Match options and 1,373,266 Match options vesting in the next 60 days, subject to continued service.

(5)    Consists of 2,428,256 vested Match options and 1,484,061 Match options vesting in the next 60 days, subject to continued service.

(6)   Consists entirely of 142,520 vested Match options and 298,579 Match options vesting in the next 60 days, subject to continued service.

(7)    Consists of 74,680 vested Match options and 149,503 Match options vesting in the next 60 days, subject to continued service.

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Description of capital stock

The following is a summary of our capital stock and certain terms of our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws. This discussion summarizes some of the important rights of our stockholders but does not purport to be a complete description of these rights and may not contain all of the information regarding our capital stock that is important to you. The descriptions herein are qualified in their entirety by reference to our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, copies of which have been filed with the SEC as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.

General

Upon the completion of this offering, our certificate of incorporation will authorize us to issue up to 1,500,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share, 1,500,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, $0.001 par value per share, 1,500,000,000 shares of Class C common stock, $0.001 par value per share, and 500,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.001 par value per share. Immediately following the completion of this offering, we will have 33,333,333 shares of common stock outstanding (or 38,333,333 shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of common stock in this offering) and 206,714,274 shares of Class B common stock outstanding. There will be no shares of Class C common stock or preferred stock outstanding immediately following this offering.

The following description summarizes the material terms of our securities. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you.

Capital stock

Common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock

The rights of holders of our common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock will be identical, except for the differences described below under the headings "Voting rights," "Dividend rights" and "Conversion rights." Any authorized but unissued shares of our common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock will be available for issuance by our board of directors without any further stockholder action.

Voting rights.    Holders of common stock will be entitled to one vote per share on all matters to be voted upon by the stockholders. Holders of Class B common stock will be entitled to ten votes per share on all matters to be voted upon by stockholders. Holders of Class C common stock will not be entitled to any votes per share (except as, and then only to the extent, otherwise required by the laws of the State of Delaware, in which case holders of Class C common stock will be entitled to one one-hundredth (1/100) of a vote per share). None of the holders of our common stock, Class B common stock or Class C common stock will have cumulative voting rights in the election of directors.

Dividend rights.    Holders of common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock will be entitled to ratably receive dividends if, as and when declared from time to time by our board of directors at its own discretion out of funds legally available for that purpose, after payment of dividends required to be paid on outstanding preferred stock, if any. Under Delaware law, we can only pay dividends either out of "surplus" or out of the current or the immediately preceding year's net profits. Surplus is defined as the excess, if any, at any given time, of the total assets of a corporation over its total liabilities and statutory capital. The value of a corporation's assets can be measured in a number of ways and may not necessarily equal their book value.

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In a share distribution of our capital stock or our other securities or the capital stock or other securities of another person or entity, we may choose to distribute: (i) identical securities, on an equal per share basis, to holders of our common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock or (ii) a class or series of securities to the holders of one or more classes of our capital stock and a different class or series of securities to the holders of another class or classes of our capital stock, in each case on an equal per share basis, provided that, in the case of clause (ii), the different classes or series to be distributed are not different in any respect other than their relative voting rights (and any related differences in designation, conversion and share distribution provisions, as applicable), with holders of shares of our Class B common stock receiving the securities having the higher voting rights.

Conversion rights.    Shares of our Class B common stock will be convertible into shares of our common stock at the option of the holder thereof at any time on a share for share basis. Such conversion ratio will in all events be equitably preserved in the event of any recapitalization of Match Group by means of a stock dividend on, or a stock split or combination of, our outstanding common stock or Class B common stock, or in the event of any merger, consolidation or other reorganization of Match Group with another corporation. Upon the conversion of a share of our Class B common stock into a share of our common stock, the applicable share of Class B common stock will be retired and will not be subject to reissue. Shares of common stock and Class C common stock will have no conversion rights.

Liquidation rights.    Upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of our common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock are entitled to receive ratably the assets available for distribution to the stockholders after payment of all liabilities and accrued but unpaid dividends and liquidation preferences on any outstanding preferred stock.

Other matters.    Our common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock will have no preemptive rights pursuant to the terms of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws. There will be no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to our common stock, Class B common stock or Class C common stock. All outstanding shares of our Class B common stock will be fully paid and non-assessable, and the shares of our common stock offered in this offering, upon payment and delivery in accordance with the underwriting agreement, will be fully paid and non-assessable.

Preferred stock

Pursuant to our certificate of incorporation, shares of preferred stock will be issuable from time to time, in one or more series, with the designations of the series, the voting rights of the shares of the series (if any), the powers, preferences and relative, participation, optional or other special rights (if any), and any qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof as our board of directors from time to time may adopt by resolution (and without further stockholder approval), subject to certain limitations. Each series will consist of that number of shares as will be stated and expressed in the certificate of designations providing for the issuance of the stock of the series.

Anti-takeover effects of certain provisions of Delaware law, our certificate of incorporation and bylaws

Certain provisions of Delaware law and certain provisions that will be included in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws summarized below may be deemed to have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, deter or prevent a tender offer or takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider to be in its best interests, including attempts that might result in a premium being paid over the market price for the shares held by stockholders.

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Preferred stock

Under the DGCL, the certificate of incorporation of a corporation may give the board the right to issue new classes of preferred shares with voting, conversion, dividend distribution and other rights to be determined by the board at the time of issuance. Our certificate of incorporation gives our board this right.

Multi-class structure

As discussed above, our Class B common stock has ten votes per share, while our common stock, which is the class of stock we are selling in this offering and which will be the only class of stock which is publicly traded, has one vote per share. Our Class C common stock, of which no shares will be outstanding immediately following this offering, will not have any voting rights. Because of our multi-class structure, IAC will be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval even if it owns significantly less than 50% of our total outstanding capital stock. This concentrated control could discourage others from initiating any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transaction that other stockholders may view as beneficial.

In addition, IAC is permitted to transfer its capital stock to third parties, including through a sale or a distribution of IAC's capital stock to IAC's stockholders. In a distribution, IAC may choose to distribute our Class B common stock only to holders of IAC's high-vote Class B common stock, and to distribute our common stock to holders of IAC's low-vote common stock. Any such transfer or distribution could result in persons other than IAC having a significant portion of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock relative to their equity interest.

Classified board

The DGCL generally provides for a one-year term for directors, but permits directorships to be divided into up to three classes with up to three-year terms, with the years for each class expiring in different years, if permitted by the certificate of incorporation, an initial bylaw or a bylaw adopted by the stockholders. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws will provide for one-year terms for directors.

Removal of directors

Under the DGCL, except in the case of a corporation with a classified board or with cumulative voting, any director or the entire board may be removed, with or without cause, by the holders of a majority of the shares entitled to vote at an election of directors. A director elected to serve a term on a "classified" board may not be removed by stockholders without cause.

Our bylaws will provide that any director or the entire board may at any time be removed with or without cause by the vote of a majority of the voting power of our shares of stock issued and outstanding.

Director vacancies

The DGCL provides that vacancies and newly created directorships may be filled by a majority of the directors then in office (even though less than a quorum) or by a sole remaining director unless (a) otherwise provided in the certificate of incorporation or bylaws of the corporation or (b) the certificate of incorporation directs that a particular class of stock is to elect such director, in which case a majority of the other directors elected by such class, or a sole remaining director elected by such class, will fill such vacancy.

Our bylaws will provide that vacancies may be filled by the vote of a majority of the remaining directors or a majority of the voting power of our shares stock issued and outstanding.

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No cumulative voting

Cumulative voting for elections of directors is not permitted unless the corporation's certificate of incorporation specifically provides for it. Our certificate of incorporation will not provide for cumulative voting.

Special meetings of stockholders

Under the DGCL, a special meeting of stockholders may be called by the board of directors or by such persons authorized in the certificate of incorporation or the bylaws.

Our bylaws will provide that special meetings of the stockholders may be called by the Chairman of our board of directors or by a majority of our board of directors.

Action by written consent

Under the DGCL, unless otherwise provided in the corporation's certificate of incorporation, any action required or permitted to be taken at any annual or special meeting of stockholders of a corporation may be taken without a meeting, without prior notice and without a vote, if one or more consents in writing, setting forth the action to be so taken, are signed by the holders of outstanding stock having not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize or take such action at a meeting at which all shares entitled to vote thereon were present and voted.

Our certificate of incorporation will not restrict the ability of stockholders to act by written consent, provided such consent is signed in writing by the holders of our outstanding capital stock having not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize or take such action at a meeting at which all shares entitled to vote thereon were present and voted.

Amending our certificate of incorporation and bylaws

Under the DGCL, a certificate of incorporation may be amended if: (i) the board of directors adopts a resolution setting forth the proposed amendment, declares the advisability of the amendment and directs that it be submitted to a vote at a meeting of stockholders; provided that unless required by the certificate of incorporation, no meeting or vote is required to adopt an amendment for certain specified changes; and (ii) the holders of a majority of shares of stock entitled to vote on the matter approve the amendment, unless the certificate of incorporation requires the vote of a greater number of shares. If a class vote on the amendment is required by the DGCL, a majority of the outstanding stock of the class is required, unless a greater proportion is specified in the certificate of incorporation or by other provisions of the DGCL. Our certificate of incorporation will provide that the rights of our Class B common stock may not be amended, altered, changed or repealed without the approval of the requisite number of said shares of Class B common stock.

Under the DGCL, the board of directors may amend a corporation's bylaws if so authorized in the certificate of incorporation. The stockholders of a Delaware corporation also have the power to amend bylaws.

Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws will allow our board of directors to amend our bylaws by the affirmative vote of a majority of all directors.

Authorized but unissued shares

Delaware companies are permitted to authorize shares but not issue such shares. Our unissued shares of common stock, Class B common stock, Class C common stock and preferred stock will be available for

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future issuances without stockholder approval and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of any authorized but unissued and unreserved common stock, Class B common stock, Class C common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

Exclusive jurisdiction

Our by-laws will provide that a state court located within the State of Delaware, or if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware, shall be the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors or officers or other employees to our stockholders, and any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers, or other employees pursuant to the DGCL, our certificate of incorporation, our bylaws or under the internal affairs doctrine.

Limitation on liability and indemnification of directors and officers

Under the DGCL, subject to specified limitations in the case of derivative suits brought by a corporation's stockholders in its name, a corporation may indemnify any person who is made a party to any action, suit or proceeding on account of being a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation (or was serving at the request of the corporation in such capacity for another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise) against expenses (including attorneys' fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by him or her in connection with the action, suit or proceeding, provided that there is a determination that: (i) the individual acted in good faith and in a manner reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation; and (ii) in a criminal action or proceeding, the individual had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was unlawful. Without court approval, however, no indemnification may be made in respect of any derivative action in which an individual is adjudged liable to the corporation, except to the extent the Court of Chancery or the court in which such action or suit was brought shall determine upon application that, despite the adjudication but in view of all the circumstances of the case, such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity.

The DGCL requires indemnification of directors and officers for expenses (including attorneys' fees) actually and reasonably relating to a successful defense on the merits or otherwise of a derivative or third-party action.

Under the DGCL, a corporation may advance expenses relating to the defense of any proceeding to directors and officers upon the receipt of an undertaking by or on behalf of the individual to repay such amount if it shall ultimately be determined that such person is not entitled to be indemnified.

The DGCL permits the adoption of a provision in a corporation's certificate of incorporation limiting or eliminating the monetary liability of a director to a corporation or its stockholders by reason of a director's breach of the fiduciary duty of care. The DGCL does not permit any limitation of the liability of a director for: (i) breaching the duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders; (ii) acts or omissions not in good faith; (iii) engaging in intentional misconduct or a known violation of law; (iv) obtaining an improper personal benefit from the corporation; or (v) paying a dividend or approving a stock repurchase that was illegal under applicable law.

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Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws will provide for limitations on liability and the indemnification of our directors to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL.

Waiver of corporate opportunity for IAC and officers and directors of IAC

The DGCL permits the adoption of a provision in a corporation's certificate of incorporation renouncing any interests or expectancy of a corporation in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, specified business opportunities or specified classes or categories of business opportunities that are presented to the corporation or one or more of its officers, directors or stockholders.

Our certificate of incorporation will include a "corporate opportunity" provision that renounces any interests or expectancy in corporate opportunities which become known to (i) any of our directors or officers who are also officers, directors, employees or other affiliates of IAC or its affiliates (except that we and our subsidiaries shall not be deemed affiliates of IAC or its affiliates for the purposes of the provision) or (ii) IAC itself, and which relate to the business of IAC or may constitute a corporate opportunity for both IAC and us. The provision generally will provide that neither IAC nor our officers or directors who are also officers or directors of IAC or its affiliates will be liable to us or our stockholders for breach of any fiduciary duty by reason of the fact that any such person pursues or acquires any corporate opportunity for the account of IAC or its affiliates, directs or transfers such corporate opportunity to IAC or its affiliates, or does not communicate information regarding such corporate opportunity to us. This renunciation will not extend to corporate opportunities expressly offered to one of our officers or directors in writing, solely in his or her capacity as an officer or director of Match Group, Inc.

Listing and trading

Our common stock is currently not listed on any securities exchange. We have been approved to list our common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "MTCH."

Transfer agent and registrar

Upon completion of this offering, the transfer agent and registrar for our common stock will be Computershare Trust Company, N.A.

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Description of indebtedness

Credit Agreement

Overview

On October 7, 2015, we entered into the Credit Agreement.

The Credit Agreement provides for the Revolving Credit Facility, a five-year $500 million revolving credit facility that includes a $40 million sub-limit for letters of credit.

In addition, we have the right to add one or more incremental term loan or revolving facilities up to the greater of (x) $150 million and (y) such other amount, so long as on a pro forma basis our consolidated net leverage ratio is equal to or less than 4.50 to 1.00 and our consolidated secured net leverage ratio is equal to or less than 3.50 to 1.00 (or, under certain circumstances, 4.00 to 1.00).

On November 16, 2015, we entered into the Term Loan Facility, which was incurred as an incremental term loan facility under the Credit Agreement. The Term Loan Facility has an excess cash flow sweep, asset sale and event of loss prepayment requirements, 5.00% annual amortization, a seven-year maturity and other customary terms for a term loan facility. While the Term Loan Facility remains outstanding, we have the right to add one or more incremental term loan or revolving facilities up to the greater of (x) $150 million and (y) such other amount, so long as on a pro forma basis our consolidated net leverage ratio is equal to or less than 4.50 to 1.00 and our consolidated secured net leverage ratio is equal to or less than 2.25 to 1.00 (or, under certain circumstances, 4.00 to 1.00).

The obligations under the Credit Agreement are secured by the stock of certain of our subsidiaries and guaranteed by certain of our subsidiaries.

Interest rate and fees

Borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility bear interest, at our option, at either (a) a base rate or (b) LIBOR, in each case plus an applicable margin, or the Applicable Margin. The Applicable Margin is a percentage (i) from 0.50% to 1.25% for loans bearing interest at the base rate and (ii) from 1.50% to 2.25% for LIBOR loans, with the Applicable Margin in each instance depending on our consolidated net leverage ratio.

We are required to pay a commitment fee to the lenders under the Revolving Credit Facility in respect of unutilized commitments thereunder. The commitment fee is a percentage from 0.25% to 0.40% depending on our consolidated net leverage ratio. In addition, we are required to pay customary fees in connection with the issuance of letters of credit.

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Borrowings under the Term Loan Facility bear interest at LIBOR plus 4.50%, and the loans made under the Term Loan Facility were issued at a price of 98.5%.

Guarantees and security

All obligations under the Credit Agreement and any cash management or hedging arrangement undertaken by us or a Guarantor (as defined below) that is entered into with a lender or any of its affiliates under the Credit Agreement and designated by us as an obligation, or the Obligations, are guaranteed by each of our existing and future direct and indirect wholly-owned material domestic subsidiaries, or collectively, the Guarantors. We and each of the Guarantors have granted the administrative agent and the lenders a valid and perfected (subject to customary exceptions) lien and security interest in all present and future shares of capital stock owned by us or such Guarantor of each of our present and future material domestic subsidiaries and 65% of each class of capital stock of any of our material first-tier foreign subsidiaries or the material first-tier foreign subsidiaries of any Guarantor, or the Collateral.

Covenants

The Credit Agreement contains a number of covenants that restrict our and certain of our subsidiaries' ability to take specified actions, including, among other things and subject to certain significant exceptions: (i) creating liens; (ii) incurring indebtedness; (iii) making investments and acquisitions; (iv) engaging in mergers, dissolutions and other fundamental changes; (v) making dispositions; (vi) making restricted payments, including dividends and certain prepayments of junior debt; (vii) consummating transactions with affiliates; (viii) entering into sale-leaseback transactions; (ix) placing restrictions on distributions from subsidiaries; and (x) changing our fiscal year.

Under the Revolving Credit Facility, we are required to maintain a maximum consolidated net leverage ratio of no greater than 5.00 to 1.00 and a minimum interest coverage ratio of no less than 2.50 to 1.00, in each case as of the end of each fiscal quarter.

While the Term Loan Facility remains outstanding, certain covenants under the Credit Agreement are more restrictive than the covenants that were applicable to the Revolving Credit Facility, including the ability to: (i) create liens, (ii) incur indebtedness, (iii) make investments and acquisitions and (iv) make dispositions and make restricted payments, including dividends and certain repayments of junior debt. While the Term Loan Facility remains outstanding, these more restrictive covenants also apply to the Revolving Credit Facility.

Additionally, the Credit Agreement contains customary affirmative covenants and events of default. At November 17, 2015, there were no outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility.

Match notes

On November 16, 2015, we entered into an indenture, or the New Indenture, in connection with the issuance of approximately $445.2 million aggregate principal amount of the Match Notes. The Match Notes were issued in exchange for the 2022 IAC Notes tendered in connection with the private offer we commenced to eligible holders on October 16, 2015. The exchange offer expired on November 13, 2015 and was completed on November 16, 2015.

The Match Notes accrue interest at a rate of 6.75% per year from the date of issuance, until maturity or earlier redemption. Interest on the Match Notes is payable on June 15 and December 15 of each year, commencing on June 15, 2016. The Match Notes mature on December 15, 2022.

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At any time prior to December 15, 2017, we will have the option to redeem the Match Notes, in whole or in part, at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Match Notes redeemed plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the date of redemption and a "make-whole premium." The Match Notes will be redeemable at our option, in whole or in part, at any time on or after December 15, 2017, at specified redemption prices, together with accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the date of redemption. If we experience specific kinds of changes of control triggering events, we will be required to make an offer to purchase the Match Notes at a purchase price of 101% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the purchase date.

The Match Notes are our general unsecured unsubordinated obligations, ranking equally in right of payment with all of our other existing and future unsecured and unsubordinated debt and are structurally subordinated to the debt of our subsidiaries. The Match Notes are effectively subordinated to our secured debt, including debt under the Credit Agreement, and the secured debt of any of our subsidiaries that guarantee the Match Notes in the future, in each case to the extent of the value of the assets securing such debt.

The New Indenture, among other things, restricts our and certain of our subsidiaries' ability to: (i) create liens on certain assets; (ii) incur additional debt; (iii) make certain investments and acquisitions; (iv) consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets; (v) sell certain assets; (vi) pay dividends on or make distributions in respect of our capital stock or make restricted payments; (vii) enter into certain transactions with our affiliates and (viii) place restrictions on distributions from subsidiaries.

These covenants are subject to important exceptions and qualifications. In addition, at any time when the Match Notes are rated investment grade by both Moody's and Standard & Poor's and no default or event of default has occurred and is continuing under the New Indenture, we and our subsidiaries will no longer be subject to many of the foregoing covenants.

If an event of default as defined in the New Indenture occurs and is continuing (other than specified events of bankruptcy or insolvency with respect to the Company or a significant subsidiary), the trustee under the New Indenture or the holders of at least 25% in principal amount of the outstanding Match Notes will be able to declare all the outstanding Match Notes to be due and payable immediately. If an event of default relating to specified events of bankruptcy or insolvency with respect to the Company occurs, all of the outstanding Match Notes will become immediately due and payable without any declaration or other act on the part of the trustee under the New Indenture or any holders of the Match Notes.

IAC subordinated loan facility

Prior to this offering, we will enter into an uncommitted subordinated loan facility with IAC, or the IAC Subordinated Loan Facility, pursuant to which we may make one or more requests to IAC to borrow funds from it. If IAC agrees to fulfill any such borrowing request from us, such indebtedness will be incurred in accordance with the terms of the IAC Subordinated Loan Facility. Any indebtedness outstanding under the IAC Subordinated Loan Facility will be by its terms subordinated in right of payment to the obligations under the Credit Agreement and the Match Notes. Such indebtedness will bear interest at the applicable rate set forth in the pricing grid in the Credit Agreement, which rate is based on our consolidated net leverage ratio at the time of borrowing, plus an additional amount to be agreed. The IAC Subordinated Loan Facility will have a scheduled final maturity date no earlier than 90 days after the maturity date of the Revolving Credit Facility or the latest maturity date in respect of any class of term loans outstanding under the Credit Agreement on the date we enter into such facility. The IAC Subordinated Loan Facility will

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contain events of default for non-payment, the occurrence of a change of control (which will include if IAC and certain permitted holders do not hold at least a majority of the aggregate voting power of all classes of our voting stock) and the occurrence of any event of default under the Credit Agreement or the New Indenture.

Short term related-party indebtedness

After the initial public offering price has been determined, but prior to the completion of this offering, we will issue to IAC related-party indebtedness with an aggregate principal amount equal to the total net proceeds to us from this offering, assuming the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares. If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, such related-party indebtedness will be repaid in full with the net proceeds from this offering. If the underwriters do not exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, we intend to incur additional borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility in order to repay the balance of the IAC related-party indebtedness. The IAC related-party indebtedness will bear interest at 2.25% per year and will mature within 30 days of the issuance of such indebtedness.

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Shares eligible for future sale

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock or Class B common stock. Future sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market could adversely affect prevailing market prices. Furthermore, since only a limited number of shares will be available for sale shortly after this offering because of contractual and legal restrictions on resale described below, sales of substantial amounts of shares of common stock in the public market after the restrictions lapse could adversely affect the prevailing market price for shares of our common stock as well as our ability to raise equity capital in the future.

Upon completion of this offering, we will have 33,333,333 shares of common stock issued and outstanding (or 38,333,333 shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock) and 206,714,274 shares of Class B common stock issued and outstanding. No shares of our Class C common stock will be issued and outstanding upon consummation of this offering. Upon completion of this offering, 29,295,341 shares of our common stock also will be issuable upon the exercise of outstanding stock options and the vesting of restricted stock units, 18,863,365 shares of our common stock will be issuable upon the settlement of outstanding equity awards granted in certain of our subsidiaries and 2,802,377 shares of our common stock will be issuable to IAC as reimbursement for compensation expenses related to IAC equity awards held by our employees (based on information as of September 30, 2015). In addition, pursuant to the investor rights agreement with IAC, IAC has the right to maintain its level of ownership in our Company to the extent we issue additional shares of our capital stock in the future and, pursuant to the employee matters agreement, IAC may receive payment for certain compensation expenses through receipt of additional shares of our stock. See "Certain relationships and related party transactions."

Of these shares, the 33,333,333 shares of common stock sold in this offering (or 38,333,333 shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock) will be freely tradable without further restriction or registration under the Securities Act, except that any shares purchased by our affiliates may generally only be sold in compliance with Rule 144, which is described below. The 206,714,274 shares of Class B common stock will be deemed "restricted securities" under the Securities Act. Restricted securities may be sold in the public market only if they qualify for an exemption from registration under Rule 144 or any other applicable exemption. IAC will, however, have certain registration rights with respect to its Class B common stock. See "Registration rights" below.

Lock-up agreements

IAC, who will hold all of our shares of Class B common stock following this offering, as well as our executive officers and directors, will enter into lock-up agreements under which they will agree not to sell or otherwise transfer their shares for a period of 180 days after the completion of this offering. These lock-up restrictions may be extended in specified circumstances and are subject to certain exceptions. As a result of these contractual restrictions, shares of our common stock subject to lock-up agreements will not be eligible for sale until these agreements expire or the restrictions are waived by the representatives of the underwriters.

In addition, we will agree with the underwriters not to sell any shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of our common stock for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus, except for sales in connection with the grant or exercise of stock based equity awards and for sales to IAC in order to comply with our obligations pursuant to the investor rights agreement and

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employee matters agreement to be entered with IAC. See "Certain relationships and related party transactions." Any such shares acquired by IAC would be subject to IAC's lock-up agreement described above. The representatives of the underwriters may, at any time, waive these restrictions.

See "Underwriting" for a more complete description of the lock-up agreements that we, IAC, and our directors and executive officers will enter into with the representatives of the underwriters.

Registration statement on Form S-8

We intend to file with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-8 covering the shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the Match Group, Inc. 2015 Equity Incentive Plan. That registration statement is expected to be filed and become effective as soon as practicable after the closing of this offering. Upon effectiveness, the shares of common stock covered by that registration statement will be eligible for sale in the public market, subject to the lock-up agreements and Rule 144 restrictions described above.

Rule 144

All shares of our common stock held by our "affiliates," as that term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act, generally may be sold in the public market only in compliance with Rule 144. Rule 144 defines an affiliate as any person who directly or indirectly controls, or is controlled by, or is under common control with, the issuer, which generally includes our directors, executive officers, 10% stockholders and certain other related persons.

Under Rule 144 under the Securities Act, a person (or persons whose shares are aggregated) who is deemed to be an "affiliate" of ours would be entitled to sell within any three month period a number of shares of our common stock that does not exceed the greater of (i) 1% of the then outstanding shares of our capital stock, or (ii) an amount equal to the average weekly trading volume of our common stock on the NASDAQ during the four calendar weeks preceding such sale. Sales under Rule 144 are also subject to a six-month holding period and requirements relating to manner of sale, notice and the availability of current public information about us.

Rule 144 also provides that a person who is not deemed to have been an affiliate of ours at any time during the three months preceding a sale, and who has for at least six months beneficially owned shares of our common stock that are restricted securities, will be entitled to freely sell such shares of our common stock without regard to the limitations described above, subject to our compliance with Exchange Act reporting obligations for at least 90 days prior to the sale, and provided that such sales comply with the current public information requirements of Rule 144. A person who is not deemed to have been an affiliate of ours at any time during the three months preceding a sale, and who has beneficially owned for at least one year shares of our common stock that are restricted securities, will be entitled to freely sell such shares of our common stock under Rule 144 without regard to the current public information requirements of Rule 144, subject to our compliance with Exchange Act reporting obligations for at least 90 days prior to the sale.

Rule 701

In general, under Rule 701 under the Securities Act, an employee, consultant or advisor who purchases shares of our common stock from us in connection with a compensatory stock or option plan or other written agreement is eligible to resell those shares 90 days after the effective date of the registration

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statement of which this prospectus forms a part in reliance on Rule 144, but without compliance with some of the restrictions, including the holding period restriction, contained in Rule 144.

Registration rights

Prior to the consummation of this offering, we will enter into an investor rights agreement with IAC pursuant to which, among other things, we will grant IAC certain registration rights with respect to our common stock and our Class B common stock owned by them. For more information, see "Certain relationships and related party transactions." Pursuant to the lock-up arrangements described above, IAC will agree not to exercise those rights during the lock-up period without the prior written consent of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Allen & Company LLC.

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Certain relationships and related party transactions

Relationship with IAC

We are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAC. Upon completion of this offering, IAC will own all of the shares of our outstanding Class B common stock, representing approximately 86.1% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.4% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock (or approximately 84.4% of our outstanding shares of capital stock and approximately 98.2% of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in this offering). IAC is not subject to any contractual obligation to retain its controlling interest in us, except that IAC is subject to the lock-up agreement described in the section "Shares eligible for future sale."

Pre-offering relationship with IAC

We have operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAC since our incorporation. As a result, in the ordinary course of our business, IAC has provided us with various services, including accounting, treasury, legal, tax, risk management, corporate support and internal audit functions. Our combined statement of operations includes allocations of general and administrative costs, including stock-based compensation expense, related to these functions. For more information regarding these allocations, see Note 7 to our unaudited combined financial statements and Note 13 to our audited combined financial statements.

In connection with the financing of certain acquisitions in 2011 and 2014, we borrowed money from (and issued related notes to) certain IAC subsidiaries, which borrowings are classified as long-term debt on the combined balance sheet in our audited combined financial statements. For more information regarding this long-term debt, see Note 7 to our unaudited combined financial statements and Note 13 to our audited combined financial statements. At the time of this offering, all long-term debt which we owe to IAC subsidiaries will be repaid.

We recently acquired PlentyOfFish for $575 million. The purchase price was funded through a combination of $75.0 million of cash on hand and a $500.0 million cash contribution from IAC. IAC will ultimately receive Match Group shares for the $500.0 million contribution. The number of shares that will be issued will be calculated using the initial public offering price in this offering.

Until November 16, 2015, we and certain of our domestic subsidiaries unconditionally guaranteed IAC's obligations under senior notes issued by IAC in 2012 and 2013. The indentures governing these notes contain restrictive covenants that limit the ability of IAC's subsidiaries to take certain actions generally and, in some cases, if IAC is not in compliance with the financial ratio set forth in the indentures. IAC's revolving credit facility was also unconditionally guaranteed by us and certain of our domestic subsidiaries and was secured by our stock and the stock of certain of our domestic subsidiaries. On November 16, 2015, we became an unrestricted subsidiary of IAC for purposes of its debt facilities, and we ceased to guarantee any debt of IAC. For more information regarding these guarantees and pledges, see Note 7 to our unaudited combined financial statements and Note 13 to our audited combined financial statements.

We have entered into certain arrangements with IAC in the ordinary course of business, specifically: (i) the leasing of office space for certain of our businesses at properties owned by IAC, for which we paid IAC approximately $1,000,000 in 2014, and (ii) the subleasing of space in a data center from an IAC subsidiary, for which we paid such IAC subsidiary approximately $1,100,000 in 2014.

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We also expect to enter into certain agreements with IAC relating to this offering and our relationship with IAC after this offering, which are described below.

After the initial public offering price has been determined, but prior to the completion of this offering, we will issue to IAC related-party indebtedness with an aggregate principal amount equal to the total net proceeds to us from this offering, assuming the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares. If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, such related-party indebtedness will be repaid in full with the net proceeds from this offering. If the underwriters do not exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, we intend to incur additional borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility in order to repay the balance of the IAC related-party indebtedness. The IAC related-party indebtedness will bear interest at 2.25% per year and will mature within 30 days of the issuance of such indebtedness.

Post-offering relationship with IAC

We expect to enter into certain agreements with IAC relating to this offering and our relationship with IAC after this offering, specifically:

a master transaction agreement;
an investor rights agreement;
a tax sharing agreement;
a services agreement;
an employee matters agreement; and
a subordinated loan facility.

The material terms of each of these agreements are summarized below. The summary of each such agreement is qualified by reference in its entirety to the full text of the applicable agreement, which will be filed as an exhibit to the registration statement on Form S-1 of which this prospectus is a part. Other than these agreements, we do not currently expect to enter into any additional agreements or other transactions with IAC outside the ordinary course following this offering.

Master transaction agreement

The master transaction agreement will set forth the agreements between IAC and us regarding the principal transactions necessary to separate our business from IAC, as well as govern certain aspects of our relationship with IAC after the completion of this offering.

In the master transaction agreement, we will agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless IAC and its current and former directors, officers and employees, from and against any losses arising out of any breach by us of the master transaction agreement or the other transaction-related agreements described in this section, any failure by us to assume and perform any of the liabilities allocated us in the master transaction agreement and certain liabilities relating to our filings made with the SEC, including this registration statement, and information provided by us to IAC for IAC's filings made with the SEC. IAC will agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless us and each of our current and former directors, officers and employees, from and against losses arising out of any breach by IAC of the master transaction agreement or the other transaction-related agreements described in this section, any failure by IAC to assume and perform any of the liabilities allocated to IAC in the master transaction agreement, and certain liabilities relating to information provided by IAC for our filings made with the SEC, including this registration statement. We and IAC will also agree to release each party and its respective affiliates,

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successors, assigns, stockholders, directors, officers, agents and employees from all claims and other actions, of any nature, relating to claims, transactions or occurrences occurring (i) prior to the completion of this offering or (ii) in connection with this offering and the related transactions described in this prospectus.

In addition, the master transaction agreement will also govern other matters related to the consummation of this offering, the provision and retention of records, access to information and confidentiality, cooperation with respect to governmental filings and third party consents and access to property.

Investor rights agreement

We will enter into an investor rights agreement with IAC providing IAC: (i) specified registration and other rights relating to its shares of our common stock and (ii) anti-dilution rights.

Registration rights.    IAC will be entitled to request registrations under the Securities Act and, in connection with a distribution to IAC's shareholders, registration with any applicable federal or state governmental authority, of all or any portion of our shares covered by the investor rights agreement, and we will be obligated to register such shares as requested by IAC, subject to certain limitations. After this offering, we will be required to use our reasonable best efforts to qualify to register the sale of our securities on Form S-3, and, after we are so qualified, IAC may request registration under the Securities Act on Form S-3, subject to certain limitations.

If we at any time intend to file on our behalf or on behalf of any of our other security holders a registration statement in connection with a public offering of any of our securities on a form and in a manner that would permit the registration for offer and sale of our common stock held by IAC, IAC would have the right to include its shares of our common stock in that offering.

We will generally be responsible for the registration expenses in connection with the performance of our obligations under the registration rights provisions in the investor rights agreement.

The investor rights agreement will contain indemnification and contribution provisions by us for the benefit of IAC and its affiliates and representatives and, in limited situations, by IAC for the benefit of us and any underwriters with respect to written information furnished to us by IAC and stated by IAC to be specifically included in any registration statement, prospectus or related document.

IAC anti-dilution right.    In the event that we issue or propose to issue any shares of capital stock (with certain limited exceptions), including shares issued upon the exercise, conversion or exchange of options, warrants and convertible securities, IAC will generally have a purchase right that permits it to purchase for fair market value, as defined in the agreement, up to such number of shares of the same class as the issued shares as would (i) enable IAC to maintain the same ownership interest in us that it had immediately prior to such issuance or proposed issuance, with respect to issuances of our voting capital stock, or (ii) enable IAC to maintain ownership of at least 80.1% of each class of our non-voting capital stock, with respect to issuances of our non-voting capital stock.

Tax sharing agreement

In connection with this offering, we will enter into a tax sharing agreement with IAC that will govern our respective rights, responsibilities and obligations with respect to tax matters, including responsibility for taxes attributable to us and our subsidiaries, entitlement to refunds, allocation of tax attributes, preparation of tax returns, certain tax elections, control of tax contests, and other matters.

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Under the tax sharing agreement, we generally will be responsible and will be required to indemnify IAC for: (i) all taxes imposed with respect to any consolidated, combined or unitary tax return of IAC or one of its subsidiaries that includes us or any of our subsidiaries to the extent attributable to us or any of our subsidiaries, as determined under the tax sharing agreement, and (ii) all taxes imposed with respect to any of our or our subsidiaries' consolidated, combined, unitary or separate tax returns.

Under the tax sharing agreement, IAC generally will have the right to control audits or other tax proceedings with respect to any consolidated, combined or unitary tax return that includes IAC or any of its subsidiaries and us or any of our subsidiaries, provided that we will have certain participation rights with respect to any such audit or tax proceeding that could result in additional taxes for which we are liable under the tax sharing agreement. We generally will have the right to control any audits or other tax proceedings with respect to any of our or our subsidiaries' consolidated, combined, unitary or separate tax returns.

As of the date of this prospectus, IAC has advised us that it does not have a present plan or intention to undertake a tax-free spin-off of its retained interest in us. Because IAC intends to retain the ability to engage in such a spin-off in the future, the tax sharing agreement also addresses the parties' respective rights, responsibilities and obligations with respect to such a transaction. Under the tax sharing agreement, each party generally will be responsible for any taxes and related amounts imposed on IAC or us that arise from the failure of a future spin-off of IAC's retained interest in us to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, under Section 368(a)(1)(D) and/or Section 355 of the Code, to the extent that the failure to so qualify is attributable to: (i) a breach of the relevant representations and covenants made by that party in the tax sharing agreement or any representation letter provided in support of any tax opinion or ruling obtained by IAC with respect to the U.S. federal income tax treatment of such spin-off, or (ii) an acquisition of such party's equity securities. In addition, the tax sharing agreement will impose certain restrictions on us and our subsidiaries during the two-year period following a future spin-off that are designed to preserve the tax-free status thereof. Specifically, during such period, except in specific circumstances, we and our subsidiaries generally would be prohibited from: (A) ceasing to conduct our business, (B) entering into certain transactions pursuant to which all or a portion of the shares of our common stock or certain of our and our subsidiaries' assets would be acquired, (C) liquidating, merging or consolidating with any other person, (D) issuing equity securities beyond certain thresholds, (E) repurchasing our shares other than in certain open-market transactions, or (F) taking or failing to take any other action that would cause the spin-off to fail to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Services agreement

We will also enter into a services agreement, pursuant to which IAC and we currently expect that IAC will provide some combination of the following services, among others, to us following completion of this offering:

assistance with certain legal, finance, internal audit, treasury, information technology support, insurance and tax affairs, including assistance with certain public company reporting obligations;

payroll processing services;

tax compliance services; and

such other services as to which IAC and we may agree.

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Under the services agreement, we will also provide IAC informational technology services and such other services as to which IAC and we may agree.

The charges for these services will be on a cost plus fixed percentage or hourly rate basis to be agreed upon prior to the completion of this offering and subject to increase upon increases in the actual cost to the service provider. In general, the services to be provided under the services agreement will begin on the date of the completion of this offering and will continue for one year, which will automatically renew, subject to IAC's continued ownership of a majority of the combined voting power of our voting stock and any subsequent extension or truncation agreed to by us and IAC. We or IAC may terminate the agreement with respect to one or more particular services upon such notice as will be provided for in the services agreement.

Employee matters agreement

The employee matters agreement will cover a wide range of compensation and benefit issues related to this offering. In general, under the employee matters agreement:

IAC will assume or retain: (1) all liabilities with respect to the IAC employees, former IAC employees and their dependents and beneficiaries under all IAC employee benefit plans, and (2) all liabilities with respect to the employment or termination of employment of all IAC employees and former IAC employees (other than our employees and our former employees); and

we will assume or retain: (1) all liabilities under our employee benefit plans, and (2) all liabilities with respect to the employment or termination of employment of our employees and former employees of our businesses.

After this offering, we will continue to participate in IAC's U.S. health and welfare plans, 401(k) plan and flexible benefits plan and will reimburse IAC for the costs of such participation. In the event IAC no longer retains shares representing at least 80% of the aggregate voting power of shares entitled to vote in the election of our board of directors, including in the event of a subsequent spin-off of IAC's retained interest in us, we no longer will participate in IAC's employee benefit plans, but will have established our own employee benefit plans that will be substantially similar to the plans sponsored by IAC prior to the spin-off.

The employee matters agreement also will provide that we will reimburse IAC for the cost of any IAC equity awards held by our employees and former employees; IAC may elect to receive payment either in cash or in shares of our common stock. The agreement further will provide that, with respect to equity awards in certain of our subsidiaries, IAC may elect to cause those awards to be settled in either shares of IAC common stock or in shares of our common stock; to the extent shares of IAC common stock are issued in settlement, we will reimburse IAC for the cost of those shares by issuing IAC additional shares of our common stock.

Under the employee matters agreement, the Compensation Committee of the IAC Board of Directors will have the exclusive authority to determine the treatment of outstanding IAC equity awards in the event of a subsequent spinoff of IAC's retained interest in us and we have agreed to assume any IAC equity awards that are converted into Match equity awards in connection with any such spinoff.

IAC subordinated loan facility

Prior to this offering, we will enter into an uncommitted subordinated loan facility with IAC, or the IAC Subordinated Loan Facility, pursuant to which we may make one or more requests to IAC to borrow funds

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from it. If IAC agrees to fulfill any such borrowing request from us, such indebtedness will be incurred in accordance with the terms of the IAC Subordinated Loan Facility. Any indebtedness outstanding under the IAC Subordinated Loan Facility will be by its terms subordinated in right of payment to the obligations under the Credit Agreement and the Match Notes. Such indebtedness will bear interest at the applicable rate set forth in the pricing grid in the Credit Agreement, which rate is based on our consolidated net leverage ratio at the time of borrowing, plus an additional amount to be agreed. The IAC Subordinated Loan Facility will have a scheduled final maturity date no earlier than 90 days after the maturity date of the Revolving Credit Facility or the latest maturity date in respect of any class of term loans outstanding under the Credit Agreement on the date we enter into such facility. The IAC Subordinated Loan Facility will contain events of default for non-payment, the occurrence of a change of control (which will include if IAC and certain permitted holders do not hold at least a majority of the aggregate voting power of all classes of our voting stock) and the occurrence of any event of default under the Credit Agreement or the New Indenture.

Compensatory arrangements for certain executive officers

On September 8, 2015 and November 17, 2015, we agreed to certain compensatory arrangements for our Chief Financial Officer and Chairman, respectively. See "Executive compensation—Compensatory arrangements for certain executive officers."

Policies and procedures regarding related party transactions

Prior to completion of this offering, our board of directors will adopt a written policy governing the approval of related party transactions that complies with all applicable requirements of the SEC and the Marketplace Rules concerning related party transactions. For purposes of this policy, consistent with the Marketplace Rules, the terms "related person" and "transaction" will be determined by reference to Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K under the Securities Act, or Item 404. Our management will be required to determine whether any proposed transaction, arrangement or relationship with a related person falls within the definition of "transaction" set forth in Item 404, and if so, review such transaction with the Audit Committee. In connection with such determinations, our management and the Audit Committee will consider: (i) the parties to the transaction and the nature of their affiliation with us and the related person, (ii) the dollar amount involved in the transaction, (iii) the material terms of the transaction, including whether the terms of the transaction are ordinary course and/or otherwise negotiated at arm's length, (iv) whether the transaction is material, on a quantitative and/or qualitative basis, to us and/or the related person and (v) any other facts and circumstances that our management or the Audit Committee deems appropriate.

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Certain material United States federal income tax considerations for non-U.S. holders

The following is a general discussion of material U.S. federal income tax considerations with respect to the ownership and disposition of our common stock applicable to non-U.S. holders who acquire such shares in this offering. This discussion is based on current provisions of the Code, U.S. Treasury regulations promulgated thereunder, and administrative rulings and court decisions in effect as of the date hereof, all of which are subject to change at any time, possibly with retroactive effect.

For purposes of this discussion, the term "non-U.S. holder" means a beneficial owner of our common stock that is not, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, a partnership or any of the following:

a citizen or individual resident of the United States;

a corporation, or other entity taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, created or organized in the United States or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia;

an estate, the income of which is includible in gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes regardless of its source; or

a trust if (1) a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, or (2) it has a valid election in effect under applicable U.S. Treasury regulations to be treated as a U.S. person for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

If an entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes holds shares of our common stock, the tax treatment of a person treated as a partner generally will depend on the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. Persons that for U.S. federal income tax purposes are treated as a partner in a partnership holding shares of our common stock should consult their tax advisors.

This discussion assumes that a non-U.S. holder holds shares of our common stock as a capital asset within the meaning of Section 1221 of the Code (generally, property held for investment). This discussion does not address all aspects of U.S. federal income taxation that may be important to a non-U.S. holder in light of that holder's particular circumstances or that may be applicable to holders subject to special treatment under U.S. federal income tax law (including, for example, financial institutions, dealers in securities, traders in securities that elect mark-to-market treatment, insurance companies, tax-exempt entities, holders who acquired our common stock pursuant to the exercise of employee stock options or otherwise as compensation, entities or arrangements treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes, holders liable for the alternative minimum tax, certain former citizens or former long-term residents of the United States, holders who hold our common stock as part of a hedge, straddle, constructive sale or conversion transaction, and holders who own or have owned (directly, indirectly or constructively) 5% or more of our common stock (by vote or value)). In addition, this discussion does not address U.S. federal tax laws other than those pertaining to the U.S. federal income tax, nor does it address any aspects of the unearned income Medicare contribution tax pursuant to the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, or U.S. state, local or non-U.S. taxes. Accordingly, prospective investors should consult with their own tax advisors regarding the U.S. federal, state, local, non-U.S. income and other tax considerations of acquiring, holding and disposing of shares of our common stock.

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THIS SUMMARY IS NOT INTENDED TO CONSTITUTE A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF ALL TAX CONSEQUENCES RELATING TO THE OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR COMMON STOCK. WE RECOMMEND THAT PROSPECTIVE HOLDERS OF OUR COMMON STOCK CONSULT WITH THEIR TAX ADVISORS REGARDING THE TAX CONSEQUENCES TO THEM (INCLUDING THE APPLICATION AND EFFECT OF ANY STATE, LOCAL, NON-U.S. INCOME AND OTHER TAX LAWS) OF THE OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR COMMON STOCK.

Dividends

In general, any distributions we make to a non-U.S. holder with respect to its shares of our common stock that constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes will be subject to U.S. withholding tax at a rate of 30% of the gross amount (or a reduced rate prescribed by an applicable income tax treaty), unless the dividends are effectively connected with a trade or business carried on by the non-U.S. holder within the United States (and, if an income tax treaty applies, are attributable to a permanent establishment of the non-U.S. holder within the United States). A distribution will constitute a dividend for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent of our current or accumulated earnings and profits as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Any distribution not constituting a dividend will be treated as first reducing the adjusted basis in the non-U.S. holder's shares of our common stock and, to the extent it exceeds the adjusted basis in the non-U.S. holder's shares of our common stock, as gain from the sale or exchange of such shares.

Dividends effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business (and, if an income tax treaty applies, attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment) of a non-U.S. holder generally will not be subject to U.S. withholding tax if the non-U.S. holder complies with applicable certification and disclosure requirements. Instead, such dividends generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net income basis, in the same manner as if the non-U.S. holder were a resident of the United States. A non-U.S. holder that is a corporation may be subject to an additional "branch profits tax" at a rate of 30% (or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty) on its "effectively connected earnings and profits," subject to certain adjustments.

Gain on sale or other disposition of our common stock

In general, a non-U.S. holder will not be subject to U.S. federal income or, subject to the discussion below under the heading "Information Reporting and Backup Withholding" and "Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act," withholding tax on any gain realized upon the sale or other disposition of our common stock unless:

the gain is effectively connected with a trade or business carried on by the non-U.S. holder within the United States and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, is attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment of the non-U.S. holder;

the non-U.S. holder is an individual and is present in the United States for 183 days or more in the taxable year of disposition and certain other conditions are satisfied; or

we are or have been a U.S. real property holding corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes at any time within the shorter of the five-year period ending on the date of the disposition and the non-U.S. holder's holding period and certain other conditions are satisfied.

Gain that is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the United States generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax, net of certain deductions, at regular U.S. federal income tax rates. If the non-U.S. holder is a foreign corporation, the branch profits tax described above also may apply to such effectively connected gain. An individual non-U.S. holder who is subject to U.S. federal

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income tax because the non-U.S. holder was present in the United States for 183 days or more during the year of sale or other disposition of our common stock will be subject to a flat 30% tax on the gain derived from such sale or other disposition, which may be offset by U.S. source capital losses.

Information reporting and backup withholding

We must report annually to the Internal Revenue Service and to each non-U.S. holder the amount of dividends paid to, and the tax withheld with respect to, each non-U.S. holder. These reporting requirements apply regardless of whether withholding was reduced or eliminated by an applicable tax treaty. Copies of this information also may be made available under the provisions of a specific treaty or agreement with the tax authorities in the country in which the non-U.S. holder resides or is established.

U.S. backup withholding tax (currently, at a rate of 28%) is imposed on certain payments to persons that fail to furnish the information required under the U.S. information reporting rules. Dividends paid to a non-U.S. holder generally will be exempt from backup withholding if the non-U.S. holder provides a properly executed IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E, or otherwise establishes an exemption.

Under U.S. Treasury regulations, the payment of proceeds from the disposition of our common stock by a non-U.S. holder effected at a U.S. office of a broker generally will be subject to information reporting and backup withholding, unless the beneficial owner, under penalties of perjury, certifies, among other things, its status as a non-U.S. holder or otherwise establishes an exemption. The payment of proceeds from the disposition of our common stock by a non-U.S. holder effected at a non-U.S. office of a broker generally will not be subject to backup withholding and information reporting, except as noted below. In the case of proceeds from a disposition of our common stock by a non-U.S. holder effected at a non-U.S. office of a broker that is:

a U.S. person;

a "controlled foreign corporation" for U.S. federal income tax purposes;

a foreign person 50% or more of whose gross income from certain periods is effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business; or

a foreign partnership if at any time during its tax year (a) one or more of its partners are U.S. persons who, in the aggregate, hold more than 50% of the income or capital interests of the partnership or (b) the foreign partnership is engaged in a U.S. trade or business;

information reporting will apply unless the broker has documentary evidence in its files that the owner is a non-U.S. holder and certain other conditions are satisfied, or the beneficial owner otherwise establishes an exemption (and the broker has no knowledge or reason to know to the contrary). Backup withholding will apply if the sale is subject to information reporting and the broker has actual knowledge that you are a United States person.

Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules from a payment to a non-U.S. holder can be refunded or credited against the non-U.S. holder's U.S. federal income tax liability, if any, provided that the required information is furnished to the Internal Revenue Service in a timely manner.

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Foreign account tax compliance act

Under Sections 1471 through 1474 of the Code and the Treasury regulations promulgated thereunder, collectively, FATCA, a U.S. federal withholding tax of 30% generally will be imposed on certain payments made to a "foreign financial institution" (as specifically defined under these rules) unless such institution enters into an agreement with the U.S. tax authorities to withhold on certain payments and to collect and provide to the U.S. tax authorities substantial information regarding U.S. account holders of such institution (which includes certain equity and debt holders of such institution, as well as certain account holders that are foreign entities with U.S. owners) or meets other exceptions. Under the legislation and administrative guidance, a U.S. federal withholding tax of 30% generally also will be imposed on certain payments made to a non-financial foreign entity unless such entity provides the withholding agent with a certification identifying its direct and indirect U.S. owners or meets other exceptions. Foreign entities located in jurisdictions that have an intergovernmental agreement with the United States governing these withholding and reporting requirements may be subject to different rules. Under certain circumstances, a non-U.S. holder might be eligible for refunds or credits of such taxes. These withholding taxes would be imposed on dividends paid with respect to our common stock to, and on gross proceeds from sales or other dispositions of our common stock after December 31, 2018 by, foreign financial institutions or non-financial entities (including in their capacity as agents or custodians for beneficial owners of our common stock) that fail to satisfy the above requirements. Prospective non-U.S. holders should consult with their tax advisors regarding the possible implications of FATCA on their investment in our common stock.

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Underwriting

We are offering the shares of common stock described in this prospectus through a number of underwriters. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Allen & Company LLC and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated are acting as joint book-running managers of this offering and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Allen & Company LLC are acting as representatives of the underwriters. We will enter into an underwriting agreement with the underwriters. Subject to the terms and conditions of the underwriting agreement, we will severally agree to sell to the underwriters, and each underwriter will severally agree to purchase, at the public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, the number of shares of common stock listed next to its name in the following table:

Name
  Number of shares of
common stock

 

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

                    

Allen & Company LLC

                    

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith
                    Incorporated

                    

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. 

                    

BMO Capital Markets Corp. 

                    

Barclays Capital Inc. 

                    

BNP Paribas Securities Corp. 

                    

Cowen and Company, LLC

                    

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. 

                    

PNC Capital Markets LLC

                    

SG Americas Securities, LLC

                    

Fifth Third Securities, Inc. 

                    

Total

    33,333,333  

The underwriters will be committed to purchase all the shares of common stock offered by us if they purchase any shares. The underwriting agreement will also provide that if an underwriter defaults, the purchase commitments of non-defaulting underwriters may also be increased or this offering may be terminated.

The underwriters propose to offer the shares of common stock directly to the public at the initial public offering price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus and to certain dealers at that price less a concession not in excess of $       per share. After the initial public offering of the shares, the offering price and other selling terms may be changed by the underwriters. Sales of shares made outside of the United States may be made by affiliates of the underwriters.

The underwriters will have an option to buy up to 5,000,000 additional shares of common stock from us to cover sales of shares by the underwriters which exceed the number of shares specified in the table above. The underwriters will have 30 days from the date of this prospectus to exercise this option to purchase additional shares. If any shares are purchased with this option, the underwriters will purchase shares in approximately the same proportion as shown in the table above. If any additional shares of common stock are purchased, the underwriters will offer the additional shares on the same terms as those on which the shares of common stock are being offered hereby.

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The underwriting discounts and commissions will be equal to the public offering price per share of common stock less the amount paid by the underwriters to us per share of common stock. The underwriting discounts and commissions are $       per share.

The following tables show the per share and total underwriting discounts and commissions to be paid to the underwriters assuming both no exercise and full exercise of the underwriters' option to purchase 5,000,000 additional shares of common stock.

 
  No exercise
  Full exercise
 

Per share

  $     $    

Total

  $     $    

We have agreed to reimburse the underwriters for counsel fees and expenses relating to clearance of this offering with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. in an amount up to $50,000, and the fees and disbursements of counsel incurred by the Underwriters in connection with the Directed Share program, not to exceed $10,000. The underwriters have also agreed to reimburse us for certain of our expenses in connection with this offering. We estimate that our total net expenses of this offering, including registration, filing and listing fees, printing fees and legal and accounting expenses, but excluding the underwriting discounts and commissions, will be approximately $8.0 million.

A prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the websites maintained by one or more underwriters, or selling group members, if any, participating in this offering. The underwriters may agree to allocate a number of shares to underwriters and selling group members for sale to their online brokerage account holders. Internet distributions will be allocated by the representative to underwriters and selling group members that may make internet distributions on the same basis as other allocations.

The underwriters have informed us that they do not expect to sell more than 5% of the common stock in the aggregate to accounts over which they exercise discretionary authority.

We, IAC, and our directors and executive officers have agreed not to (1) offer, pledge, sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any shares of our common stock or any securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for any shares of our common stock (including, without limitation, common stock or such other securities which may be deemed to be beneficially owned by us, IAC or such directors and executive officers in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC and securities which may be issued upon exercise of a stock option or warrant), or publicly disclose the intention to make any offer, sale, pledge or disposition, (2) enter into any swap or other agreement that transfers, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of any shares of our common stock or any such other securities (whether any such transactions described in clause (1) or (2) above is to be settled by the delivery of shares of common stock or such other securities, in cash or otherwise) or (3) make any demand for or exercise any right with respect to the registration of any shares of our common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for our common stock, in each case without the prior written consent of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Allen & Company LLC for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus.

The exceptions to the lock-up for the Company include: (A) the issuance or sale of any shares of our common stock in connection with the conversion, exchange, settlement or exercise of options, restricted stock units or other stock based awards granted under our equity plans, (B) the grant of any options, restricted stock units or other stock-based awards under our equity plans, (C) the filing of one or more registration statements on Form S-8 relating to our equity plans and (D) the issuance or sale of any shares

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of our common stock in compliance with our obligations under our investor rights agreement and employee matters agreement with IAC.

The exceptions to the lockup for IAC and our directors and executive officers include: (A) if such person is a natural person, transfers of shares of our common stock: (i) as a bona fide gift or gifts, (ii) by will or intestacy, (iii) to any trust for the direct or indirect benefit of such person or the immediate family of such person, (iv) to any immediate family member, (v) to a partnership, limited liability company or other entity of which such person and the immediate family of such person are the legal and beneficial owner of all of the outstanding equity securities or similar interests, (vi) to a nominee or custodian of a person or entity to whom a disposition or transfer would be permissible under clauses (i) through (v) above, (viii) pursuant to an order of a court or regulatory agency, (ix) pursuant to a domestic order, divorce settlement, divorce decree, or separation agreement, or (x) from an executive officer to us or our parent entities upon death, disability or termination of employment, in each case, of such executive officer, provided that the lock-up provision shall apply to any donee, distributee or transferee pursuant to this clause (A); (B) if such person is an entity, transfers to such person's affiliate(s), provided that the lock-up provision shall apply to any transferee pursuant to this clause (B); (C) transactions relating to shares of our common stock or other securities that such person may purchase in open market transactions after the completion of this offering; (D) the exercise of stock options, including through a "net" or "cashless" exercise, or receipt of shares upon the vesting of restricted stock units granted pursuant to our equity plans, provided that the lock-up provision shall apply to any securities issued upon any of these events; (E) forfeitures of shares of our common stock to satisfy tax withholding requirements upon the vesting or exercise of equity-based awards granted under an equity plan; (F) the conversion our Class B common stock into shares of our common stock, provided that the lock-up provision shall apply to any securities upon such conversion; and (G) transfer of shares of our common stock pursuant to a bona fide third-party tender offer, merger, consolidation or other similar transaction made to all holders of our capital stock involving a change of control of our Company.

We will agree to indemnify the underwriters and their controlling persons against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.

We have been approved to list our shares of common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "MTCH."

In connection with this offering, the underwriters may engage in stabilizing transactions, which involves making bids for, purchasing and selling shares of common stock in the open market for the purpose of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock while this offering is in progress. These stabilizing transactions may include making short sales of the common stock, which involves the sale by the underwriters of a greater number of shares of common stock than they are required to purchase in this offering, and purchasing shares of common stock on the open market to cover positions created by short sales. Short sales may be "covered" shorts, which are short positions in an amount not greater than the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares referred to above, or may be "naked" shorts, which are short positions in excess of that amount. The underwriters may close out any covered short position either by exercising their option to purchase additional shares, in whole or in part, or by purchasing shares in the open market. In making this determination, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of shares available for purchase in the open market compared to the price at which the underwriters may purchase shares through the over-allotment option. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the common stock in the open market that could adversely affect investors who purchase in

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this offering. To the extent that the underwriters create a naked short position, they will purchase shares in the open market to cover the position.

The underwriters have advised us that, pursuant to Regulation M of the Securities Act, they may also engage in other activities that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of the common stock, including the imposition of penalty bids. This means that if the representative of the underwriters purchases common stock in the open market in stabilizing transactions or to cover short sales, the representative can require the underwriters that sold those shares as part of this offering to repay the underwriting discount received by them.

These activities may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of the common stock or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock, and, as a result, the price of the common stock may be higher than the price that otherwise might exist in the open market. If the underwriters commence these activities, they may discontinue them at any time. The underwriters may carry out these transactions on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, in the over-the-counter market or otherwise.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. The initial public offering price will be determined by negotiations between us and the representative of the underwriters. In determining the initial public offering price, we and the representative of the underwriters expect to consider a number of factors including:

the information set forth in this prospectus and otherwise available to the representative;

our prospects and the history and prospects for the industry in which we compete;

an assessment of our management;

our prospects for future earnings;

the general condition of the securities markets at the time of this offering;

the recent market prices of, and demand for, publicly traded common stock of generally comparable companies; and

other factors deemed relevant by the underwriters and us.

Neither we nor the underwriters can assure investors that an active trading market will develop for our common stock, or that the shares will trade in the public market at or above the initial public offering price.

Directed share program

At our request, the underwriters have reserved for sale, at the initial public offering price, up to 8% of the shares of common stock offered by this prospectus for sale to our employees and directors and those of IAC. These sales will be made by an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, an underwriter of this offering, through a directed share program. If these persons purchase reserved shares it will reduce the number of shares of common stock available for sale to the general public. Any reserved shares that are not so purchased will be offered by the underwriters to the general public on the same terms as the other shares of common stock offered by this prospectus.

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Relationships with underwriters

The underwriters and their respective affiliates are full-service financial institutions engaged in various activities, which may include securities trading, commercial and investment banking, financial advisory, investment management, investment research, principal investment, hedging, financing, and brokerage activities. Certain of the underwriters and their affiliates have provided in the past to us and our affiliates and may provide from time to time in the future certain commercial banking, financial advisory, investment banking and other services for us and such affiliates in the ordinary course of their business, for which they have received and may continue to receive customary fees and commissions. In connection with the Revolving Credit Facility, an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as administrative agent and lender, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and BNP Paribas Securities Corp. acted as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners, affiliates of Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and BNP Paribas Securities Corp. acted as co-documentation agents and lenders, an affiliate of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated acted as syndication agent and lender, and affiliates of BMO Capital Markets Corp., Fifth Third Securities, Inc., SG Americas Securities, LLC, PNC Capital Markets LLC and Barclays Capital Inc. acted as lenders. We also expect that an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC will act as sole administrative and collateral agent, an affiliate of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated will act as syndication agent, BMO Capital Markets Corp., Fifth Third Securities, Inc., SG Americas Securities, LLC and PNC Capital Markets LLC will act as co-documentation agents and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and BNP Paribas Securities Corp. acted as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners under the Term Loan Facility. Additionally, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., BMO Capital Markets Corp., Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc., PNC Capital Markets LLC, Fifth Third Securities, Inc. and SG Americas Securities, LLC are acting as dealer managers and solicitation agents in connection with the exchange offer of the Match Notes for the 2022 IAC Notes. In addition, from time to time, certain of the underwriters and their affiliates may effect transactions for their own account or the account of customers, and hold on behalf of themselves or their customers, long or short positions in our debt or equity securities or loans.

Selling restrictions outside the United States

Other than in the United States, no action has been taken by us or the underwriters that would permit a public offering of the securities offered by this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. The shares of common stock offered by this prospectus may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, nor may this prospectus or any other offering material or advertisements in connection with the offer and sale of any such securities be distributed or published in any jurisdiction, except under circumstances that will result in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations of that jurisdiction. Persons into whose possession this prospectus comes are advised to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to the offering and the distribution of this prospectus. This prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities offered by this prospectus in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or a solicitation is unlawful.

Notice to prospective investors in the United Kingdom

This document is only being distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) to investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, referred to as the Order, or (iii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling with Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order, all such persons together being referred to as relevant persons. The shares of common stock are only

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available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such securities will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents.

Notice to prospective investors in the European Economic Area

In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Directive, each referred to as a Relevant Member State, an offer to the public of the securities described in this prospectus may not be made in that Relevant Member State, except than an offer to the public in that Relevant Member State of the securities may be made at any time under the following exemptions under the Prospectus Directive:

to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined under the Prospectus Directive;

to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined in the Prospectus Directive), subject to obtaining the prior consent of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC for any such offer; or

in any other circumstances falling within Article 3(2) of the EU Prospectus Directive,

provided that no such offer of securities described in this prospectus shall result in a requirement for the publication by us of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the EU Prospectus Directive.

For the purposes of this provision, the expression an "offer to the public" in relation to any securities in any Relevant Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe to the securities, as the same may be varied in that Member State by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Member State. The expression "Prospectus Directive" means Directive 2003/71/EC (as amended, including by Directive 2010/73/EU) and includes any relevant implementing measure in the Relevant Member State.

Notice to prospective investors in Switzerland

The shares may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, or the SIX, or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This document has been prepared without regard to the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this prospectus nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the shares or this offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland. Neither this prospectus nor any other offering or marketing material relating to this offering, the Company or the shares have been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this document will not be filed with, and the offer of shares will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, and the offer of shares has not been and will not be authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes, or the CISA. The investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under the CISA does not extend to acquirers of shares.

Notice to prospective investors in Hong Kong

The shares may not be offered or sold by means of any document other than (i) in circumstances which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap.32, Laws of Hong Kong), or (ii) to "professional investors" within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap.571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder, or (iii) in other circumstances which do not

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result in the document being a "prospectus" within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap.32, Laws of Hong Kong), and no advertisement, invitation or document relating to the shares may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue (in each case whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere), which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to shares which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to "professional investors" within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder.

Notice to prospective investors in Singapore

This prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the shares may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the shares be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore, or the SFA, (ii) to a relevant person, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions, specified in Section 275 of the SFA or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA.

Where the shares are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 by a relevant person which is: (a) a corporation (which is not an accredited investor) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or (b) a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary is an accredited investor, shares, debentures and units of shares and debentures of that corporation or the beneficiaries' rights and interest in that trust shall not be transferable for 6 months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the shares under Section 275 except: (1) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the SFA or to a relevant person, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions, specified in Section 275 of the SFA; (2) where no consideration is given for the transfer; or (3) by operation of law.

Notice to prospective investors in Japan

The securities have not been and will not be registered under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law) and each underwriter will agree that it will not offer or sell any securities, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to, or for the benefit of, any resident of Japan (which term as used herein means any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan), or to others for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to a resident of Japan, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of, and otherwise in compliance with, the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law and any other applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines of Japan.

Notice to prospective investors in Canada

The securities may be sold only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the securities must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws. Securities legislation in certain provinces or

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territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus (including any amendment thereto) contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser's province or territory. The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser's province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor. Pursuant to section 3A.3 (or, in the case of securities issued or guaranteed by the government of a non-Canadian jurisdiction, section 3A.4) of National Instrument 33-105 Underwriting Conflicts (NI 33-105), the underwriters are not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI 33-105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.

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Legal matters

The validity of the securities offered in this offering and certain legal matters in connection with this offering will be passed upon for us by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Certain legal matters in connection with this offering will be passed upon for the underwriters by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

Experts

The combined financial statements of Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries at December 31, 2013 and 2014, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2014, appearing in this prospectus and registration statement have been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, as set forth in their report appearing elsewhere herein, and are included in reliance upon such report given on the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

The consolidated financial statements of Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries at December 31, 2013 and 2014, and for the years then ended, appearing in this prospectus and registration statement have been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, independent auditors, as set forth in their report appearing elsewhere herein, and are included in reliance upon such report given on the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

Where you can find more information

This prospectus, which constitutes a part of a Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the SEC, does not contain all of the information set forth in the Registration Statement and the related exhibits and schedules. Some items are omitted in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC. Accordingly, we refer you to the complete Registration Statement, including its exhibits and schedules, for further information about us and the shares of common stock to be sold in this offering. Statements or summaries in this prospectus as to the contents of any contract or other document referred to in this prospectus are not necessarily complete and, where that contract or document is filed as an exhibit to the Registration Statement, each statement or summary is qualified in all respects by reference to the exhibit to which the reference relates. You may read and copy the Registration Statement, including the exhibits and schedules to the Registration Statement, at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Information about the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. Our filings with the SEC, including the Registration Statement, are also available to you for free on the SEC's internet website at www.sec.gov.

Upon completion of this offering, we will become subject to the informational and reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and, in accordance with those requirements, will file reports and proxy and information statements with the SEC. You will be able to inspect and copy these reports and proxy and information statements and other information at the addresses set forth above. We intend to furnish to our stockholders our annual reports containing our audited consolidated financial statements certified by an independent public accounting firm.

We also currently intend to maintain an internet website at www.matchgroupinc.com following the completion of this offering. Information that will be on or accessible through our website is not part of this prospectus.

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Index to the financial statements

Index to Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries combined financial statements

   

Unaudited combined interim financial statements

 
 

Combined balance sheet as of December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015

 
F-2

Combined statement of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015

  F-3

Combined statement of comprehensive income for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015

  F-4

Combined statement of shareholder equity for the nine months ended September 30, 2015

  F-5

Combined statement of cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015

  F-6

Notes to combined financial statements

  F-7

Audited combined financial statements

 
 

Report of independent registered public accounting firm

 
F-22

Combined balance sheet as of December 31, 2013 and 2014

  F-23

Combined statement of operations for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014

  F-24

Combined statement of comprehensive income for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014

  F-25

Combined statement of shareholder equity for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014

  F-26

Combined statement of cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014

  F-27

Notes to combined financial statements

  F-28

Index to Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries consolidated financial statements

 
 

Unaudited consolidated interim financial statements

 
 

Consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2014 and June 30, 2015

 
F-62

Consolidated statement of income for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2015

  F-63

Consolidated statement of shareholder equity for the six months ended June 30, 2015

  F-64

Consolidated statement of cash flows for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2015

  F-65

Notes to consolidated financial statements

  F-66

Audited consolidated financial statements

 
 

Report of independent auditors

 
F-70

Consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2013 and 2014

  F-71

Consolidated statement of income for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014

  F-72

Consolidated statement of shareholder equity for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014

  F-73

Consolidated statement of cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014

  F-74

Notes to consolidated financial statements

  F-75

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Combined balance sheet
(Unaudited)

 
   
   
   
 
 
  December 31,
2014

  September 30,
2015

  Pro forma
September 30,
2015

 
 
  (In thousands, except share data)
 

ASSETS

                   

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 127,630   $ 282,543   $  

Accounts receivable, net of allowance and reserves of $1,133 and $1,293, respectively

    33,735     59,212      

Other current assets

    33,737     45,041      

Total current assets

    195,102     386,796      

Property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation and amortization of $58,159 and $70,901, respectively

    42,997     42,586      

Goodwill

    793,763     805,969      

Intangible assets, net of accumulated amortization of $17,824 and $18,364, respectively

    207,613     200,516      

Long-term investments

    62,979     65,156      

Other non-current assets

    5,580     14,024      

TOTAL ASSETS

  $ 1,308,034   $ 1,515,047   $  

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER EQUITY

                   

LIABILITIES:

                   

Accounts payable

  $ 11,797   $ 20,348   $  

Deferred revenue

    134,790     156,225      

Dividend payable

            1,484,382  

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

    94,719     93,221      

Total current liabilities

    241,306     269,794     1,484,382  

Long-term debt—related party

    190,586     185,429      

Income taxes payable

    11,442     9,836      

Deferred income taxes

    47,800     41,528      

Other long-term liabilities

    13,446     39,400      

Redeemable noncontrolling interests

   
3,678
   
6,914
   
 

Commitments and contingencies

   
 
   
 
   
 
 

SHAREHOLDER EQUITY:

   
 
   
 
   
 
 

Common stock; $0.001 par value; authorized 15,000,000 shares; issued and outstanding 10,862,995 shares, as of September 30, 2015 on a pro forma basis

             

Invested capital

    877,635     1,091,346     (1,484,382 )

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

    (78,048 )   (129,200 )    

Total Match Group, Inc. shareholder equity

    799,587     962,146     (1,484,382 )

Noncontrolling interests

    189          

Total shareholder equity

    799,776     962,146     (1,484,382 )

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER EQUITY

  $ 1,308,034   $ 1,515,047   $  

   

The accompanying Notes to Combined Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Combined statement of operations
(Unaudited)

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (In thousands, except
per share data)

 

Revenue

  $ 649,272   $ 752,857  

Operating costs and expenses:

             

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation shown separately below)

    82,079     131,118  

Selling and marketing expense

    271,236     289,844  

General and administrative expense

    74,351     121,303  

Product development expense

    36,614     50,740  

Depreciation

    17,122     19,804  

Amortization of intangibles

    6,841     14,130  

Total operating costs and expenses

    488,243     626,939  

Operating income

    161,029     125,918  

Interest expenserelated party

    (23,214 )   (6,879 )

Other income, net

    8,628     8,341  

Earnings before income taxes

    146,443     127,380  

Income tax provision

    (46,434 )   (42,632 )

Net earnings

    100,009     84,748  

Net (earnings) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (522 )   42  

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 99,487   $ 84,790  

Pro forma net earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder:

             

Basic

  $ 9.91   $ 8.29  

Diluted

  $ 9.48   $ 7.88  

Basic, to give effect to dividend payment to IAC and anticipated 16-for-1 stock split

        $ 0.30  

Diluted, to give effect to dividend payment to IAC and anticipated 16-for-1 stock split

        $ 0.29  

Pro forma weighted average shares outstanding:

             

Basic

    10,040     10,233  

Diluted

    10,492     10,761  

Basic, to give effect to dividend payment to IAC and anticipated 16-for-1 stock split

          197,066  

Diluted, to give effect to dividend payment to IAC and anticipated 16-for-1 stock split

          205,515  

Stock-based compensation expense by function:

   
 
   
 
 

Cost of revenue

  $ 465   $ 342  

Selling and marketing expense

    255     4,883  

General and administrative expense

    13,476     22,076  

Product development expense

    2,414     3,681  

Total stock-based compensation expense

  $ 16,610   $ 30,982  

The accompanying Notes to Combined Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Combined statement of comprehensive income
(Unaudited)

 
   
   
 
 
  Nine months ended September 30,  
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Net earnings

  $ 100,009   $ 84,748  

Other comprehensive (loss) income, net of tax:

             

Change in foreign currency translation adjustment

    (28,322 )   (53,521 )

Change in fair value of available-for-sale security

    874     2,176  

Total other comprehensive loss

    (27,448 )   (51,345 )

Comprehensive income

    72,561     33,403  

Comprehensive (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (309 )   235  

Comprehensive income attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 72,252   $ 33,638  

The accompanying Notes to Combined Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Combined statement of shareholder equity
(Unaudited)

 
   
   
  Match Group, Inc. Shareholder Equity    
   
 
 
   
   
  Common Stock
$0.001 Par Value
   
   
   
   
   
 
 
  Redeemable
noncontrolling
interests

   
   
  Accumulated
other
comprehensive

  Total
Match
Group, Inc.
shareholder

   
   
 
 
   
   
   
  Total
shareholder

 
 
   
  Shares
  Invested
  Noncontrolling
 
 
   
   
  (Pro forma)
  capital
  loss
  equity
  interests
  equity
 
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  (In thousands)
 

Balance as of December 31, 2014

  $ 3,678         10,071   $ 877,635   $   (78,048 ) $ 799,587     $ 189   $ 799,776  

Net earnings (loss) for the nine months ended September 30, 2015

    (42 )           84,790         84,790         84,790  

Other comprehensive loss, net of tax

    (193 )               (51,152 )   (51,152 )       (51,152 )

Stock-based compensation expense

    3,816             22,974         22,974         22,974  

Purchase of redeemable noncontrolling interests

    (557 )                            

Net increase in IAC/InterActiveCorp's investment in Match Group, Inc. 

            792     105,970         105,970         105,970  

Transfer from noncontrolling interests to redeemable noncontrolling interests

    189                         (189 )   (189 )

Other

    23             (23 )       (23 )       (23 )

Balance as of September 30, 2015

  $ 6,914         10,863   $ 1,091,346   $ (129,200 ) $ 962,146     $     —   $ 962,146  

The accompanying Notes to Combined Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Combined statement of cash flows
(Unaudited)

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Cash flows from operating activities:

             

Net earnings

  $ 100,009   $ 84,748  

Adjustments to reconcile earnings to net cash provided by operating activities:

             

Stock-based compensation expense

    16,610     30,982  

Depreciation

    17,122     19,804  

Amortization of intangibles

    6,841     14,130  

Excess tax benefits from stock-based awards

    (5,283 )   (31,285 )

Deferred income taxes

    2,453     (8,646 )

Acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustments

    (13,581 )   (11,479 )

Other adjustments, net

    (5,445 )   (11,274 )

Changes in assets and liabilities, net of effects of acquisitions:

             

Accounts receivable

    (5,624 )   (25,116 )

Other current assets

    (4,511 )   (7,447 )

Accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities

    (6,178 )   20,834  

Income taxes payable

    5,329     26,993  

Deferred revenue

    21,482     23,997  

Net cash provided by operating activities

    129,224     126,241  

Cash flows from investing activities:

             

Acquisitions, net of cash acquired

    (113,871 )   (40,712 )

Capital expenditures

    (14,583 )   (19,916 )

Purchases of long-term investments

    (4,536 )    

Other, net

    180     (8,402 )

Net cash used in investing activities

    (132,810 )   (69,030 )

Cash flows from financing activities:

             

Funds returned from escrow related to Meetic tender offer

    12,354      

Purchase of noncontrolling interests

    (30,328 )   (557 )

Transfers (to) from IAC/InterActiveCorp

    (80,767 )   75,945  

Proceeds from the issuance of related party debt

    119,101      

Acquisition-related contingent consideration payments

    (7,373 )   (5,510 )

Excess tax benefits from stock-based awards

    5,283     31,285  

Net cash provided by financing activities

    18,270     101,163  

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

    (5,113 )   (3,461 )

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

    9,571     154,913  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

    125,226     127,630  

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

  $ 134,797   $ 282,543  

   

The accompanying Notes to Combined Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Notes to combined financial statements
(Unaudited)

Note 1—The company and summary of significant accounting policies

Nature of operations

Match Group, Inc. consists of our North America dating business (which includes brands such as Match, OkCupid, Tinder, OurTime, BlackPeopleMeet and other dating brands operating within the United States and Canada), our International dating business (which includes Meetic, Tinder's international operations, Twoo, FriendScout24 and all other dating brands operating outside of the United States and Canada) and our non-dating business, The Princeton Review.

Through the brands within our dating business, we are a leading provider of membership-based and ad-supported dating products servicing North America, Western Europe and other select countries around the world. We provide these services through websites and applications that we own and operate.

The non-dating business consists of The Princeton Review, which provides a variety of educational test preparation, academic tutoring and college counseling services.

Match Group, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAC/InterActiveCorp ("IAC"). On October 16, 2015, Match Group, Inc. filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") relating to the proposed initial public offering ("IPO") of less than 20% of its common stock. The IPO is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2015. On October 28, 2015, Match Group, Inc. completed its previously announced acquisition of PlentyOfFish for $575 million in cash. The purchase price was funded through a combination of $75.0 million of cash on hand and a $500.0 million cash contribution from IAC. IAC will ultimately receive Match Group shares for the $500.0 million contribution. The number of shares that will be issued will be calculated using the IPO price.

All references to the "Company," "we," "our" or "us" in this report are to Match Group, Inc.

Basis of presentation

The Company prepares its combined financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").

Basis of combination

These historical combined financial statements have been prepared on a stand-alone basis and are derived from the consolidated financial statements and accounting records of IAC. The combined financial statements reflect the historical financial position, results of operations and cash flows of the Match Group, Inc. businesses since their respective dates of acquisition by IAC and the allocation to Match Group, Inc. of certain IAC corporate expenses relating to Match Group Inc. based on the historical financial statements and accounting records of IAC. For the purpose of these financial statements, income taxes have been computed for Match Group, Inc. on an as if stand-alone, separate tax return basis.

All intercompany transactions and balances between and among the Company, its subsidiaries and the entities comprising Match Group, Inc. have been eliminated. All intercompany transactions between Match Group, Inc. and IAC and its subsidiaries, with the exception of notes payable due to IAC subsidiaries, are considered to be effectively settled for cash at the time the transaction is recorded. The total net effect of

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the settlement of these intercompany transactions is reflected in the combined statement of cash flows as a financing activity and in the combined balance sheet as "Invested capital." The notes payable due to IAC subsidiaries are included in "Long-term debt—related party" in the accompanying combined balance sheet.

In the opinion of Match Group, Inc.'s management, the assumptions underlying the historical combined financial statements of Match Group, Inc., including the basis on which the expenses have been allocated from IAC, are reasonable. However, the allocations may not reflect the expenses that we may have incurred as an independent, stand-alone company for the periods presented.

The accompanying unaudited combined financial statements have been prepared in accordance with GAAP for interim financial information and with the rules and regulations of the SEC. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and notes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited combined financial statements include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year. The accompanying unaudited combined financial statements should be read in conjunction with the combined annual financial statements and notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2014.

Accounting estimates

The preparation of combined financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make certain estimates, judgments and assumptions that impact the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses and the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

On an ongoing basis, the Company evaluates its estimates and judgments including those related to: the recoverability of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets; the useful lives and recoverability of definite-lived intangible assets and property and equipment; the fair value of long-term investments; the carrying value of accounts receivable, including the determination of the allowance for doubtful accounts and revenue reserves; the fair value of acquisition-related contingent consideration; the liabilities for uncertain tax positions; the valuation allowance for deferred income tax assets; and the fair value of and forfeiture rates for stock-based awards, among others. The Company bases its estimates and judgments on historical experience, its forecasts and budgets and other factors that the Company considers relevant.

Recent accounting pronouncement

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which clarifies the principles for recognizing revenue and develops a common standard for all industries. In July 2015, the FASB decided to defer the effective date for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is permitted beginning on the original effective date of December 15, 2016. Upon adoption, ASU No. 2014-09 may either be applied retrospectively to each prior period presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect recognized as of the date of initial application. The Company is currently evaluating the new guidance and has not yet determined whether the adoption of the new standard will have a material impact on its combined financial statements or the method and timing of adoption.

Note 2—Income taxes

Match Group, Inc. is a member of IAC's consolidated federal and state income tax returns. In all periods presented, current and deferred income taxes have been computed for Match Group, Inc. on an as if stand-alone, separate return basis. Match Group, Inc.'s payments to IAC for its share of IAC's consolidated

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federal and state income tax return liabilities have been reflected within cash flows from operating activities in the accompanying combined statements of cash flows.

At the end of each interim period, the Company makes its best estimate of the annual expected effective income tax rate and applies that rate to its ordinary year-to-date earnings or loss. The income tax provision or benefit related to significant, unusual, or extraordinary items, if applicable, that will be separately reported or reported net of their related tax effects are individually computed and recognized in the interim period in which they occur. In addition, the effect of changes in enacted tax laws or rates, tax status, judgment on the realizability of a beginning-of-the-year deferred tax asset in future years or income tax contingencies is recognized in the interim period in which the change occurs.

The computation of the annual expected effective income tax rate at each interim period requires certain estimates and assumptions including, but not limited to, the expected pre-tax income (or loss) for the year, projections of the proportion of income (and/or loss) earned and taxed in foreign jurisdictions, permanent and temporary differences, and the likelihood of the realizability of deferred tax assets generated in the current year. The accounting estimates used to compute the provision or benefit for income taxes may change as new events occur, more experience is acquired, additional information is obtained or our tax environment changes. To the extent that the expected annual effective income tax rate changes during a quarter, the effect of the change on prior quarters is included in income tax provision in the quarter in which the change occurs.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2014, the Company recorded an income tax provision of $46.4 million, which represents effective income tax rates of 32%. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, the Company recorded an income tax provision of $42.6 million, which represents effective income tax rates of 33%. The effective rates for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015 are lower than the statutory rate of 35% due primarily to the non-taxable gain on contingent consideration fair value adjustments, partially offset by state taxes.

The Company recognizes interest and, if applicable, penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in the income tax provision. At both December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015, the Company has accrued $1.2 million for the payment of interest. At December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015, the Company has accrued $2.4 million and $1.9 million, respectively, for penalties.

Match Group, Inc. is routinely under audit by federal, state, local and foreign authorities in the area of income tax as a result of previously filed separate company and consolidated tax returns with IAC. These audits include questioning the timing and the amount of income and deductions and the allocation of income and deductions among various tax jurisdictions. The Internal Revenue Service is currently auditing IAC's federal income tax returns for the years ended December 31, 2010 through 2012, which includes the operations of Match Group, Inc. Various other jurisdictions are open to examination for various tax years beginning with 2009. Income taxes payable include reserves considered sufficient to pay assessments that may result from examination of prior year tax returns. Changes to reserves from period to period and differences between amounts paid, if any, upon the resolution of audits and amounts previously provided may be material. Differences between the reserves for income tax contingencies and the amounts owed by the Company are recorded in the period they become known.

At December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015, unrecognized tax benefits, including interest and penalties, are $12.1 million and $10.5 million, respectively. Included in unrecognized tax benefits at both December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015, is approximately $0.7 million for tax positions included in IAC's consolidated tax return filings. Unrecognized tax benefits, including interest, for the nine months

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ended September 30, 2015 decreased by $1.6 million due principally to statute of limitations expirations and changes in foreign exchange rates. If unrecognized tax benefits at September 30, 2015 are subsequently recognized, $10.1 million, net of related deferred tax assets and interest, would reduce income tax provision. The comparable amount as of December 31, 2014 is $11.8 million. The Company believes that it is reasonably possible that its unrecognized tax benefits could decrease by approximately $1.4 million within twelve months of September 30, 2015.

Note 3—Fair value measurements and financial instruments

The Company categorizes its financial instruments measured at fair value into a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used in pricing the asset or liability. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are:

Level 1: Observable inputs obtained from independent sources, such as quoted prices for identical assets and liabilities in active markets.

Level 2: Other inputs which are observable directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active and inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data. The fair values of the Company's Level 2 financial assets are primarily obtained from observable market prices for identical underlying securities that may not be actively traded. Certain of these securities may have different market prices from multiple market data sources, in which case an average market price is used.

Level 3: Unobservable inputs for which there is little or no market data and require the Company to develop its own assumptions, based on the best information available in the circumstances, about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the assets or liabilities. See below for a discussion of fair value measurements made using Level 3 inputs.

The following tables present the Company's financial instruments that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis:

 
  December 31, 2014  
 
  Quoted market
prices in active
markets for
identical assets
(Level 1)

  Significant
other
observable
inputs
(Level 2)

  Significant
unobservable
inputs
(Level 3)

  Total
fair value
measurements

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Assets:

                         

Cash equivalents:

                         

Money market funds

  $ 57,057   $   $   $ 57,057  

Time deposits

        13,405         13,405  

Long-term investments:

                         

Marketable equity security

    7,410             7,410  

Total

  $ 64,467   $ 13,405   $   $ 77,872  

Liabilities:

                         

Contingent consideration arrangements

  $   $   $ (20,615 ) $ (20,615 )

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  September 30, 2015  
 
  Quoted market
prices in active
markets for
identical assets
(Level 1)

  Significant
other
observable
inputs
(Level 2)

  Significant
unobservable
inputs
(Level 3)

  Total
fair value
measurements

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Assets:

                         

Cash equivalents:

                         

Money market funds

  $ 233,376   $   $   $ 233,376  

Long-term investments:

                         

Marketable equity security

    9,594             9,594  

Total

  $ 242,970   $   $   $ 242,970  

Liabilities:

                         

Contingent consideration arrangements

  $   $   $ (28,573 ) $ (28,573 )

The following table presents the changes in the Company's financial instruments that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3):

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2014   2015  
 
  Contingent
consideration
arrangements

  Contingent
consideration
arrangements

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Balance at January 1

  $ (43,625 ) $ (20,615 )

Total net (losses) gains:

             

Included in earnings:

             

Fair value adjustments

    13,581     11,479  

Foreign currency exchange gains

        626  

Included in other comprehensive loss

    2,054     1,539  

Fair value at date of acquisition

        (27,112 )

Settlements

    7,373     5,510  

Balance at September 30

  $ (20,617 ) $ (28,573 )

Contingent consideration arrangements

As of September 30, 2015, there are five contingent consideration arrangements related to business acquisitions. The maximum contingent payments related to these arrangements is $170.3 million and the fair value of these arrangements at September 30, 2015 is $28.6 million. The contingent consideration arrangements are generally based upon earnings performance and/or operating metrics such as monthly active users. The Company determines the fair value of the contingent consideration arrangements by using a probability-weighted analysis to determine the amount of the gross liability, and, if the arrangement is long-term in nature, applying a discount rate that captures the risks associated with the obligation. The number of scenarios in the probability-weighted analyses can vary; generally, more

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scenarios are prepared for longer duration and more complex arrangements. The contingent consideration arrangements' fair values at September 30, 2015 reflect a discount rate of 12%.

The fair values of the contingent consideration arrangements are sensitive to changes in the forecasts of earnings and/or the relevant operating metrics and changes in discount rates. The Company remeasures the fair value of the contingent consideration arrangements each reporting period, and changes are recognized in "General and administrative expense" in the accompanying combined statement of operations. The contingent consideration arrangement liability at September 30, 2015 is non-current and included in "Other long-term liabilities" in the accompanying combined balance sheet.

Assets measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis

The Company's non-financial assets, such as goodwill, intangible assets and property and equipment, as well as cost method investments, are adjusted to fair value only when an impairment charge is recognized. Such fair value measurements are based predominantly on Level 3 inputs.

Cost method investments

At both December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015, the carrying value of the Company's investments accounted for under the cost method totaled $55.6 million; these investments are included in "Long-term investments" in the accompanying combined balance sheet. The Company evaluates each cost method investment for impairment on a quarterly basis and recognizes an impairment loss if a decline in value is determined to be other-than-temporary. If the Company has not identified events or changes in circumstances that may have a significant adverse effect on the fair value of a cost method investment, then the fair value of such cost method investment is not estimated, as it is impracticable to do so.

Long-term marketable equity security

The cost basis of the Company's long-term marketable equity security at December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015 is $8.7 million, with a gross unrealized loss of $1.2 million and a gross unrealized gain of $0.9 million at December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015, respectively. The gross unrealized loss at December 31, 2014 and the gross unrealized gain at September 30, 2015 are included in "Accumulated other comprehensive loss" in the accompanying combined balance sheet.

Note 4—Accumulated other comprehensive loss

The following tables present the components of accumulated other comprehensive loss.

 
  Nine months ended September 30, 2014  
 
  Foreign
currency
translation
adjustment

  Unrealized
gain on
available-for-
sale security

  Accumulated
other
comprehensive
loss

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Balance as of December 31

  $ (17,090 ) $ 702   $ (16,388 )

Other comprehensive (loss) income

    (28,109 )   874     (27,235 )

Balance as of September 30

  $ (45,199 ) $ 1,576   $ (43,623 )

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There have been no amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive loss into earnings for the nine months ended September 30, 2014.

 
  Nine months ended September 30, 2015  
 
  Foreign
currency
translation
adjustment

  Unrealized
(loss) gain on
available-for-
sale security

  Accumulated
other
comprehensive
loss

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Balance as of December 31

  $ (76,800 ) $ (1,248 ) $ (78,048 )

Other comprehensive (loss) income

    (51,137 )   2,176     (48,961 )

Foreign currency translation adjustment reclassified into earnings related to the substantial liquidation of a foreign business

    (2,191 )       (2,191 )

Net period other comprehensive (loss) income

    (53,328 )   2,176     (51,152 )

Balance as of September 30

  $ (130,128 ) $ 928   $ (129,200 )

At September 30, 2014 and 2015, there was no tax benefit or provision on the accumulated other comprehensive loss.

Note 5—Segment information

The Company has two operating segments, Dating and Non-dating, which are also the Company's two reportable segments. Each segment manager reports to the Company's Chairman. The Company's Chairman, who is the chief operating decision maker, allocates resources and assesses the performance at the segment level. Our Dating segment provides dating products and the Company's Non-dating segment provides a variety of education services including test preparation, academic tutoring and college counseling services.

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Revenue:

             

Dating

  $ 624,006   $ 668,228  

Non-dating

    25,266     84,629  

Total

  $ 649,272   $ 752,857  

 

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Operating Income (Loss):

             

Dating

  $ 175,509   $ 142,897  

Non-dating

    (14,480 )   (16,979 )

Total

  $ 161,029   $ 125,918  

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  Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Adjusted EBITDA:

             

Dating

  $ 198,554   $ 185,063  

Non-dating

    (10,533 )   (5,708 )

Total

  $ 188,021   $ 179,355  

Revenue by geography is based on where the customer is located. Geographic information about revenue and long-lived assets is presented below:

 
  Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Revenue:

             

United States

  $ 421,538   $ 517,422  

All other countries

    227,734     235,435  

Total

  $ 649,272   $ 752,857  

The United States is the only country whose revenue is greater than 10 percent of total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015.

 
  December 31,
2014

  September 30,
2015

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Long-lived assets (excluding goodwill and intangible assets):

             

United States

  $ 25,436   $ 25,656  

All other countries

    17,561     16,930  

Total

  $ 42,997   $ 42,586  

The only country, other than the United States, with greater than 10 percent of total long-lived assets (excluding goodwill and intangible assets), is France with $14.5 million as of both December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015.

The Company's primary financial measure is Adjusted EBITDA, which is defined as operating income excluding: (1) stock-based compensation expense; (2) depreciation; and (3) acquisition-related items consisting of (i) amortization of intangible assets and impairments of goodwill and intangible assets and (ii) gains and losses recognized on changes in the fair value of contingent consideration arrangements. The Company believes this measure is useful for analysts and investors as this measure allows a more meaningful comparison between our performance and that of our competitors. Moreover, our management uses this measure internally to evaluate the performance of our business as a whole. The above items are excluded from our Adjusted EBITDA measure because these items are non-cash in nature, and we believe that by excluding these items, Adjusted EBITDA corresponds more closely to the cash operating income generated from our business, from which capital investments are made and debt is serviced. Adjusted EBITDA has certain limitations in that it does not take into account the impact to the Company's statement of operations of certain expenses.

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The following tables reconcile Adjusted EBITDA to operating income (loss) for our reportable segments and to total net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015:

 
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
 
  Nine months ended September 30, 2014  
 
  Adjusted
EBITDA

  Stock-based
compensation
expense

  Depreciation
  Amortization
of intangibles

  Acquisition-
related
contingent
consideration
fair value
arrangements

  Operating
income
(loss)

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Dating

  $ 198,554   $ (15,624 ) $ (16,401 ) $ (4,601 ) $ 13,581   $ 175,509  

Non-dating

    (10,533 )   (986 )   (721 )   (2,240 )       (14,480 )

Total

  $ 188,021   $ (16,610 ) $ (17,122 ) $ (6,841 ) $ 13,581     161,029  

Interest expense—related party

    (23,214 )

Other income, net

    8,628  

Earnings before income taxes

    146,443  

Income tax provision

    (46,434 )

Net earnings

    100,009  

Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (522 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 99,487  

 

 
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
 
  Nine Months Ended September 30, 2015  
 
  Adjusted
EBITDA

  Stock-based
compensation
expense

  Depreciation
  Amortization
of intangibles

  Acquisition-
related
contingent
consideration
fair value
arrangements

  Operating
income
(loss)

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Dating

  $ 185,063   $ (30,233 ) $ (14,280 ) $ (9,132 ) $ 11,479   $ 142,897  

Non-dating

    (5,708 )   (749 )   (5,524 )   (4,998 )       (16,979 )

Total

  $ 179,355   $ (30,982 ) $ (19,804 ) $ (14,130 ) $ 11,479     125,918  

Interest expense—related party

    (6,879 )

Other income, net

    8,341  

Earnings before income taxes

    127,380  

Income tax provision

    (42,632 )

Net earnings

    84,748  

Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests

    42  

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 84,790  

Note 6—Contingencies

In the ordinary course of business, the Company is a party to various lawsuits. The Company establishes reserves for specific legal matters when it determines that the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome is probable and the loss is reasonably estimable. Management has also identified certain other legal matters where we believe an unfavorable outcome is not probable and, therefore, no reserve is established.

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Although management currently believes that resolving claims against us, including claims where an unfavorable outcome is reasonably possible, will not have a material impact on the liquidity, results of operations, or financial condition of the Company, these matters are subject to inherent uncertainties and management's view of these matters may change in the future. The Company also evaluates other contingent matters, including income and non-income tax contingencies, to assess the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome and estimated extent of potential loss. It is possible that an unfavorable outcome of one or more of these lawsuits or other contingencies could have a material impact on the liquidity, results of operations, or financial condition of the Company. See Note 2 for additional information related to income tax contingencies.

Note 7—Related party transactions

Relationship with IAC prior to the initial public offering

Match Group, Inc.'s combined statement of operations includes allocations of general and administrative costs, including stock-based compensation expense, related to IAC's accounting, treasury, legal, tax, corporate support and internal audit functions. These allocations were based on Match Group, Inc.'s revenue as a percentage of IAC's total revenue. Allocated costs, inclusive of stock-based compensation expense, were $5.0 million and $5.5 million, for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015, respectively, and are included in "General and administrative expense," in the accompanying combined statement of operations. It is not practicable to determine the actual expenses that would have been incurred for these services had Match Group, Inc. operated as a stand-alone entity. Management considers the allocation method to be reasonable. We have entered into certain arrangements with IAC in the ordinary course of business for: (i) the leasing of office space for certain of our businesses at properties owned by IAC, for which we paid approximately $0.7 million and $1.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015, respectively; and (ii) the subleasing of space in a data center from an IAC subsidiary, for which we paid such IAC subsidiary approximately $0.9 million for both the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2015.

The following table summarizes the components of the net increase in IAC's investment in Match Group, Inc. for the nine months ended September 30, 2015:

 
   
 
 
  September 30,
2015

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Capital contribution from IAC to partially fund the acquisition of PlentyOfFish

  $ (155,000 )

Cash transfers to IAC related to its centrally managed U.S. treasury management function

    99,086  

Taxes

    (44,521 )

Allocation of general and administrative expense

    (5,535 )

Net increase in IAC's investment in Match Group, Inc. 

  $ (105,970 )

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Long-term debt—related party

Long-term debt consists of:

 
   
   
   
   
 
 
  December 31, 2014   September 30, 2015  
 
  Carrying
Value

  Fair
Value

  Carrying
Value

  Fair
Value

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

3.57% Notes; interest payable September 1, which commenced September 1, 2012

  $ 79,000   $ 67,848   $ 79,000   $ 65,550  

5.00% Note; interest payable December 15, which commenced December 15, 2014

    64,586     69,101     59,429     60,332  

5.90% Note; interest payable December 15, which commenced December 15, 2014

    47,000     48,476     47,000     47,270  

Total Long-term debt—related party

  $ 190,586   $ 185,425   $ 185,429   $ 173,152  

On April 8, 2014, Match.com Europe Limited and Match.com France Limited issued a €53 million ($59.4 million at September 30, 2015) 5.00% Note and a $47 million 5.90% Note, respectively. The 5.00% euro denominated note was issued to an IAC foreign subsidiary in connection with the financing of the purchase of the remaining publicly-traded shares of Meetic that took place in the first quarter of 2014. The note is due on December 15, 2021. The 5.90% Note was issued to an IAC foreign subsidiary with the proceeds being used to repay certain indebtedness that had been created in order to partially fund the acquisition of shares in Meetic. The note is due on December 15, 2021.

On September 28, 2011, the Company, through a foreign subsidiary, Match.com Europe Limited, issued $94 million aggregate principal amount of 3.57% Notes. The notes were issued to three IAC foreign subsidiaries in connection with the financing of the acquisition of a controlling interest in Meetic in September 2011. In December 2011, the Company repaid $15 million leaving an outstanding balance of $79 million. The remaining notes are guaranteed by Match.com Pegasus Limited, a subsidiary of Match Group, Inc. The notes are payable in three installments of $26.3 million that are each due on September 1, 2021, 2023 and 2026.

The fair value of the Company's long-term debt is estimated by discounting the future cash flows based on current market conditions.

Interest expense related to the long-term debt is included in "Interest expense—related party" in the accompanying combined statement of operations.

Long-term debt maturities are as follows:

 
  (In thousands)
 

2021

  $ 132,763  

2023

    26,333  

2026

    26,333  

  $ 185,429  

Guarantee of IAC Senior Notes and revolving credit facility

On November 15, 2013 and December 21, 2012, IAC issued $500 million aggregate principal amount of 4.875% Senior Notes due November 30, 2018 ("2013 Senior Notes") and $500 million aggregate principal

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amount of 4.75% Senior Notes due December 15, 2022 ("2012 Senior Notes"), respectively. The 2013 and 2012 Senior Notes are unconditionally guaranteed by Match Group, Inc. and certain of its domestic subsidiaries.

The indentures governing the 2013 and 2012 Senior Notes contain covenants that limit the ability of IAC's restricted subsidiaries to, among other things, (i) incur indebtedness, make investments, or sell assets in the event IAC is not in compliance with the financial ratio set forth in the indenture, and (ii) incur liens, enter into agreements restricting our subsidiaries' ability to pay dividends, enter into transactions with affiliates and consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of our assets. At September 30, 2015, IAC was in compliance with the financial ratio set forth in the indenture.

On December 21, 2012, IAC entered into a $300 million revolving credit facility. On October 7, 2015, the IAC revolving credit facility was amended and restated, and now expires on October 7, 2020. At September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, there are no outstanding borrowings under IAC's revolving credit facility. The revolving credit facility is unconditionally guaranteed by the same domestic subsidiaries that guarantee the 2013 and 2012 Senior Notes and is also secured by the stock of Match Group, Inc. and certain of its domestic and foreign subsidiaries.

The Company has not recorded a liability pursuant to this guarantor obligation because we have not agreed to pay a specific amount through an arrangement with our co-obligors and we do not expect to pay any amount as a result of our guarantee of IAC's Senior Notes and IAC's revolving credit facility. Prior to the closing of this offering, we will no longer be a restricted subsidiary of IAC for purposes of its debt facilities, nor will we guarantee any debt of IAC nor will the stock of any of our subsidiaries be pledged to secure IAC's debt.

Relationship with IAC following the initial public offering

We expect to enter into certain agreements with IAC relating to this offering and our relationship with IAC after this offering. These agreements will include: a master transaction agreement; an investor rights agreement; a tax sharing agreement; a services agreement; an employee matters agreement; and a subordinated loan facility.

Note 8—Streamlining of technology systems and consolidation of European operations

The Company is currently in the process of rebuilding its underlying Dating technology infrastructure that supports both its mobile and desktop platforms, as well as consolidating its European operations from seven principal locations down to three. During the nine months ended September 30, 2015, the Company incurred $14.8 million in costs related to this project. A summary of the costs incurred, payments made and the related accruals is presented below.

 
   
   
   
 
 
  Nine months ended September 30, 2015  
 
  Severance
  Professional fees
and other

  Total
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Accrual as of January 1

  $ 795   $ 933   $ 1,728  

Charges incurred

    8,582     6,209     14,791  

Payments made

    (5,152 )   (6,514 )   (11,666 )

Accrual as of September 30

  $ 4,225   $ 628   $ 4,853  

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The costs are allocated as follows in the statement of operations:

 
   
 
 
  Nine months
ended September 30,
2015

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Cost of revenue

  $ 3,306  

Selling and marketing expense

    1,571  

General and administrative expense

    5,905  

Product development expense

    4,009  

Total

  $ 14,791  

Note 9—Subsequent events

On October 7, 2015, the Company entered into a credit agreement, which provides for a five-year $500 million revolving credit facility that includes a $40 million sub-limit for letters of credit. The obligations under the revolving credit facility are secured by the stock of certain of our subsidiaries and guaranteed by certain of our subsidiaries.

The Company currently expects to enter into an $800 million term loan facility as an incremental term loan facility under the credit agreement.

On October 16, 2015, the Company commenced a private exchange offer to eligible holders to exchange any and all of $500 million aggregate principal amount of outstanding 4.75% Senior Notes due 2022 issued by IAC for up to $500 million aggregate principal amount of new 6.75% Senior Notes due 2022 to be issued by Match Group, Inc.

In preparing these combined financial statements, management evaluated subsequent events through November 2, 2015, on which date the combined financial statements were available for issue.

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Unaudited pro forma information

Historical pro forma earnings per share

The following table sets forth the computation of pro forma basic and diluted earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder.

 
  Nine months ended September 30,  
 
  2014   2015  
 
  Basic

  Diluted

  Basic

  Diluted

 
 
  (in thousands, except per share data)
 

Numerator:

                         

Net earnings

  $ 100,009   $ 100,009   $ 84,748   $ 84,748  

Net (earnings) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (522 )   (522 )   42     42  

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 99,487   $ 99,487   $ 84,790   $ 84,790  

Denominator:

                         

Weighted average basic shares outstanding(a)

    10,040     10,040     10,233     10,233  

Dilutive securities including stock options and other securities(a)

        452         528  

Denominator for earnings per share—weighted average shares(a)

    10,040     10,492     10,233     10,761  

Earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

                         

Earnings per share(a)

  $ 9.91   $ 9.48   $ 8.29   $ 7.88  

(a)    All share and per share information reflects information before giving effect to adjustments to be made in connection with the recapitalization of our equity that will occur prior to the completion of the IPO and the transfer of the net proceeds of the IPO to IAC.

Unaudited pro forma information to give effect to the dividend payment to IAC

The unaudited pro forma balance sheet and unaudited pro forma net earnings per share have been presented in accordance with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin Topic 1.B.3. The unaudited pro forma balance sheet gives effect to an anticipated 16-for-1 stock split and an estimated $1.5 billion of proceeds from the issuance of the Match Senior Notes, borrowings under the term loan facility and this offering, including additional borrowings under the revolving credit facility, as payment of a dividend to IAC. The computation of pro forma net earnings per share reflects the number of additional shares that were issued to fund the dividend to IAC based on an assumed offering price of $13.00 per share (the midpoint of the offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus). The computation of pro forma earnings per share assumes 33.3 million of incremental shares to be issued in connection with this distribution were outstanding from the beginning of the period.

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The following table sets forth the computation of pro forma basic and diluted earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc. shareholders to give effect to the dividend payment to IAC.

 
   
   
 
 
  Nine Months Ended September 30, 2015  
 
  Basic
  Diluted
 
 
  (In thousands, except per share data)
 

Numerator:

             

Net earnings(a)

  $ 59,532   $ 59,532  

Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests

    42     42  

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc. shareholders

  $ 59,574   $ 59,574  

Denominator:

   
 
   
 
 

Weighted average basic shares outstanding

    163,733     163,733  

Add: Pro forma adjustment to reflect assumed shares sold in the initial public offering to fund the dividend payment

    33,333     33,333  

Pro forma weighted average basic shares outstanding

    197,066     197,066  

Dilutive securities including stock options and other securities

        8,449  

Pro forma denominator for earnings per share-weighted average shares

    197,066     205,515  

Pro forma earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc. shareholders

  $ 0.30   $ 0.29  

(a)    Net earnings has been adjusted by $25.2 million to reflect additional interest expense (net of tax) assumed to be incurred to finance the portion of the dividend that exceeds both the gross proceeds from this offering and the previous twelve month's net earnings.

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Report of independent registered public accounting firm

The Board of Directors and Shareholders of IAC/InterActiveCorp

We have audited the accompanying combined balance sheets of Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2013 and 2014, and the related combined statements of operations, comprehensive income, shareholder equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2014. Our audits also included the financial statement schedule listed on page F-61. These financial statements and financial schedule are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and schedule based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. We were not engaged to perform an audit of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Our audits included consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the combined financial position of Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries at December 31, 2013 and 2014, and the combined results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2014, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Also, in our opinion, the related financial statement schedule, when considered in relation to the basic combined financial statements taken as a whole, presents fairly in all material respects the information set forth therein.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

New York, New York
August 11, 2015

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Combined balance sheet

 
   
   
   
 
 
  December 31,   Pro forma
December 31,
2014
(unaudited)

 
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands, except share data)
 

ASSETS

                   

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 125,226   $ 127,630   $  

Accounts receivable, net of allowance and reserves of $856 and $1,133, respectively

    32,366     33,735      

Other current assets

    17,374     33,737      

Total current assets

    174,966     195,102      

Property and equipment, net

    35,090     42,997      

Goodwill

    767,746     793,763      

Intangible assets, net

    179,362     207,613      

Long-term investments

    60,393     62,979      

Other non-current assets

    74,565     5,580      

TOTAL ASSETS

  $ 1,292,122   $ 1,308,034   $  

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER EQUITY

                   

LIABILITIES:

                   

Accounts payable

  $ 14,194   $ 11,797   $  

Deferred revenue

    119,971     134,790      

Dividend payable

            1,484,382  

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

    80,146     94,719      

Total current liabilities

    214,311     241,306     1,484,382  

Long-term debt—related party

    79,000     190,586      

Income taxes payable

    11,851     11,442      

Deferred income taxes

    49,162     47,800      

Other long-term liabilities

    36,524     13,446      

Redeemable noncontrolling interests

   
24,248
   
3,678
   
 

Commitments and contingencies

               
 

SHAREHOLDER EQUITY:

   
 
   
 
   
 
 

Common stock; $0.001 par value; authorized 15,000,000 shares; issued and outstanding 10,070,625 shares, as of December 31, 2014 on a pro forma basis

             

Invested capital

    851,749     877,635     (1,484,382 )

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

    (16,388 )   (78,048 )    

Total Match Group, Inc. shareholder equity

    835,361     799,587     (1,484,382 )

Noncontrolling interests

    41,665     189      

Total shareholder equity

    877,026     799,776     (1,484,382 )

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER EQUITY

  $ 1,292,122   $ 1,308,034   $  

The accompanying Notes to Combined Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Combined statement of operations

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands, except per share data)
 

Revenue

  $ 713,449   $ 803,089   $ 888,268  

Operating costs and expenses:

                   

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation shown separately below)

    72,794     85,945     120,024  

Selling and marketing expense

    304,597     321,870     335,107  

General and administrative expense

    76,711     93,641     117,890  

Product development expense

    38,921     42,973     49,738  

Depreciation

    16,341     20,202     25,547  

Amortization of intangibles

    17,455     17,125     11,395  

Total operating costs and expenses

    526,819     581,756     659,701  

Operating income

    186,630     221,333     228,567  

Interest expense—related party

    (29,489 )   (34,307 )   (25,541 )

Other (expense) income, net

    (7,428 )   217     12,610  

Earnings before income taxes

    149,713     187,243     215,636  

Income tax provision

    (59,432 )   (60,616 )   (67,277 )

Net earnings

    90,281     126,627     148,359  

Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (4,606 )   (1,624 )   (595 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 85,675   $ 125,003   $ 147,764  

Unaudited pro forma net earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder:

                   

Basic

  $ 8.74   $ 12.54   $ 14.71  

Diluted

  $ 8.53   $ 12.10   $ 14.07  

Basic, to give effect to dividend payment to IAC and anticipated 16-for-1 stock split

              $ 0.59  

Diluted, to give effect to dividend payment to IAC and anticipated 16-for-1 stock split

              $ 0.57  

Unaudited pro forma weighted average shares outstanding:

                   

Basic

    9,800     9,969     10,047  

Diluted

    10,039     10,331     10,505  

Basic, to give effect to dividend payment to IAC and anticipated 16-for-1 stock split

                194,089  

Diluted, to give effect to dividend payment to IAC and anticipated 16-for-1 stock split

                201,412  

Stock-based compensation expense by function:

                   

Cost of revenue

  $ 1,975   $ 1,012   $ 396  

Selling and marketing expense

    823     562     194  

General and administrative expense

    10,368     8,520     17,326  

Product development expense

    2,898     2,134     2,935  

Total stock-based compensation expense

  $ 16,064   $ 12,228   $ 20,851  

The accompanying Notes to Combined Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Combined statement of comprehensive income

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Net earnings

  $ 90,281   $ 126,627   $ 148,359  

Other comprehensive income (loss):

                   

Change in foreign currency translation adjustment

        6,152     (60,101 )

Change in fair value of available-for-sale security

    8,233     702     (1,950 )

Total other comprehensive income (loss)

    8,233     6,854     (62,051 )

Comprehensive income

    98,514     133,481     86,308  

Comprehensive income attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (5,275 )   (3,918 )   (204 )

Comprehensive income attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 93,239   $ 129,563   $ 86,104  

The accompanying Notes to Combined Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Combined statement of shareholder equity

 
   
   
  Match Group, Inc. shareholder equity    
   
 
 
   
   
  Common Stock
$0.001 Par Value
   
   
   
   
   
 
 
  Redeemable
noncontrolling
interests

   
   
  Accumulated
other
comprehensive

  Total
Match Group, Inc.
shareholder

   
   
 
 
   
   
   
  Total
shareholder

 
 
   
  Shares
  Invested
  Noncontrolling
 
 
   
   
  (Pro forma)
  capital
  (loss) income
  equity
  interests
  equity
 
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  (In thousands)
 

Balance as of December 31, 2011

  $ 31,092       9,784   $658,406   $(28,512 ) $629,894   $ 55,024   $684,918  

Net earnings for the year ended December 31, 2012

  1,896         85,675     85,675   2,710   88,385  

Other comprehensive income, net of tax

  265           7,564   7,564   404   7,968  

Purchase of redeemable noncontrolling interests

  (2,955 )                

Transfer from noncontrolling interests to redeemable noncontrolling interests

  10,049               (10,049 ) (10,049 )

Net decrease in IAC/InterActiveCorp's investment in Match Group, Inc. 

        65   (26,731 )   (26,731 )   (26,731 )

Other

  611               2,818   2,818  

Balance as of December 31, 2012

  $ 40,958       9,849   $717,350   $(20,948 ) $696,402   $ 50,907   $747,309  

Net earnings for the year ended December 31, 2013

  417         125,003     125,003   1,207   126,210  

Other comprehensive income, net of tax

  927           4,560   4,560   1,367   5,927  

Purchase of redeemable noncontrolling interests

  (40,182 )                

Purchase of noncontrolling interests

                (12,371 ) (12,371 )

Adjustment of redeemable noncontrolling interests and noncontrolling interests to fair value

  19,254         (21,563 )   (21,563 ) 2,309   (19,254 )

Transfer from noncontrolling interests to redeemable noncontrolling interests

  2,874               (2,874 ) (2,874 )

Net increase in IAC/InterActiveCorp's investment in Match Group, Inc. 

        188   30,959     30,959     30,959  

Other

                1,120   1,120  

Balance as of December 31, 2013

  $ 24,248       10,037   $851,749   $(16,388 ) $ 835,361   $ 41,665   $877,026  

Net earnings for the year ended December 31, 2014

  595         147,764     147,764     147,764  

Other comprehensive (loss) income, net of tax

  (494 )         (61,660 ) (61,660 ) 103   (61,557 )

Purchase of redeemable noncontrolling interests

  (41,743 )                

Purchase of noncontrolling interests

                (50,662 ) (50,662 )

Adjustment of redeemable noncontrolling interests and noncontrolling interests to fair value

  21,072         (30,441 )   (30,441 ) 9,369   (21,072 )

Net decrease in IAC/InterActiveCorp's investment in Match Group, Inc. 

        34   (91,437 )   (91,437 )   (91,437 )

Other

                (286 ) (286 )

Balance as of December 31, 2014

  $   3,678       10,071   $877,635   $(78,048 ) $799,587   $     189   $799,776  

The accompanying Notes to Combined Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Combined statement of cash flows

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Cash flows from operating activities:

                   

Net earnings

  $ 90,281   $ 126,627   $ 148,359  

Adjustments to reconcile earnings to net cash provided by operating activities:

                   

Stock-based compensation expense

    16,064     12,228     20,851  

Depreciation

    16,341     20,202     25,547  

Amortization of intangibles

    17,455     17,125     11,395  

Impairment of long-term investments

    8,685          

Excess tax benefits from stock-based awards

    (8,368 )   (10,763 )   (5,319 )

Deferred income taxes

    (3,290 )   (3,651 )   (5,904 )

Acquisition-related contingent consideration fair value adjustments

        343     (12,912 )

Changes in assets and liabilities, net of effects of acquisitions:

                   

Accounts receivable

    2,848     (3,651 )   2,399  

Other current assets

    4,552     (155 )   (10,551 )

Accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities

    (4,709 )   (972 )   (7,980 )

Income taxes payable

    15,105     4,808     8,103  

Deferred revenue

    8,659     12,401     8,643  

Other, net

    748     255     (9,016 )

Net cash provided by operating activities

    164,371     174,797     173,615  

Cash flows from investing activities:

                   

Acquisitions, net of cash acquired

    (59,484 )   (32,145 )   (114,051 )

Capital expenditures

    (19,853 )   (19,807 )   (21,793 )

Purchases of long-term investments

    (24 )       (4,536 )

Other, net

    6     (2,034 )   180  

Net cash used in investing activities

    (79,355 )   (53,986 )   (140,200 )

Cash flows from financing activities:

                   

Funds (transferred to) returned from escrow for Meetic tender offer

        (71,512 )   12,354  

Purchase of noncontrolling interests

    (2,955 )   (52,552 )   (33,165 )

Transfers (to) from IAC/InterActiveCorp

    (53,381 )   9,653     (108,723 )

Proceeds from the issuance of related party debt

            111,586  

Acquisition-related contingent consideration payment

            (7,373 )

Excess tax benefits from stock-based awards

    8,368     10,763     5,319  

Other, net

        (1,614 )   (56 )

Net cash used in financing activities

    (47,968 )   (105,262 )   (20,058 )

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

    1,814     2,513     (10,953 )

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

    38,862     18,062     2,404  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

    68,302     107,164     125,226  

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

  $ 107,164   $ 125,226   $ 127,630  

   

The accompanying Notes to Combined Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Notes to combined financial statements

Note 1—Organization and basis of presentation

Basis of presentation and combination

These historical combined financial statements have been prepared on a stand-alone basis and are derived from the consolidated financial statements and accounting records of IAC/InterActiveCorp ("IAC"). The combined financial statements reflect the historical financial position, results of operations and cash flows of the Match Group, Inc. businesses since their respective dates of acquisition by IAC and the allocation to Match Group, Inc. of certain IAC corporate expenses relating to Match Group, Inc. based on the historical financial statements and accounting records of IAC. For the purpose of these financial statements, income taxes have been computed for Match Group, Inc. on an as if stand-alone, separate tax return basis.

All references to the "Company," "we," "our" or "us" in this report are to Match Group, Inc.

The Company prepares its combined financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").

All intercompany transactions and balances between and among the Company, its subsidiaries and the entities comprising Match Group, Inc. have been eliminated. All intercompany transactions between Match Group, Inc. and IAC and its subsidiaries, with the exception of notes payable due to IAC subsidiaries, are considered to be effectively settled for cash at the time the transaction is recorded. The total net effect of the settlement of these intercompany transactions is reflected in the combined statement of cash flows as a financing activity and in the combined balance sheet as "Invested capital." The notes payable due to IAC subsidiaries are included in "Long-term debt—related party" in the accompanying combined balance sheet.

In the opinion of Match Group, Inc.'s management, the assumptions underlying the historical combined financial statements of Match Group, Inc., including the basis on which the expenses have been allocated from IAC, are reasonable. However, the allocations may not reflect the expenses that we may have incurred as an independent, stand-alone company for the periods presented.

Company overview

Match Group, Inc. consists of our North America dating business (which includes brands such as Match, OkCupid, Tinder, OurTime, BlackPeopleMeet and other dating brands operating within the United States and Canada), our International dating business (which includes Meetic, Tinder's international operations, Twoo, FriendScout24 and all other dating brands operating outside of the United States and Canada) and our non-dating business, The Princeton Review.

Through the brands within our dating business, we are a leading provider of membership-based and ad-supported dating products servicing North America, Western Europe and other select countries around the world. We provide these services through websites and applications that we own and operate.

The non-dating business consists of The Princeton Review, which provides a variety of educational test preparation, academic tutoring and college counseling services.

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Note 2—Summary of significant accounting policies

Accounting for investments

Investments in the common stock or in-substance common stock of entities in which the Company does not have the ability to exercise significant influence over the operating and financial matters of the investee are accounted for using the cost method. Investments in companies that the Company does not control, which are not in the form of common stock or in-substance common stock, are also accounted for using the cost method. The Company evaluates each cost method investment for impairment on a quarterly basis and recognizes an impairment loss if a decline in value is determined to be other-than-temporary. Such impairment evaluations include, but are not limited to: the current business environment, including competition; going concern considerations such as financial condition and the rate at which the investee utilizes cash and the investee's ability to obtain additional financing to achieve its business plan; the need for changes to the investee's existing business model due to changing business and regulatory environments and its ability to successfully implement necessary changes; and comparable valuations. If the Company has not identified events or changes in circumstances that may have a significant adverse effect on the fair value of a cost method investment, then the fair value of such cost method investment is not estimated, as it is impracticable to do so.

Accounting estimates

Management of the Company is required to make certain estimates, judgments and assumptions during the preparation of its combined financial statements in accordance with GAAP. These estimates, judgments and assumptions impact the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses and the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

On an ongoing basis, the Company evaluates its estimates and judgments including those related to: the recoverability of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets; the useful lives and recovery of definite-lived intangible assets and property and equipment; the fair value of long-term investments; the carrying value of accounts receivable, including the determination of the allowance for doubtful accounts and revenue reserves; the fair value of acquisition-related contingent consideration; the liabilities for uncertain tax positions; the valuation allowance for deferred income tax assets; and the fair value of and forfeiture rates for stock-based awards, among others. The Company bases its estimates and judgments on historical experience, its forecasts and budgets and other factors that the Company considers relevant.

Revenue recognition

Substantially all of the Company's Dating revenue is derived directly from users in the form of recurring membership fees.

Membership revenue is presented net of credits and credit card chargebacks. Revenue recognition occurs ratably over the terms of the applicable membership, which primarily range from one to six months, beginning when there is persuasive evidence of an arrangement, delivery has occurred (access has been granted), the fees are fixed or determinable, and collection is reasonably assured. Members pay in advance, primarily by using a credit card, and, subject to certain conditions identified in our terms and conditions, all purchases are final and nonrefundable. Fees collected in advance for memberships are deferred and recognized as revenue using the straight-line method over the terms of the applicable membership period. Deferred revenue at the dating business is $116.5 million and $117.9 million at December 31, 2013 and 2014, respectively. The Company also earns revenue from online advertising, the purchase of à la carte features and offline events. Online advertising revenue is recognized every time an

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ad is displayed. Revenue from the purchase of à la carte features is recognized based on usage. Revenue and the related expenses associated with offline events are recognized when each event occurs.

Non-dating revenue consists primarily of fees received for in-person and online test preparation classes, access to online test preparation materials and individual tutoring services. Fees from classes and access to online materials are recognized over the period of the course and the period of the online access, respectively. Tutoring fees are generally collected in the form of membership fees that entitle the member to a certain number of tutoring sessions over a certain period of time. These fees are recognized over the term of the membership based on usage. Deferred revenue at the non-dating business is $3.5 million and $18.0 million at December 31, 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash and short-term investments, with maturities of less than 91 days from the date of purchase. Internationally, cash equivalents primarily consist of AAA rated money market funds and time deposits.

Accounts receivable

Accounts receivable are stated at amounts due from customers, net of an allowance for doubtful accounts and revenue reserves. Accounts receivable outstanding longer than the contractual payment terms are considered past due. The Company determines its allowance by considering a number of factors, including the length of time accounts receivable are past due, the Company's previous loss history, the specific customer's ability to pay its obligation to the Company and the condition of the general economy and the customer's industry. The Company writes off accounts receivable when they become uncollectible. The Company also maintains allowances to reserve for potential credits issued to customers or other revenue adjustments. The amounts of these reserves are based, in part, on historical experience.

Property and equipment

Property and equipment, including significant improvements, are recorded at cost. Repairs and maintenance costs are expensed as incurred. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets.

Asset category
  Estimated
useful lives

Computer equipment and capitalized software

  2 to 3 years

Furniture and other equipment

  5 years

Leasehold improvements

  6 to 7 years

The Company capitalizes certain internal use software costs including external direct costs utilized in developing or obtaining the software and compensation for personnel directly associated with the development of the software. Capitalization of such costs begins when the preliminary project stage is complete and ceases when the project is substantially complete and ready for its intended purpose. The net book value of capitalized internal use software is $16.2 million and $20.9 million at December 31, 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Business combinations

The purchase price of each acquisition is attributed to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their fair values at the date of acquisition, including identifiable intangible assets that either arise from a contractual or legal right or are separable from goodwill. The fair value of these intangible assets is based

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on detailed valuations that use information and assumptions provided by management. The excess purchase price over the net tangible and identifiable intangible assets is recorded as goodwill.

In connection with some business combinations, the Company has entered into contingent consideration arrangements that are determined to be part of the purchase price. Each of these arrangements is initially recorded at its fair value at the time of the acquisition and reflected at current fair value for each subsequent reporting period thereafter until settled. The contingent consideration arrangements are generally based upon earnings performance and/or operating metrics. The Company generally determines the fair value of contingent consideration using probability-weighted analyses over the period in which the obligation is expected to be settled, and, to the extent the arrangement is long-term in nature, applies a discount rate that appropriately captures the risk associated with the obligation. Significant changes in forecasted earnings or operating metrics would result in a significantly higher or lower fair value measurement. Determining fair value is inherently difficult and subjective and can have a material impact on our combined financial statements. The changes in the remeasured fair value of the contingent consideration arrangements each reporting period are recognized in "General and administrative expense" in the accompanying combined statement of operations. See Note 6 for a discussion of contingent consideration arrangements.

Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets

Goodwill acquired in business combinations is assigned to the reporting unit(s) that is expected to benefit from the combination as of the acquisition date. The Company assesses goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually as of October 1, or more frequently if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit or the fair value of an indefinite-lived intangible asset below its carrying value. At October 1, 2014 the Company had two reporting units: Dating and Non-dating.

The Company has the option to qualitatively assess whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value. If the Company elects to perform a qualitative assessment and concludes it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value, no further assessment of that reporting unit's goodwill is necessary; otherwise, the fair value of the reporting unit has to be determined and if the carrying value of a reporting unit's goodwill exceeds its implied fair value, an impairment loss equal to the excess is recorded. When the Company evaluates the potential for goodwill impairment using a qualitative assessment it considers factors including, but not limited to, the fair values of recent valuations, changes in the reporting unit's financial performance, forecasts, key personnel, and strategy, as well as changes in the industry conditions, including competition and demand for the reporting unit's services, and macroeconomic conditions.

The Company determines the fair value of its reporting units using both an income approach based on discounted cash flows ("DCF") and a market approach based on a multiple of earnings. Determining fair value requires the exercise of significant judgment with respect to several items, including the amount and timing of expected future cash flows and appropriate discount rates. The expected cash flows used in the DCF analyses are based on the Company's most recent budget and, for years beyond the budget, the Company's estimates, which are based, in part, on forecasted growth rates. The discount rates used in the DCF analyses reflects the risk inherent in the expected future cash flows of the respective reporting units. Assumptions used in the DCF analyses, including the discount rate, are assessed annually based on each of the reporting unit's current results and forecast, as well as macroeconomic and industry specific factors.

For the Company's annual goodwill test at October 1, 2014, a qualitative assessment of the Non-dating reporting unit's goodwill was performed. It was determined it was not more likely than not that the fair

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value was less than the carrying value based primarily on valuations of the reporting unit that were prepared immediately prior to October 1, 2014, in August and September 2014. For the Dating reporting unit, the Company elected to forgo the option to qualitatively assess goodwill and determined the fair value as of October 1, 2014. This valuation reflected a discount rate of 16%.

The Company determines the fair values of its indefinite-lived intangible assets using avoided royalty DCF analyses. Significant judgments inherent in these analyses include the selection of appropriate royalty and discount rates and estimating the amount and timing of expected future cash flows. The discount rates used in the DCF analyses reflect the risks inherent in the expected future cash flows generated by the respective intangible assets. The royalty rates used in the DCF analyses are based upon an estimate of the royalty rates that a market participant would pay to license the Company's trade names and trademarks. Assumptions used in the avoided royalty DCF analyses, including the discount rate and royalty rate, are assessed annually based on the actual and projected cash flows related to the asset, as well as macroeconomic and industry specific factors. The discount rates used in the Company's annual indefinite-lived impairment assessment ranged from 10% to 18% in 2013 and 10% to 20% in 2014, and the royalty rates used ranged from 3% to 7% in both 2013 and 2014.

There were no material impairment charges recorded in the three year period ended December 31, 2014.

Long-lived assets and intangible assets with definite lives

Long-lived assets, which consist of property and equipment and intangible assets with definite lives, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. The carrying value of a long-lived asset is not recoverable if it exceeds the sum of the undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use and eventual disposition of the asset. If the carrying value is deemed not to be recoverable, an impairment loss is recorded equal to the amount by which the carrying value of the long-lived asset exceeds its fair value. Amortization of definite-lived intangible assets is computed either on a straight-line basis or based on the pattern in which the economic benefits of the asset will be realized.

Fair value measurements

The Company categorizes its financial instruments measured at fair value into a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used in pricing the asset or liability. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are:

Level 1: Observable inputs obtained from independent sources, such as quoted prices for identical assets and liabilities in active markets.

Level 2: Other inputs which are observable directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active and inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data. The fair values of the Company's Level 2 financial assets are primarily obtained from observable market prices for identical underlying securities that may not be actively traded. Certain of these securities may have different market prices from multiple market data sources, in which case an average market price is used.

Level 3: Unobservable inputs for which there is little or no market data and require the Company to develop its own assumptions, based on the best information available in the circumstances, about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the assets or liabilities. See Note 6 for a discussion of fair value measurements made using Level 3 inputs.

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The Company's non-financial assets, such as goodwill, intangible assets and property and equipment, as well as cost method investments, are adjusted to fair value only when an impairment charge is recognized. Such fair value measurements are based predominantly on Level 3 inputs.

Advertising costs

Advertising costs are expensed in the period incurred (when the advertisement first runs for production costs that are initially capitalized) and represent online marketing, including fees paid to search engines, offline marketing, which is primarily television advertising and partner-related payments to those who direct traffic to our websites. Advertising expense is $287.0 million, $297.5 million and $309.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Legal costs

Legal costs are expensed as incurred.

Income taxes

Match Group, Inc. is a member of IAC's consolidated federal and state income tax returns. In all periods presented, current and deferred income tax expense has been computed for Match Group, Inc. on an as if stand-alone, separate return basis.

The Company recognizes liabilities for uncertain tax positions based on a two-step process. The first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of related appeals or litigation processes, if any. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount which is more than 50% likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement.

The Company accounts for income taxes under the liability method, and deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying values of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. A valuation allowance is provided on deferred tax assets if it is determined that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will not be realized. The Company records interest, net of any applicable related income tax benefit, on potential income tax contingencies as a component of income tax expense.

Foreign currency translation and transaction gains and losses

The financial position and operating results of foreign entities whose primary economic environment is based on their local currency are combined using the local currency as the functional currency. These local currency assets and liabilities are translated at the rates of exchange as of the balance sheet date, and local currency revenue and expenses of these operations are translated at average rates of exchange during the period. Translation gains and losses are included in accumulated other comprehensive income as a component of shareholders' equity. Transaction gains and losses resulting from assets and liabilities denominated in a currency other than the functional currency are included in the combined statement of operations as a component of other income (expense), net.

Stock-based compensation

Stock-based compensation is measured at the grant date based on the fair value of the award and is generally expensed over the requisite service period. See Note 8 for a discussion of stock-based compensation plans.

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Redeemable noncontrolling interests

Noncontrolling interests in the combined subsidiaries of the Company should ordinarily be reported on the combined balance sheet within shareholder equity, separately from the Company's equity. However, securities that are redeemable at the option of the holder and not solely within the control of the issuer must be classified outside of shareholder equity. Accordingly, if redemption of the noncontrolling interests is outside the control of the Company, the interests are included outside of shareholder equity in the accompanying combined balance sheet.

In connection with the acquisition of certain subsidiaries, current and former senior management of these businesses has retained an ownership interest. The Company is party to fair value put and call arrangements with respect to these interests. These put and call arrangements allow management of these businesses to require the Company to purchase these interests or allow the Company to acquire such interests at fair value, respectively. The put arrangements do not meet the definition of a derivative instrument as the put agreements do not provide for net settlement. No put and call arrangements were exercised during 2012 and 2014. During 2013, one of these arrangements was exercised. These put arrangements are exercisable by the counter-party outside the control of the Company. Accordingly, to the extent that the fair value of these interests exceeds the value determined by normal noncontrolling interest accounting, the value of such interests is adjusted to fair value with a corresponding adjustment to invested capital. During 2012, there were no fair value adjustments recorded. During the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014, the Company recorded adjustments of $19.3 million and $21.1 million, respectively, to increase these interests to fair value. Fair value determinations require high levels of judgment and are based on various valuation techniques, including market comparables and discounted cash flow projections.

Certain risks and concentrations

The Company's business is subject to certain risks and concentrations including dependence on third-party technology providers, exposure to risks associated with online commerce security and credit card fraud.

Financial instruments, which potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk, consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents. Cash and cash equivalents are principally maintained with international financial institutions that are not covered by deposit insurance.

Recent accounting pronouncement

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which clarifies the principles for recognizing revenue and develops a common standard for all industries. In July 2015, the FASB decided to defer the effective date for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is permitted beginning on the original effective date of December 15, 2016. Upon adoption, ASU No. 2014-09 may either be applied retrospectively to each prior period presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect recognized as of the date of initial application. The Company is currently evaluating the new guidance and has not yet determined whether the adoption of the new standard will have a material impact on its combined financial statements or the method and timing of adoption.

Note 3—Income taxes

Match Group, Inc. is a member of IAC's consolidated federal and state income tax returns. In all periods presented, current income tax provision and deferred income tax benefit have been computed for Match Group, Inc. on an as if stand-alone, separate return basis. Match Group, Inc.'s payments to IAC for its share

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of IAC's consolidated federal and state tax return liabilities have been reflected within cash flows from operating activities in the accompanying combined statements of cash flows.

U.S. and foreign earnings before income taxes and noncontrolling interests are as follows:

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

U.S. 

  $ 128,746   $ 152,645   $ 147,210  

Foreign

    20,967     34,598     68,426  

Total

  $ 149,713   $ 187,243   $ 215,636  

The components of the provision for income taxes are as follows:

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Current income tax provision:

                   

Federal

  $ 44,651   $ 49,140   $ 53,579  

State

    3,718     3,856     6,045  

Foreign

    14,353     11,271     13,557  

Current income tax provision

    62,722     64,267     73,181  

Deferred income tax provision (benefit):

                   

Federal

    3,550     722     (4,188 )

State

    158     197     (159 )

Foreign

    (6,998 )   (4,570 )   (1,557 )

Deferred income tax benefit

    (3,290 )   (3,651 )   (5,904 )

Income tax provision

  $ 59,432   $ 60,616   $ 67,277  

The current income tax payable was reduced by $8.4 million, $10.8 million and $5.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively, for excess tax deductions attributable to stock-based compensation. The related income tax benefits are recorded as increases to invested capital.

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The tax effects of cumulative temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities are presented below. The valuation allowance is primarily related to deferred tax assets for net operating losses.

 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Deferred tax assets:

             

Accrued expenses

  $ 5,772   $ 6,936  

Net operating loss carryforwards

    31,985     32,147  

Stock-based compensation

    7,524     13,142  

Fair value investments

    2,936     3,708  

Other

    4,450     3,172  

Total deferred tax assets

    52,667     59,105  

Less valuation allowance

    (23,202 )   (24,805 )

Net deferred tax assets

    29,465     34,300  

Deferred tax liabilities:

             

Intangible and other assets

    (67,554 )   (69,131 )

Other

    (4,682 )   (6,028 )

Total deferred tax liabilities

    (72,236 )   (75,159 )

Net deferred tax liabilities

  $ (42,771 ) $ (40,859 )

At December 31, 2014, the Company has federal and state net operating losses ("NOLs") of $24.4 million and $8.3 million, respectively. If not utilized, the federal NOLs will expire at various times between 2031 and 2034, and the state NOLs will expire at various times between 2015 and 2034. Utilization of federal and state NOLs will be subject to limitations under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code, and applicable state law. At December 31, 2014, the Company has foreign NOLs of $78.3 million available to offset future income. Of these foreign NOLs, $75.4 million can be carried forward indefinitely and $2.9 million will expire at various times between 2015 and 2034. During 2014, the Company recognized tax benefits related to NOLs of $0.8 million.

During 2014, the Company's valuation allowance increased by $1.6 million primarily due to an increase in federal NOLs. At December 31, 2014, the Company has a valuation allowance of $24.8 million related to the portion of NOLs and other items for which it is more likely than not that the tax benefit will not be realized.

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A reconciliation of the income tax provision to the amounts computed by applying the statutory federal income tax rate to earnings before income taxes is shown as follows:

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Income tax provision at the federal statutory rate of 35%

  $ 52,400   $ 65,535   $ 75,472  

Change in tax reserves, net

    1,970     (4,524 )   (283 )

State income taxes, net of effect of federal tax benefit

    2,433     2,814     3,826  

Foreign income taxed at a different statutory rate

    (205 )   (976 )   (975 )

Non-taxable contingent consideration fair value adjustments

            (4,439 )

Non-taxable foreign currency exchange gains

            (4,107 )

Non-deductible impairment of long-term marketable security

    3,040          

Other, net

    (206 )   (2,233 )   (2,217 )

Income tax provision

  $ 59,432   $ 60,616   $ 67,277  

No income taxes have been provided on indefinitely reinvested earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries aggregating $360.8 million at December 31, 2014. The estimated amount of the unrecognized deferred income tax liability with respect to such earnings would be $66.0 million.

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits, excluding interest, is as follows:

 
  December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Balance at January 1

  $ 12,833   $ 16,788   $ 11,215  

Additions based on tax positions related to the current year

    1,780     1,188     201  

Additions for tax positions of prior years

    2,517     665     490  

Reductions for tax positions of prior years

    (14 )   (12 )   (60 )

Settlements

    (328 )   (4,724 )    

Expiration of applicable statute of limitations

        (2,690 )   (911 )

Balance at December 31

  $ 16,788   $ 11,215   $ 10,935  

The Company recognizes interest and, if applicable, penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in the income tax provision. At both December 31, 2013 and 2014, the Company has accrued $1.2 million, respectively, for the payment of interest. At December 31, 2013 and 2014, the Company has accrued $2.3 million and $2.4 million, respectively, for penalties.

Match Group, Inc. is routinely under audit by federal, state, local and foreign authorities in the area of income tax as a result of previously filed separate company and consolidated tax returns with IAC. These audits include questioning the timing and the amount of income and deductions and the allocation of income and deductions among various tax jurisdictions. The Internal Revenue Service is currently auditing IAC's federal income tax returns for the years ended December 31, 2010 through 2012, which includes the operations of Match Group, Inc. Various other jurisdictions are open to examination for various tax years beginning with 2006. Income taxes payable include reserves considered sufficient to pay assessments that may result from examination of prior year tax returns. Changes to reserves from period to period and

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differences between amounts paid, if any, upon the resolution of audits and amounts previously provided may be material. Differences between the reserves for income tax contingencies and the amounts owed by the Company are recorded in the period they become known.

At December 31, 2013 and 2014, unrecognized tax benefits, including interest, are $12.4 million and $12.1 million, respectively. Included in unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2013 and 2014, is approximately $0.5 million and $0.7 million, respectively, for tax positions included in IAC's consolidated tax return filings. Unrecognized tax benefits, including interest, for the year ended December 31, 2014 decreased by $0.3 million due principally to foreign statute expirations. If unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2014 are subsequently recognized, $11.8 million, net of related deferred tax assets and interest, would reduce income tax expense. The comparable amount as of December 31, 2013 is $12.0 million. The Company believes that it is reasonably possible that its unrecognized tax benefits could decrease by approximately $1.2 million by December 31, 2015, primarily due to expirations of statutes of limitations.

Note 4—Goodwill and intangible assets

Goodwill and intangible assets, net are as follows:

 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Goodwill

  $ 767,746   $ 793,763  

Intangible assets with indefinite lives

    167,543     180,558  

Intangible assets with definite lives, net

    11,819     27,055  

Total goodwill and intangible assets, net

  $ 947,108   $ 1,001,376  

The following table presents the balance of goodwill, including the changes in the carrying value of goodwill, for the year ended December 31, 2013:

 
  Balance at
December 31,
2012

  Additions
  (Deductions)
  Foreign
exchange
translation

  Balance at
December 31,
2013

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Dating

  $ 683,708   $ 62,419   $   $ 4,878   $ 751,005  

Non-dating

    27,535     45     (10,839 )       16,741  

Match Group, Inc. 

  $ 711,243   $ 62,464   $ (10,839 ) $ 4,878   $ 767,746  

Additions primarily relate to the acquisition of Twoo. Deductions primarily relate to the establishment of a deferred tax asset related to Tutor.com's pre-acquisition net operating losses.

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The following table presents the balance of goodwill, including the changes in the carrying value of goodwill, for the year ended December 31, 2014:

 
  Balance at
December 31,
2013

  Additions
  (Deductions)
  Foreign
exchange
translation

  Balance at
December 31,
2014

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Dating

  $ 751,005   $ 12,371   $ (350 ) $ (44,897 ) $ 718,129  

Non-dating

    16,741     60,462     (1,581 )   12     75,634  

Match Group, Inc. 

  $ 767,746   $ 72,833   $ (1,931 ) $ (44,885 ) $ 793,763  

Additions primarily relate to the acquisition of The Princeton Review.

Intangible assets with indefinite lives are trade names and trademarks acquired in various acquisitions. At December 31, 2013, intangible assets with definite lives are as follows:

 
  Gross
carrying
amount

  Accumulated
amortization

  Net
  Weighted-average
useful life
(years)

 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

Customer lists

  $ 15,068   $ (7,037 ) $ 8,031     3.2  

Technology

    4,679     (2,326 )   2,353     3.0  

Trade names

    2,679     (1,244 )   1,435     2.4  

Total

  $ 22,426   $ (10,607 ) $ 11,819     3.0  

At December 31, 2014, intangible assets with definite lives are as follows:

 
  Gross
carrying
amount

  Accumulated
amortization

  Net
  Weighted-average
useful life
(years)

 
 
  (dollars in thousands)
 

Customer lists

  $ 19,060   $ (10,797 ) $ 8,263     2.9  

Content

    9,802     (1,024 )   8,778     4.0  

Trade names

    8,627     (3,001 )   5,626     2.8  

Technology

    5,390     (2,744 )   2,646     2.5  

Franchise rights and other

    2,000     (258 )   1,742     4.8  

Total

  $ 44,879   $ (17,824 ) $ 27,055     3.1  

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At December 31, 2014, amortization of intangible assets with definite lives for each of the next five years is estimated to be as follows:

Years ending December 31,
  (In thousands)
 

2015

  $ 12,312  

2016

    6,981  

2017

    5,504  

2018

    1,931  

2019

    327  

Total

  $ 27,055  

Note 5—Long-term investments

Long-term investments consist of:

 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Cost method investments

  $ 51,033   $ 55,569  

Long-term marketable equity security

    9,360     7,410  

Total long-term investments

  $ 60,393   $ 62,979  

Investment in Zhenai, Inc.

The Company has a 20% interest in the voting common stock of Zhenai Inc. ("Zhenai"), a leading provider of online dating and matchmaking services in China. Our voting power is limited by a shareholders agreement. In light of this limitation and the significance of our interest relative to other shareholders, we do not have the ability to exercise significant influence over the operating and financial matters of Zhenai and this investment is accounted for as a cost method investment.

Long-term marketable equity security

The cost basis of the Company's long-term marketable equity security at December 31, 2013 and 2014 is $8.7 million, with a gross unrealized gain of $0.7 million and a gross unrealized loss of $1.2 million at December 31, 2013 and 2014, respectively, which are included in "Accumulated other comprehensive loss" in the accompanying combined balance sheet. The Company evaluated the near-term prospects of the issuer in relation to the severity and duration of the unrealized loss. Based on the duration, less than two months, of the unrealized loss and the Company's ability and intent to hold this security for a reasonable period of time sufficient for an expected recovery of fair value, the Company does not consider the security to be other-than-temporarily impaired at December 31, 2014. In 2012, the Company recorded an $8.7 million other-than-temporary impairment charge related to its security that was in a continuous unrealized loss position for more than one year, based on the Company's evaluation of the near-term prospects of the issuer in relation to the severity (fair value was 50 percent less than cost) and duration of the unrealized loss. The impairment charge is included in "Other (expense) income, net" in the accompanying combined statement of operations.

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Note 6—Fair value measurements and financial instruments

The following tables present the Company's financial instruments that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis:

 
  December 31, 2013  
 
  Quoted
market
prices in
active
markets for
identical
assets
(level 1)

  Significant
other
observable
inputs
(level 2)

  Significant
unobservable
inputs
(level 3)

  Total
fair value
measurements

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Assets:

                         

Cash equivalents:

                         

Money market funds

  $ 70,290   $   $   $ 70,290  

Time deposits

        171         171  

Long-term investments:

                         

Marketable equity security

    9,360             9,360  

Total

  $ 79,650   $ 171   $   $ 79,821  

Liabilities:

                         

Contingent consideration arrangement

  $   $   $ (43,625 ) $ (43,625 )

 

 
  December 31, 2014  
 
  Quoted
market
prices in
active
markets for
identical
assets
(level 1)

  Significant
other
observable
inputs
(level 2)

  Significant
unobservable
inputs
(level 3)

  Total
fair value
measurements

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Assets:

                         

Cash equivalents:

                         

Money market funds

  $ 57,057   $   $   $ 57,057  

Time deposits

        13,405         13,405  

Long-term investments:

                         

Marketable equity security

    7,410             7,410  

Total

  $ 64,467   $ 13,405   $   $ 77,872  

Liabilities:

                         

Contingent consideration arrangements

  $   $   $ (20,615 ) $ (20,615 )

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The following table presents the changes in the Company's financial instruments that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3):

 
  December 31,  
 
  2013   2014  
 
  Contingent
consideration
arrangement

  Contingent
consideration
arrangements

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Balance at January 1

  $   $ (43,625 )

Total net (losses) gains:

             

Included in earnings

    (343 )   13,962  

Included in foreign currency translation adjustment

    (2,445 )   1,975  

Fair value at date of acquisition

    (40,837 )   (300 )

Settlements

        7,373  

Balance at December 31

  $ (43,625 ) $ (20,615 )

There are no gains or losses included in earnings for the year ended December 31, 2012, relating to the Company's financial instruments that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis using significant unobservable inputs.

Contingent consideration arrangements

As of December 31, 2014, there are two contingent consideration arrangements related to business acquisitions. The maximum contingent payments related to these arrangements is $124.4 million and the fair value of these two arrangements at December 31, 2014 is $20.6 million. The contingent consideration arrangements are based upon earnings performance and/or operating metrics. The Company primarily uses probability-weighted analyses to determine the amount of the gross liability, and, to the extent the arrangement is long-term in nature, applies a discount rate, which captures the risks associated with the obligation. The number of scenarios in the probability-weighted analyses can vary; generally, more scenarios are prepared for longer duration and more complex arrangements.

The more significant of the two contingent consideration arrangements relates to the acquisition, on January 4, 2013, of Massive Media NV, which operates Twoo.com, a social discovery website that allows its users to meet new people. The Twoo.com contingent consideration arrangement is payable in three annual installments, which began in 2014. Payments are based upon EBITDA and number of monthly active users. The 2014 installment of $7.4 million was paid in the second quarter of 2014. The remaining aggregate amount of the 2015 and 2016 installment payments cannot exceed €77.9 million ($94.9 million at December 31, 2014). The estimate of the fair value for the Twoo.com remaining payments was determined using a probability weighted analysis that forecasted EBITDA and monthly active users based primarily on management's internal projections and strategic plans. The fair value of this arrangement is determined using a discount rate of 15%.

The fair values of the contingent consideration arrangements are sensitive to changes in the forecasts of earnings and/or the relevant operating metrics and changes in discount rates. The Company remeasures the fair value of the contingent consideration arrangements each reporting period, and changes are recognized in "General and administrative expense" in the accompanying combined statement of operations. The contingent consideration arrangement liability at December 31, 2014 includes a current portion of $10.3 million and non-current portion of $10.3 million, which are included in "Accrued expenses

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and other current liabilities" and "Other long-term liabilities," respectively, in the accompanying combined balance sheet.

Assets measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis

The Company's non-financial assets, such as goodwill, intangible assets and property and equipment, as well as cost method investments, are adjusted to fair value only when an impairment charge is recognized. Such fair value measurements are based predominantly on Level 3 inputs.

Note 7—Accumulated other comprehensive loss

The following tables present the components of accumulated other comprehensive loss:

 
  Year ended December 31, 2013  
 
  Foreign
currency
translation
adjustment

  Unrealized gain
on available-
for-sale
security

  Accumulated
other
comprehensive
(loss) income

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Balance at January 1

  $ (20,948 ) $   $ (20,948 )

Other comprehensive income

    3,858     702     4,560  

Balance at December 31

  $ (17,090 ) $ 702   $ (16,388 )

 

 
  Year ended December 31, 2014  
 
  Foreign
currency
translation
adjustment

  Unrealized gain
(loss) on
available-for-
sale security

  Accumulated
other
comprehensive
loss

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Balance at January 1

  $ (17,090 ) $ 702   $ (16,388 )

Other comprehensive loss

    (59,710 )   (1,950 )   (61,660 )

Balance at December 31

  $ (76,800 ) $ (1,248 ) $ (78,048 )

During the year ended December 31, 2012, $8.7 million in unrealized loss was reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive loss into other income (expense). There were no unrealized gains and losses reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive loss into earnings for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014. At December 31, 2013 and 2014, there was no tax benefit or provision on the accumulated other comprehensive loss.

Note 8—Stock-based compensation

Match Group, Inc. currently has two active plans under which awards have been granted. These plans provide for the grant of non-qualified stock options to acquire shares of Match Group, Inc. common stock, and stock appreciation rights. These plans authorize the Company to grant awards to its employees, officers, directors and consultants. At December 31, 2014, there are 1.8 million shares available for grant under the Company's stock-based compensation plans.

Prior to this offering, the options to acquire shares of Match Group, Inc. common stock are settlable for shares of IAC common stock having a value equal to the difference between the option exercise price and the fair market value of a share of Match Group, Inc. common stock. Upon completion of this offering, the options to acquire shares of Match Group, Inc. common stock will be adjusted in accordance with their terms to provide that the awards are exercisable for shares of Match Group, Inc. common stock.

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The plans were adopted in 2009 and 2014, have a stated term of ten years, and provide that the exercise price of stock options granted will not be less than the fair value of the Company's common stock on the grant date. The plans do not specify grant dates or vesting schedules of awards as those determinations have been delegated to the Compensation and Human Resources Committee of IAC's Board of Directors (the "Committee"). Each grant agreement reflects the vesting schedule for that particular grant as determined by the Committee. Broad-based stock option awards issued to date have generally vested in two equal annual installments over a three-year period.

The amount of stock-based compensation expense recognized in the combined statement of operations is reduced by estimated forfeitures, as the expense recorded is based on awards that are ultimately expected to vest. The forfeiture rate is estimated at the grant date based on historical experience and revised, if necessary, in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from the estimated rate. At December 31, 2014, there is $32.0 million of unrecognized compensation cost, net of estimated forfeitures, related to all equity-based awards, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of approximately 2 years.

The total income tax benefit recognized in the accompanying combined statement of operations for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 related to stock-based compensation is $4.9 million, $4.1 million and $7.9 million, respectively.

Stock options

Stock options outstanding at December 31, 2014 and changes during the year ended December 31, 2014 is as follows:

 
  December 31, 2014  
 
  Shares
  Weighted
average
exercise
price

  Weighted
average
remaining
contractual
term

  Aggregate
intrinsic
value

 
 
  (Shares and intrinsic value in thousands)
 

Outstanding at January 1, 2014

    287   $ 190.00              

Granted

    351     325.06              

Exercised

    (51 )   111.24              

Forfeited

    (2 )   319.76              

Outstanding at December 31, 2014

    585   $ 277.62     7.3   $ 68,010  

Options exercisable

    224   $ 233.30     5.3   $ 38,187  

The aggregate intrinsic value in the table above represents the total pre-tax intrinsic value (the difference between the per share price of Match Group, Inc. at the last date of grant and the exercise price, multiplied by the number of in-the-money options) that would have been received by the option holders had all option holders exercised their options on December 31, 2014. This amount changes based on the fair value of Match Group, Inc. common stock. The total intrinsic value of stock options exercised during the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 is $23.9 million, $34.7 million and $10.7 million, respectively.

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The following table summarizes the information about stock options outstanding and exercisable at December 31, 2014:

 
  Options outstanding   Options exercisable  
Range of exercise prices
  Outstanding at
December 31,
2014

  Weighted-
average
remaining
contractual
life in years

  Weighted-
average
exercise
price

  Exercisable at
December 31,
2014

  Weighted-
average
remaining
contractual
life in years

  Weighted-
average
exercise
price

 
 
  (Shares in thousands)
 

$50.01 to $150.00

    32     5.1   $ 118.56     32     5.1   $ 118.56  

$150.01 to $250.00

    203     4.4     221.09     144     4.1     214.28  

$250.01 to $350.00

    325     9.1     319.76     48     9.1     319.76  

$350.01 to $450.00

    25     9.8     393.90              

    585     7.3   $ 277.62     224     5.3   $ 223.30  

The fair value of each stock option award is estimated on the grant date using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The Black-Scholes option pricing model incorporates various assumptions, including expected volatility and expected term. Prior to 2014, expected stock price volatilities were estimated based on historical stock price volatilities of peer companies that were chosen on the basis of their similarity to the Company in terms of consumer use, monetization model, margin and growth characteristics and brand strength. At the beginning of 2014 the Company concluded that the most relevant reference point for determining volatility was IAC's historical volatility as a result of the Company representing a large percentage of the overall value of IAC. The risk-free interest rates are based on U.S. Treasuries with comparable terms as the awards, in effect at the grant date. Expected term is based upon the mid-point of the first and last windows for exercise. No dividends have been assumed. The following are the weighted average assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option pricing model:

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 

Expected volatility

    47%     41%     29%  

Risk-free interest rate

    0.5%     0.8%     1.3%  

Expected term

    3.7 years     4.2 years     4.2 years  

Dividend yield

    —%     —%     —%  

Approximately 0.2 million, less than 0.1 million and 0.4 million stock options were granted by the Company during the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. The weighted average fair value of stock options granted during the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 with exercise prices equal to the fair value of Match Group, Inc. common stock on the date of grant are $79.73, $79.57 and $83.24, respectively. There are no stock options issued during the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 with exercise prices greater than the fair value of Match Group, Inc. common stock on the date of grant.

There was no cash received from stock option exercises as the stock options were net settled in IAC's common stock.

Equity instruments denominated in the shares of certain subsidiaries

IAC has granted stock options in certain subsidiaries within Match Group, Inc. to certain employees. These equity awards vest over a period of years, which is typically four years. The value of the stock options is

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tied to the value of the common stock of the entity, with the equity awards management receives as a whole generally representing a small minority of the total common stock outstanding. Accordingly, these interests only have value to the extent the fair value of the relevant business appreciates above the initial fair value utilized to determine the exercise price. These stock options can have significant value in the event of significant appreciation. The interests are ultimately settled in IAC common stock at various dates through 2021. The expense associated with these equity awards is initially measured at fair value at the grant date and is expensed as stock-based compensation over the vesting term. The fair value of each stock option award is estimated on the grant date using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The aggregate number of IAC common shares that would be required to settle these interests at current estimated fair values, including vested and unvested interests, at December 31, 2014 is 3.8 million shares; of this amount 1.5 million shares relate to vested awards and 2.2 million shares relate to unvested awards. The comparable amount at December 31, 2013 is 0.8 million shares; of this amount less than 0.1 million shares relate to vested awards and 0.7 million shares relate to unvested awards.

IAC denominated stock options

Approximately 0.6 million and 0.1 million IAC stock options were granted by IAC to employees of Match Group, Inc. during the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2013, respectively. There were no IAC stock options granted by IAC to employees of Match Group, Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2014. The fair value of each stock option award is estimated on the grant date using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. IAC stock options are granted with exercise prices at least equal to the fair value on the date of grant, vest ratably in annual installments over a four year period and expire ten years from the date of grant.

In December 2013, IAC's former Chief Executive Officer (the "Executive") became Chairman of Match Group LLC; in connection with the Executive's compensation arrangement, the Executive exercised 0.5 million IAC stock options, which were settled by IAC for $9.2 million in cash. In January 2014, a portion of the Executive's outstanding IAC stock options were canceled and replaced with equity denominated in Match Group, Inc. and equity denominated in certain subsidiaries within Match Group, Inc. and Match Group LLC. The incremental expense associated with this modification is $7.4 million.

IAC denominated restricted stock units ("RSUs")

Approximately less than 0.1 million and 0.1 million IAC RSUs were granted by IAC to employees of Match Group, Inc. during the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2013, respectively. There were no IAC RSUs granted by IAC to employees of Match Group, Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2014. RSUs are awards in the form of phantom shares, denominated in a hypothetical equivalent number of shares of IAC common stock and with the value of each RSU equal to the fair value of IAC common stock at the date of grant. RSUs may be settled in cash, stock or both, as determined by the Committee at the time of grant. Each RSU grant is subject to service-based vesting, where a specific period of continued employment must pass before an award vests.

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Note 9—Segment information

The Company has two operating segments, Dating and Non-dating, which are also the Company's two reportable segments. Each segment manager reports to the Company's Chairman. The Company's Chairman, who is the chief operating decision maker, allocates resources and assesses performance at the segment level. Our Dating segment provides dating products and the Company's Non-dating segment provides a variety of education services including test preparation, academic tutoring and college counseling services.

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Revenue:

                   

Dating

  $ 713,449   $ 788,197   $ 836,458  

Non-dating

        14,892     51,810  

Total

  $ 713,449   $ 803,089   $ 888,268  

 

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Operating Income (Loss):

                   

Dating

  $ 187,106   $ 230,273   $ 253,725  

Non-dating

    (476 )   (8,940 )   (25,158 )

Total

  $ 186,630   $ 221,333   $ 228,567  

 

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Adjusted EBITDA:(a)

                   

Dating

  $ 236,939   $ 277,463   $ 289,287  

Non-dating

    (449 )   (6,232 )   (15,839 )

Total

  $ 236,490   $ 271,231   $ 273,448  

 

 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Segment Assets:(b)

             

Dating

  $ 337,591   $ 277,260  

Non-dating

    7,423     29,398  

Total

  $ 345,014   $ 306,658  

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  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Capital expenditures:

                   

Dating

  $ 19,853   $ 19,587   $ 19,734  

Non-dating

        220     2,059  

Total

  $ 19,853   $ 19,807   $ 21,793  

(a)    The Company's primary financial measure is Adjusted EBITDA, which is defined as operating income excluding: (1) stock-based compensation expense; (2) depreciation; and (3) acquisition-related items consisting of (i) amortization of intangible assets and impairments of goodwill and intangible assets and (ii) gains and losses recognized on changes in the fair value of contingent consideration arrangements. The Company believes this measure is useful for analysts and investors as this measure allows a more meaningful comparison between our performance and that of our competitors. Moreover, our management uses this measure internally to evaluate the performance of our business as a whole. The above items are excluded from our Adjusted EBITDA measure because these items are non-cash in nature, and we believe that by excluding these items, Adjusted EBITDA corresponds more closely to the cash operating income generated from our business, from which capital investments are made and debt is serviced. Adjusted EBITDA has certain limitations in that it does not take into account the impact to Match Group, Inc.'s statement of operations of certain expenses.

(b)   Consistent with the Company's primary metric (described in (a) above), the Company excludes, if applicable, goodwill and intangible assets from the measure of segment assets presented above.

Revenue by geography is based on where the customer is located. Geographic information about revenue and long-lived assets is presented below:

 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Revenue

                   

United States

  $ 460,321   $ 516,589   $ 578,139  

All other countries

    253,128     286,500     310,129  

Total

  $ 713,449   $ 803,089   $ 888,268  

The only country, other than the United States, with greater than 10 percent of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2013, is France with $75.6 million and $81.4 million, respectively. The United States is the only country whose revenue is greater than 10 percent of total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2014.

 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Long-lived assets (excluding goodwill and intangible assets)

             

United States

  $ 16,249   $ 25,436  

All other countries

    18,841     17,561  

Total

  $ 35,090   $ 42,997  

The only country, other than the United States, with greater than 10 percent of total long-lived assets (excluding goodwill and intangible assets), is France with $16.3 million and $14.5 million as of December 31, 2013 and 2014, respectively.

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The following tables reconcile Adjusted EBITDA to operating income (loss) for the Company's reportable segments and to total net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014:

 
  Year ended December 31, 2012  
 
  Adjusted
EBITDA

  Stock-based
compensation

  Depreciation
  Amortization
of intangibles

  Operating
income
(loss)

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Dating

  $ 236,939   $(16,037)   $(16,341)   $(17,455)   $ 187,106  

Non-dating

    (449 ) (27)         (476 )

Total

  $ 236,490   $(16,064)   $(16,341)   $(17,455)     186,630  

Interest expense—related party

    (29,489 )

Other expense, net

    (7,428 )

Earnings before income taxes

    149,713  

Income tax provision

    (59,432 )

Net earnings

    90,281  

Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (4,606 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 85,675  

 

 
  Year ended December 31, 2013  
 
  Adjusted
EBITDA

  Stock-based
compensation

  Depreciation
  Amortization
of intangibles

  Acquisition-
related
contingent
consideration
fair value
adjustments

  Operating income (loss)
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Dating

  $ 277,463   $(11,718)   $(19,991)   $(15,138)   $(343)   $ 230,273  

Non-dating

    (6,232 ) (510)   (211)   (1,987)       (8,940 )

Total

  $ 271,231   $(12,228)   $(20,202)   $(17,125)   $(343)     221,333  

Interest expense—related party

    (34,307 )

Other income, net

    217  

Earnings before income taxes

    187,243  

Income tax provision

    (60,616 )

Net earnings

    126,627  

Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (1,624 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 125,003  

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  Year ended December 31, 2014  
 
  Adjusted
EBITDA

  Stock-based
compensation

  Depreciation
  Amortization
of intangibles

  Acquisition-
related
contingent
consideration
fair value
adjustments

  Operating income (loss)
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Dating

  $ 289,287   $(19,543)   $(21,502)   $(7,429)   $12,912   $ 253,725  

Non-dating

    (15,839 ) (1,308)   (4,045)   (3,966)       (25,158 )

Total

  $ 273,448   $(20,851)   $(25,547)   $(11,395)   $12,912     228,567  

Interest expense—related party

    (25,541 )

Other income, net

    12,610  

Earnings before income taxes

    215,636  

Income tax provision

    (67,277 )

Net earnings

    148,359  

Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (595 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 147,764  

The following tables reconcile segment assets to total assets:

 
  December 31, 2013  
 
  Segment assets
  Goodwill
  Indefinite-lived
intangible assets

  Definite-lived
intangible assets

  Total assets
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Dating

  $337,591   $ 751,005   $162,344   5,405   $ 1,256,345  

Non-dating

  7,423     16,741   5,199   6,414     35,777  

Total

  $345,014   $ 767,746   $167,543   $11,819   $ 1,292,122  

 

 
  December 31, 2014  
 
  Segment assets
  Goodwill
  Indefinite-lived
intangible assets

  Definite-lived
intangible assets

  Total assets
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Dating

  $277,260   $ 718,129   $156,658   $6,706   $ 1,158,753  

Non-dating

  29,398     75,634   23,900   20,349     149,281  

Total

  $306,658   $ 793,763   $180,558   $27,055   $ 1,308,034  

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Note 10—Commitments

The Company leases office space, data center facilities and equipment used in connection with its operations under various operating leases, many of which contain escalation clauses. In addition, future minimum lease payments include Match Group, Inc.'s allocable share of an IAC data center lease.

Future minimum payments under operating lease agreements are as follows:

Years ending December 31,
  (In thousands)

2015

  $12,376

2016

  11,195

2017

  7,586

2018

  6,417

2019

  4,676

Thereafter

  6,393

Total

  $48,643

Expenses charged to operations under these agreements are $8.3 million, $10.9 million and $14.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. In addition, rent expense charged to Match Group, Inc. by IAC, for which no minimum payments are required, totaled $0.3 million, $0.5 million and $0.9 million in the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively.

The Company also has funding commitments that could potentially require its performance in the event of demands by third parties or contingent events as follows:

 
  Amount of commitment
expiration per period
 
  Less than
1 Year

 
  (In thousands)

Purchase obligations

  $8,647

Surety bonds

  245

Total commercial commitments

  $8,892

The purchase obligations primarily include advertising commitments, which commitments are reducible or terminable such that these commitments can never exceed associated revenue by a meaningful amount.

Amounts due under the contingent consideration arrangements described in Note 6 are excluded from the commercial commitments table above.

Note 11—Contingencies

In the ordinary course of business, the Company is a party to various lawsuits. The Company establishes reserves for specific legal matters when it determines that the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome is probable and the loss is reasonably estimable. Management has also identified certain other legal matters where we believe an unfavorable outcome is not probable and, therefore, no reserve is established. Although management currently believes that resolving claims against us, including claims where an unfavorable outcome is reasonably possible, will not have a material impact on the liquidity, results of

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operations, or financial condition of the Company, these matters are subject to inherent uncertainties and management's view of these matters may change in the future. The Company also evaluates other contingent matters, including income and non-income tax contingencies, to assess the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome and estimated extent of potential loss. It is possible that an unfavorable outcome of one or more of these lawsuits or other contingencies could have a material impact on the liquidity, results of operations, or financial condition of the Company. See Note 3 for additional information related to income tax contingencies.

Note 12—Supplemental cash flow information

Supplemental disclosure of non-cash transactions for 2013

The consideration for the acquisition of Twoo on January 4, 2013 includes a contingent consideration arrangement, which is described in Note 6.

Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information:

 
   
   
   
 
 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Cash paid (received) during the year for:

                   

Interest

  $ 2,609   $ 2,928   $ 7,017  

Income tax payments, including amounts paid to IAC for Match Group, Inc.'s share of IAC's consolidated tax liability

    48,989     60,107     68,905  

Income tax refunds

    (1,372 )   (647 )   (3,826 )

Note 13—Related party transactions

Relationship with IAC prior to the initial public offering

Match Group, Inc.'s combined statement of operations includes allocations of general and administrative costs, including stock-based compensation expense, related to IAC's accounting, treasury, legal, tax, corporate support and internal audit functions. These allocations were based on Match Group, Inc.'s revenue as a percentage of IAC's total revenue. Allocated general and administrative costs, inclusive of stock-based compensation expense, were $6.3 million, $6.2 million and $6.6 million, in 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively, and are included in "General and administrative expense" in the accompanying combined statement of operations. It is not practicable to determine the actual expenses that would have been incurred for these services had Match Group, Inc. operated as a stand-alone entity. Management considers the allocation method to be reasonable. We have entered into certain arrangements with IAC in the ordinary course of business for: (i) the leasing of office space for certain of our businesses at properties owned by IAC, for which we paid IAC approximately $0.3 million, $0.5 million and $1.0 million in the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively; and (ii) the subleasing of space in a data center from an IAC subsidiary, for which we paid such IAC subsidiary approximately $1.2 million in each of the three years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The portion of interest income reflected in the combined statements of operations that is intercompany in nature, was $1.3 million, $1.2 million and $2.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively, and is included in "Interest expense, net" in the table below.

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The following table summarizes the components of the net decrease (increase) in IAC/InterActiveCorp's investment in Match Group, Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014:

 
   
   
   
 
 
  December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Cash transfers to IAC related to its centrally managed U.S. treasury management function, acquisitions and cash expenses paid by IAC on behalf of Match Group, Inc., net

  $ 104,904   $ 59,216   $ 165,782  

Taxes

    (48,413 )   (54,228 )   (54,761 )

Interest expense, net(a)

    (23,422 )   (29,737 )   (12,936 )

Allocation of general and administrative expense

    (6,338 )   (6,210 )   (6,648 )

Net decrease (increase) in IAC/InterActiveCorp's investment in Match Group, Inc. 

  $ 26,731   $ (30,959 ) $ 91,437  

(a)    Interest expense on long-term debt—related party is not included.

Long-term debt—related party

Long-term debt—related party consists of:

 
   
   
   
   
 
 
  December 31, 2013   December 31, 2014  
 
  Carrying
value

  Fair
value

  Carrying
value

  Fair
value

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

3.57% Notes; interest payable September 1, which commenced September 1, 2012

  $ 79,000   $ 66,078   $ 79,000   $ 67,848  

5.00% Note; interest payable December 15, which commenced December 15, 2014

            64,586     69,101  

5.90% Note; interest payable December 15, which commenced December 15, 2014

            47,000     48,476  

Total long-term debt—related party

  $ 79,000   $ 66,078   $ 190,586   $ 185,425  

On September 28, 2011, the Company, through a foreign subsidiary, Match.com Europe Limited, issued $94 million aggregate principal amount of 3.57% Notes. The notes were issued to three IAC foreign subsidiaries in connection with the financing of the acquisition of a controlling interest in Meetic in September 2011. In December 2011, the Company repaid $15 million leaving an outstanding balance of $79 million. The remaining notes are guaranteed by Match.com Pegasus Limited, a subsidiary of Match Group, Inc. The notes are payable in three installments of $26.3 million that are each due on September 1, 2021, 2023 and 2026.

On April 8, 2014, Match.com Europe Limited and Match.com France Limited issued a €53 million ($64.6 million at December 31, 2014) 5.00% Note and a $47 million 5.90% Note, respectively. The 5.00% euro denominated note was issued to an IAC foreign subsidiary in connection with the financing of the purchase of the remaining publicly-traded shares of Meetic that took place in the first quarter of 2014. The note is due on December 15, 2021. The 5.90% Note was issued to an IAC foreign subsidiary with the proceeds being used to repay certain indebtedness that had been created in order to partially fund the acquisition of shares in Meetic. The note is due on December 15, 2021.

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The fair value of the Company's long-term debt is estimated by discounting the future cash flows based on current market conditions.

Interest expense related to the long-term debt is included in "Interest expense—related party" in the accompanying combined statement of operations.

Long-term debt maturities are as follows:

 
   
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

2021

  $ 137,920  

2023

    26,333  

2026

    26,333  

  $ 190,586  

Guarantee of IAC Senior Notes and revolving credit facility

On November 15, 2013 and December 21, 2012, IAC issued $500 million aggregate principal amount of 4.875% Senior Notes due November 30, 2018 ("2013 Senior Notes") and $500 million aggregate principal amount of 4.75% Senior Notes due December 15, 2022 ("2012 Senior Notes"), respectively. The 2013 and 2012 Senior Notes are unconditionally guaranteed by Match Group, Inc. and certain of its domestic subsidiaries.

The indentures governing the 2013 and 2012 Senior Notes contain covenants that limit the ability of IAC's restricted subsidiaries to, among other things, (i) incur indebtedness, make investments, or sell assets in the event IAC is not in compliance with the financial ratio set forth in the indenture, and (ii) incur liens, enter into agreements restricting our subsidiaries' ability to pay dividends, enter into transactions with affiliates and consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of IAC's assets. At December 31, 2014, IAC was in compliance with the financial ratio set forth in the indenture.

On December 21, 2012, IAC entered into a $300 million revolving credit facility, which expires on December 21, 2017. At December 31, 2014 and 2013, there are no outstanding borrowings under IAC's revolving credit facility. The revolving credit facility is unconditionally guaranteed by the same domestic subsidiaries that guarantee the 2013 and 2012 Senior Notes and is also secured by the stock of Match Group, Inc. and certain of its domestic and foreign subsidiaries.

The Company has not recorded a liability pursuant to this guarantor obligation because we have not agreed to pay a specific amount through an arrangement with our co-obligors and we do not expect to pay any amount as a result of our guarantee of IAC's Senior Notes and IAC's revolving credit facility. Prior to the closing of this offering, we will no longer be a restricted subsidiary of IAC for the purposes of its debt facilities, nor will we guarantee any debt of IAC nor will the stock of any of our subsidiaries be pledged to secure IAC's debt.

Relationship with IAC following the initial public offering

We expect to enter into certain agreements with IAC relating to this offering and our relationship with IAC after this offering to govern the relationship between the Company and IAC. These agreements will include: a master transaction agreement; an investor rights agreement; a tax sharing agreement; a services agreement; an employee matters agreement; and a subordinated loan agreement.

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Note 14—Benefit plans

During the three-year period ended December 31, 2014, employees of Match Group, Inc. were eligible to participate in a retirement savings plan sponsored by IAC or plan(s) sponsored by its subsidiaries in the United States that qualified under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. Under the IAC Plan, participating employees may contribute up to 50% of their pre-tax earnings, but not more than statutory limits. The employer match under the IAC Plan is fifty cents for each dollar a participant contributes in this plan, with a maximum contribution of 3% of a participant's eligible earnings. Matching contributions for these plans for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 are $1.1 million, $1.2 million and $1.6 million, respectively. Matching contributions are invested in the same manner as each participant's voluntary contributions in the investment options provided under the plan. An investment option in the plan is IAC common stock, but neither participant nor matching contributions are required to be invested in IAC common stock.

Match Group, Inc. also has or participates in various benefit plans, principally defined contribution plans, for its international employees. Match Group, Inc.'s contributions for these plans for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2013 and 2014 are $1.9 million, $2.3 million and $2.1 million, respectively.

Note 15—Combined financial statement details

 
   
   
 
 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Other current assets:

             

Prepaid expenses

  $ 9,282   $ 19,203  

Deferred income taxes

    6,457     5,925  

Other

    1,635     8,609  

Other current assets

  $ 17,374   $ 33,737  

 

 
   
   
 
 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Property and equipment, net:

             

Computer equipment and capitalized software

  $ 66,952   $ 86,716  

Leasehold improvements

    9,134     9,624  

Furniture and other equipment

    1,903     3,441  

Projects in progress

        1,375  

    77,989     101,156  

Accumulated depreciation and amortization

    (42,899 )   (58,159 )

Property and equipment, net

  $ 35,090   $ 42,997  

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  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Other non-current assets:

             

Restricted cash—funds held in escrow for Meetic tender offer

  $ 71,512   $  

Deferred income taxes

    50     1,017  

Other

    3,003     4,563  

Other non-current assets

  $ 74,565   $ 5,580  

 

 
   
   
 
 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities:

             

Accrued employee compensation and benefits

  $ 24,041   $ 28,791  

Accrued advertising expense

    18,900     18,187  

Contingent consideration arrangements

    7,082     10,321  

Income taxes payable

    972     2,738  

Other

    29,151     34,682  

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

  $ 80,146   $ 94,719  

 

 
   
   
 
 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Other long-term liabilities:

             

Contingent consideration arrangements

  $ 36,524   $ 10,294  

Other

        3,152  

Other long-term liabilities

  $ 36,524   $ 13,446  

 

 
   
   
   
 
 
  Years ended December 31,  
 
  2012
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Other income (expense), net:

                   

Foreign currency exchange gain related to Euro denominated long-term debt—related party

  $   $   $ 8,307  

Interest income

    2,230     1,943     2,898  

Foreign currency exchange (losses) gains, net

    (973 )   (1,737 )   2,583  

Other-than-temporary loss on marketable security

    (8,685 )        

Other

        11     (1,178 )

Other (expense) income, net

  $ (7,428 ) $ 217   $ 12,610  

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Note 16—Quarterly results (unaudited)

 
   
   
   
   
 
 
  Quarter ended
March 31

  Quarter ended
June 30

  Quarter ended
September 30

  Quarter ended
December 31

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

Year Ended December 31, 2013

                         

Revenue

  $ 192,555   $ 197,468   $ 204,521   $ 208,545  

Cost of revenue

    20,164     20,827     21,700     23,254  

Operating income

    33,564     53,951     58,900     74,918  

Net earnings

    16,628     28,480     34,590     46,929  

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

    17,512     28,011     34,009     45,471  

Year Ended December 31, 2014

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

Revenue

  $ 209,785   $ 211,906   $ 227,581   $ 238,996  

Cost of revenue

    24,145     24,487     33,447     37,945  

Operating income

    40,696     57,465     62,868     67,538  

Net earnings

    19,848     29,102     51,059     48,350  

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

    19,718     28,925     50,844     48,277  

Note 17—Subsequent events

On July 14, 2015, the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to purchase PlentyOfFish for $575 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.

On June 25, 2015, IAC announced that its Board of Directors approved the pursuit of an initial public offering (IPO) of newly-issued shares of common stock of Match Group, Inc.

In preparing these combined financial statements, management evaluated subsequent events through August 11, 2015 on which date the combined financial statements were available for issue.

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Unaudited pro forma information

Historical pro forma earnings per share

The following table sets forth the computation of pro forma basic and diluted earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder.

 
  Years Ended December 31,  
 
  2012   2013   2014  
 
  Basic
  Diluted
  Basic
  Diluted
  Basic
  Diluted
 
 
  (In thousands, except per share data)
 

Numerator:

                                     

Net earnings

  $ 90,281   $ 90,281   $ 126,627   $ 126,627   $ 148,359   $ 148,359  

Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (4,606 )   (4,606 )   (1,624 )   (1,624 )   (595 )   (595 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder

  $ 85,675   $ 85,675   $ 125,003   $ 125,003   $ 147,764   $ 147,764  

Denominator:

                                     

Weighted average basic shares outstanding(a)

    9,800     9,800     9,969     9,969     10,047     10,047  

Dilutive securities including stock options and other securities(a)

        239         362         458  

Denominator for earnings per share—weighted average shares(a)

    9,800     10,039     9,969     10,331     10,047     10,505  

Earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc.'s shareholder:

                                     

Earnings per share(a)

  $ 8.74   $ 8.53   $ 12.54   $ 12.10   $ 14.71   $ 14.07  

(a)    All share and per share information reflects information before giving effect to adjustments to be made in connection with the recapitalization of our equity that will occur prior to the completion of the IPO and the transfer of the net proceeds of the IPO to IAC.

Unaudited pro forma information to give effect to the dividend payment to IAC.

The unaudited pro forma balance sheet and unaudited pro forma net earnings per share have been presented in accordance with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin Topic 1.B.3. The unaudited pro forma balance sheet gives effect to an anticipated 16-for-1 stock split and an estimated $1.5 billion of proceeds from the issuance of the Match Senior Notes, borrowings under the term loan facility and this offering, including additional borrowings under the revolving credit facility, as payment of a dividend to IAC. The computation of pro forma net earnings per share reflects the number of additional shares that were issued to fund the dividend to IAC based on an assumed offering price of $13.00 per share (the midpoint of the offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus). The computation of pro forma earnings per share assumes 33.3 million of incremental shares to be issued in connection with this distribution were outstanding from the beginning of the period.

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The following table sets forth the computation of pro forma basic and diluted earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc. shareholders to give effect to the dividend payment to IAC.

 
   
   
 
 
  Year ended December 31, 2014  
 
  Basic
  Diluted
 
 
  (In thousands, except
per share data)

 

Numerator:

             

Net earnings(a)

  $ 115,296   $ 115,296  

Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests

    (595 )   (595 )

Net earnings attributable to Match Group, Inc. shareholders

  $ 114,701   $ 114,701  

Denominator:

             

Weighted average basic shares outstanding

    160,756     160,756  

Add: Pro forma adjustment to reflect assumed shares sold in the initial public offering to fund the dividend payment

    33,333     33,333  

Pro forma weighted average basic shares outstanding

    194,089     194,089  

Dilutive securities including stock options and other securities

        7,323  

Pro forma denominator for earnings per share—weighted average shares

    194,089     201,412  

Pro forma earnings per share attributable to Match Group, Inc. shareholders

  $ 0.59   $ 0.57  

(a)    Net earnings has been adjusted by $33.1 million to reflect additional interest expense (net of tax) assumed to be incurred to finance the portion of the dividend that exceeds both the gross proceeds from this offering and the previous twelve month's net earnings.

The following sets forth the pro forma shareholders' equity

Common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock

The rights of holders of our common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock will be identical, except as discussed below. Any authorized but unissued shares of our common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock will be available for issuance by our board of directors without any further stockholder action.

Voting rights.    On all matters voted upon by our stockholders, holders of our common stock will be entitled to one vote per share, holders of Class B common stock will be entitled to ten votes per share, and holders of Class C common stock will not be entitled to any votes per share (except as otherwise required by the laws of the State of Delaware, in which case holders of Class C common stock will be entitled to one one-hundredth (1/100) of a vote per share).

Dividend rights.    Holders of all classes of common stock will be entitled to ratably receive dividends if, as and when declared by our board of directors. In a share distribution of our capital stock or the securities of another entity, we may choose to distribute: (i) identical securities, on an equal per share basis, to holders of our common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock or (ii) a class or series of securities to the holders of one class of our capital stock and a different class or series of securities to the holders of another class of our capital stock, in each case on an equal per share basis, provided that, in the case of clause (ii), the different classes or series to be distributed are not different in any respect other than their relative voting rights (and any related differences in designation, conversion and share distribution provisions, as applicable), with holders of shares of our Class B common stock receiving the securities having the higher voting rights.

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Table of Contents

Conversion rights.    Shares of our Class B common stock will be convertible into shares of our common stock at the option of the holder thereof at any time on a share for share basis. Such conversion ratio will in all events be equitably preserved in the event of any recapitalization of Match by means of a stock dividend on, or a stock split or combination of, our outstanding common stock or Class B common stock, or in the event of any merger, consolidation or other reorganization of Match with another corporation. Upon the conversion of a share of our Class B common stock into a share of our common stock, the applicable share of Class B common stock will be retired and will not be subject to reissue. Shares of common stock and Class C common stock will have no conversion rights.

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Table of Contents


Schedule II

Match Group, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Valuation and qualifying accounts

Description
  Balance at
beginning of
period

  Charges to
earnings

  Charges to
other
accounts

  Deductions
  Balance at
end of period

 
 
  (In thousands)
 

2012

                               

Allowance for doubtful accounts and revenue reserves

  $ 119   $ 159 (1) $ 2   $ (40 )(4) $ 240  

Deferred tax valuation allowance

    8,945     18,460 (2)   (3,030) (3)       24,375  

Other reserves

    2,095                       1,901  

2013

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

Allowance for doubtful accounts and revenue reserves

  $ 240   $ 86 (1) $ 533   $ (3) (4) $ 856  

Deferred tax valuation allowance

    24,375     (915) (2)   (258) (3)       23,202  

Other reserves

    1,901                       2,203  

2014

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 

Allowance for doubtful accounts and revenue reserves

  $ 856   $ 114 (1) $ 384   $ (221) (4) $ 1,133  

Deferred tax valuation allowance

    23,202     879 (5)   724 (6)       24,805  

Other reserves

    2,203                       2,098  

(1)    Additions to the allowance for doubtful accounts are charged to expense. Additions to the revenue reserves are charged against revenue.

(2)    Amount is primarily related to foreign net operating losses.

(3)    Amount is related to the decrease in unbenefited unrealized losses on a long-term marketable equity security included in accumulated other comprehensive loss.

(4)   Write-off of fully reserved accounts receivable.

(5)    Amount is primarily related to federal net operating losses.

(6)   Amount is related to the increase in unbenefited unrealized losses on a long-term marketable equity security included in accumulated other comprehensive loss.

F-61


Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated balance sheet
(Unaudited)

 
  December 31,
2014

  June 30,
2015

 
 
  (In thousands of CAD,
except share data)

 

ASSETS

             

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 19,935   $ 26,279  

Time deposits

    10,250     250  

Accounts receivable, net of allowance and reserves of $522 and $719, respectively

    4,839     5,086  

Prepaid and other current assets

    1,544     3,329  

Total current assets

    36,568     34,944  

Property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation and amortization of $7,967 and $9,328, respectively

    5,562     4,602  

Receivables from related parties

    202     27,803  

Other non-current assets

    1,424     1,424  

TOTAL ASSETS

  $ 43,756   $ 68,773  

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER EQUITY

             

LIABILITIES:

             

Accounts payable

  $ 1,396   $ 1,366  

Deferred revenue

    11,387     16,054  

Income taxes payable

    2,469     2,998  

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

    1,037     532  

Total current liabilities

    16,289     20,950  

Income taxes payable

   
647
   
647
 

Redeemable preferred stock, $0.01 par value; no maximum shares authorized; 10,000 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2014 and June 30, 2015

   
9,300
   
9,300
 

Class F redeemable preferred stock, no par value, no maximum shares authorized; 4,881,610 shares issued and outstanding as of June 30, 2015

   
   
4,882
 

Commitments and contingencies

   
 
   
 
 

SHAREHOLDER EQUITY:

   
 
   
 
 

Common stock

             

Class A, no par value, 10,000 shares authorized; 100 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2014 and no maximum shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding as of June 30, 2015

         

Class B, no par value, 10,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding as of December 31, 2014 and no maximum shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding as of June 30, 2015

         

Class C, no par value, 10,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding as of December 31, 2014 and no maximum shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding as of June 30, 2015

         

Class D, no par value, no maximum shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding as of June 30, 2015

         

Class E, no par value, no maximum shares authorized; 1,000,000 shares issued and outstanding as of June 30, 2015

         

Additional paid-in capital

   
1,749
   
1,749
 

Retained earnings

    15,771     31,245  

Total shareholder equity

    17,520     32,994  

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER EQUITY

  $ 43,756   $ 68,773  

   

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

F-62



Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated statement of income
(Unaudited)

 
  Six months ended
June 30,
 
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Subscription revenue

  $ 13,852   $ 36,953  

Advertising revenue

    13,383     12,522  

Total revenue

    27,235     49,475  

Operating costs and expenses:

             

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below)

    2,019     4,724  

Selling and marketing expense

    3,816     10,109  

General and administrative expense

    4,438     4,639  

Product development expense

    510     703  

Depreciation and amortization

    840     1,333  

Total operating costs and expenses

    11,623     21,508  

Operating income

    15,612     27,967  

Other income (expense), net

    302     (351 )

Earnings before income taxes

    15,914     27,616  

Income tax provision

    (4,138 )   (7,180 )

Net earnings

  $ 11,776   $ 20,436  

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated statement of shareholder equity
(Unaudited)

 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
 
  Preferred stock
$0.01 par value
  Class F preferred
stock no par value
 


  Class A common
stock no par
value
  Class E common
stock no par
value
   
   
   
 
 
  Additional
paid-in
capital

   
  Total
shareholder
equity

 
 
  Retained
earnings

 
 
  $
  Shares
  $
  Shares
   
  $
  Shares
  $
  Shares
 
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  (In thousands of CAD, except share data)
 

Balance as of December 31, 2014

  $ 9,300     10,000   $           $     100   $       $ 1,749   $ 15,771   $ 17,520  

Net earnings for the six-month ended June 30, 2015

                                            20,436     20,436  

Exchange of stock

            4,882     4,881,610             (100 )       1,000,000         (4,882 )   (4,882 )

Dividends

                                            (80 )   (80 )

Balance as of June 30, 2015

  $ 9,300     10,000   $ 4,882     4,881,610       $     0   $     1,000,000   $ 1,749   $ 31,245   $ 32,994  

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

F-64


Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated statement of cash flows
(Unaudited)

 
  Six months ended
June 30,
 
 
  2014
  2015
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Cash flows from operating activities:

             

Net earnings

  $ 11,776   $ 20,436  

Adjustments to reconcile net earnings to net cash provided by operating activities:

             

Depreciation and amortization

    840     1,333  

Bad debt expense

    (11 )   197  

Changes in assets and liabilities:

             

Accounts receivable

    254     (445 )

Prepaid and other current assets

    249     (1,785 )

Accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities

    (835 )   (535 )

Income taxes payable

    (907 )   529  

Deferred revenue

    1,145     4,667  

Net cash provided by operating activities

    12,511     24,397  

Cash flows from investing activities:

             

Capital expenditures

    (778 )   (372 )

Purchases of time deposits

    (10,000 )    

Proceeds from redemption of time deposits

        10,000  

Transfers to related parties

    (2,073 )   (27,601 )

Transfers from related parties

    64      

Other, net

    (21 )    

Net cash used in investing activities

    (12,808 )   (17,973 )

Cash flows from financing activities:

             

Dividends

        (80 )

Net cash used in financing activities

        (80 )

Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents

    (297 )   6,344  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

    32,281     19,935  

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

  $ 31,984   $ 26,279  

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statement

F-65


Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries
Notes to consolidated financial statements
(Unaudited)

Note 1—Company overview and summary of significant accounting policies

Nature of operations

Plentyoffish Media Inc. ("POF") was founded in 2004 in Vancouver, Canada and is a leading provider of subscription-based and ad-supported online personals servicing North America, Europe, Latin America and Australia. Services are provided through websites and mobile applications that POF owns and operates.

All references to "POF," the "Company," "we," "our" or "us" in this report are to Plentyoffish Media Inc.

Basis of presentation

The Company prepares its consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). The Company's unaudited consolidated interim financial statements are expressed in Canadian dollars ("CAD").

Basis of consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company, and all entities that are wholly-owned by the Company. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with GAAP for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and notes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year. The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated annual financial statements and notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2014.

Accounting estimates

Management of the Company is required to make certain estimates, judgments and assumptions during the preparation of its consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP. These estimates, judgments and assumptions impact the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses and the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

On an ongoing basis, the Company evaluates its estimates and judgments including those related to: the carrying value of accounts receivable, including the determination of the allowance for doubtful accounts and revenue reserves; the useful lives and recovery of property and equipment; and the liabilities for uncertain tax positions. The Company bases its estimates and judgments on historical experience, its forecasts and budgets and other factors that the Company considers relevant.

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Fair value measurement and financial instruments

The Company categorizes its financial instruments measured at fair value into a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used in pricing the asset or liability. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are:

Level 1: Observable inputs obtained from independent sources, such as quoted prices for identical assets and liabilities in active markets.

Level 2: Other inputs, which are observable directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active and inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data. The fair values of the Company's Level 2 financial assets are obtained from observable market prices for identical underlying securities that may not be actively traded.

Level 3: Unobservable inputs for which there is little or no market data and require the Company to develop its own assumptions, based on the best information available in the circumstances, about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the assets or liabilities.

Assets and liabilities are classified based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurements. Changes in the observability of valuation inputs may result in a reclassification of levels for certain securities within the fair value hierarchy.

The Company's financial instruments consist of cash and cash equivalents, time deposits, accounts receivable, prepaid and other current assets, accounts payable, and accrued expenses and other current liabilities. The carrying values of these financial instruments approximate their fair values due to the immediate or short-term maturity of these instruments.

Cash and cash equivalents are valued based on Level 1 inputs and time deposits are valued based on Level 2 inputs. There are no assets or liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis using Level 3 inputs.

The Company's non-financial assets, such as property and equipment are adjusted to fair value only when an impairment charge is recognized. Such fair value measurements are based predominantly on Level 3 inputs.

Recent accounting pronouncement

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which clarifies the principles for recognizing revenue and develops a common standard for all industries. The new guidance is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Entities have the option of using either a full retrospective or cumulative effect approach to adopt ASU No. 2014-09. In July 2015, the FASB decided to defer the effective date by one year, with early adoption on the original effective date permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the new guidance and has not yet determined whether the adoption of the new standard will have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements or the method and timing of adoption.

Note 2—Income taxes

At the end of each interim period, the Company makes its best estimate of the annual expected effective income tax rate and applies that rate to its ordinary year-to-date earnings or loss. The income tax provision or benefit related to significant, unusual, or extraordinary items, if applicable, that will be separately reported or reported net of their related tax effects are individually computed and recognized in the interim period in which they occur. In addition, the effect of changes in enacted tax laws or rates, tax

F-67


status, judgment on the realizability of a beginning-of-the-year deferred tax asset in future years or income tax contingencies is recognized in the interim period in which the change occurs.

The computation of the annual expected effective income tax rate at each interim period requires certain estimates and assumptions including, but not limited to, the expected pre-tax income (or loss) for the year, permanent and temporary differences, and the likelihood of the realizability of deferred tax assets generated in the current year. The accounting estimates used to compute the provision or benefit for income taxes may change as new events occur, more experience is acquired, additional information is obtained or our tax environment changes. To the extent that the expected annual effective income tax rate changes during a quarter, the effect of the change on prior quarters is included in income tax provision in the quarter in which the change occurs.

For the six months ended June 30, 2014, the Company recorded an income tax provision of $4.1 million, which represents an effective income tax rate of 26%. For the six months ended June 30, 2015, the Company recorded an income tax provision of $7.2 million, which represents an effective income tax rate of 26%. The effective income tax rates are higher than the Canadian federal statutory rate of 15% due primarily to provincial taxes.

Various jurisdictions are open to examination for various tax years beginning with 2011. Income taxes payable include reserves considered sufficient to pay assessments that may result from examination of prior year tax returns. Changes to reserves from period to period and differences between amounts paid, if any, upon the resolution of audits and amounts previously provided may be material. Differences between the reserves for income tax contingencies and the amounts owed by the Company are recorded in the period they become known.

Note 3—Shareholder equity

On June 29, 2015, the Company amended and restated its articles of incorporation to issue two new classes of common stock, Class D and Class E. In connection with the new classes of common stock and redeemable preferred stock, as described below, the holder of the Class A common shares exchanged his outstanding shares for 1.0 million shares of Class E common stock and 4.9 million shares of Class F redeemable preferred stock. The holder of the Company's Class E common stock has one vote for each share of common stock and is entitled to receive dividends out of funds that are legally available if declared by the board of directors. The Company's Class D common stock is identical to the Class E common stock except that there are two votes for each share of common stock. As of June 30, 2015, there were no Class A, Class B, Class C or Class D shares issued or outstanding.

Note 4—Redeemable preferred stock

On June 29, 2015, the Company amended and restated its articles of incorporation to issue a new class of redeemable preferred stock, Class F; no par value, no maximum shares authorized. These shares have a redemption value of $4.9 million. The holder of the Class F preferred stock has the right to require the Company to redeem each of its shares within 30 days after the receipt of a written request. Accordingly, the Company has recorded its preferred stock outside of permanent equity.

Except with the written consent of the holder of the Class F preferred stock, the Company will not, while any Class F preferred stock is outstanding, declare or pay any dividends on any shares other than Class F preferred stock; redeem or acquire any shares other than Class F preferred stock; or reduce its capital otherwise than by way of a redemption or acquisition of any common shares. The holder of Class F

F-68


preferred stock shall not have any right to receive notice of or attend or vote at any general meeting of the Company while any other shares of the Company are outstanding. In the event of any liquidation, dissolution, or winding-up of the Company, or other distribution of the assets of the Company among its shareholders for the purpose of winding-up its affairs, each holder of Class F preferred stock shall be entitled to be paid and in preference to and priority over any distribution or payment on any other share, the amount that would have been the redemption price for such share if the date of payment had been the date for redemption, and after such payment each such holder will not be entitled to participate in any further distribution of property or assets of the Company.

Note 5—Contingencies

From time to time, the Company is party to litigation in the ordinary course of business. The Company establishes reserves for specific legal matters when it determines that the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome is probable and the loss is reasonably estimable. The Company also evaluates other contingent matters, including income and non-income tax contingencies, to assess the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome and estimated extent of potential loss. Management currently believes that resolving claims against us will not have a material impact on the liquidity, results of operations, or financial condition of the Company, however, these matters are subject to inherent uncertainties and management's view of these matters may change in the future. See Note 2 for additional information related to income tax contingencies.

Note 6—Related party transactions

The Company's shareholders are Mr. Markus Frind, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and entities affiliated with him. From time to time, the Company has transferred cash to entities controlled by Mr. Frind and/or his affiliates. In addition, the Company has paid certain operating expenses on behalf of one of these entities. During the first six months of 2014 and 2015, cash transfers from the Company to related parties were $2.1 million and $27.6 million, respectively, and cash transfers back to the Company from related parties were $0.1 million and nil, respectively. The amounts due from Mr. Frind and his affiliates totaled $0.2 million and $27.8 million as of December 31, 2014 and June 30, 2015, respectively. These receivables are included in "Receivables from related parties" in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet.

In connection with the proposed acquisition of the Company by Match Group, Inc. (See note 7—Subsequent events) the outstanding receivables from related parties balance will be settled prior to the close.

Note 7—Subsequent events

On July 14, 2015, the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Match Group, Inc. for USD $575 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.

In preparing these consolidated financial statements, management evaluated subsequent events through October 5, 2015 on which date the consolidated financial statements were available for issuance.

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Report of independent auditors

Shareholder of Plentyoffish Media Inc.

We have audited the accompanying consolidated financial statements of Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries, which comprise the consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2013 and 2014, and the related consolidated statement of income, changes in shareholder equity and cash flows for the years then ended, and the related notes to the consolidated financial statements.

Management's responsibility for the financial statements

Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles; this includes the design, implementation and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free of material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor's responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor's judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity's preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity's internal control. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.

Opinion

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries at December 31, 2013 and 2014, and the consolidated results of its operations and its cash flows for the years then ended in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

New York, New York

October 5, 2015

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Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated balance sheet

 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD,
except share data)

 

ASSETS

             

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 32,281   $ 19,935  

Time deposits

    250     10,250  

Accounts receivable, net of allowance and reserves of $14 and $522, respectively

    3,407     4,839  

Prepaid and other current assets

    1,317     1,544  

Total current assets

    37,255     36,568  

Property and equipment, net

    4,283     5,562  

Other non-current assets

    3,318     1,626  

TOTAL ASSETS

  $ 44,856   $ 43,756  

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER EQUITY

             

LIABILITIES:

             

Accounts payable

  $ 374   $ 1,396  

Deferred revenue

    5,683     11,387  

Income taxes payable

    1,863     2,469  

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

    1,610     1,037  

Total current liabilities

    9,530     16,289  

Income taxes payable

   
314
   
647
 

Redeemable preferred stock, $0.01 par value; no maximum shares authorized; 10,000 shares issued and outstanding

   
9,300
   
9,300
 

Commitments and contingencies

   
 
   
 
 

SHAREHOLDER EQUITY:

   
 
   
 
 

Common stock

             

Class A, no par value, 10,000 shares authorized; 100 shares issued and outstanding

         

Class B, no par value, 10,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding

         

Class C, no par value, 10,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding

         

Additional paid-in capital

    1,749     1,749  

Retained earnings

    23,963     15,771  

Total shareholder equity

    25,712     17,520  

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER EQUITY

  $ 44,856   $ 43,756  

   

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

F-71



Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated statement of income

 
  Years ended
December 31,
 
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Subscription revenue

  $ 20,586   $ 33,393  

Advertising revenue

    27,806     26,283  

Total revenue

    48,392     59,676  

Operating costs and expenses:

             

Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below)

    2,850     5,020  

Selling and marketing expense

    9,864     8,254  

General and administrative expense

    6,389     9,350  

Product development expense

    941     1,135  

Depreciation and amortization

    2,073     2,216  

Total operating costs and expenses

    22,117     25,975  

Operating income

    26,275     33,701  

Other (expense) income, net

    (202 )   1,064  

Earnings before income taxes

    26,073     34,765  

Income tax provision

    (6,781 )   (9,107 )

Net earnings

  $ 19,292   $ 25,658  

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

F-72


Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries

Consolidated statement of shareholder equity

 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
 
  Preferred stock
$0.01 par value
 


  Class A
common stock
no par value
   
   
   
 
 
  Additional
paid-in
capital

   
  Total
shareholder
equity

 
 
  Retained earnings
 
 
  $
  Shares
   
  $
  Shares
 
 
   
   
   
   
   
  (In thousands of CAD, except share data)
 

Balance as of January 1, 2013

  $ 9,300     10,000       $     100       $ 1,749   $ 14,471      $  16,220  

Net earnings for the year ended December 31, 2013

                            19,292     19,292  

Dividends

                            (9,800 )   (9,800 )

Balance as of December 31, 2013

  $ 9,300     10,000       $     100       $ 1,749   $ 23,963      $  25,712  

Net earnings for the year ended December 31, 2014

                            25,658     25,658  

Dividends

                            (33,850 )   (33,850 )

Balance as of December 31, 2014

  $ 9,300     10,000       $     100       $ 1,749   $ 15,771      $  17,520  

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Plentyoffish Media Inc. and subsidiaries
Consolidated statement of cash flows

 
  Years ended
December 31,
 
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Cash flows from operating activities:

             

Net earnings

  $ 19,292   $ 25,658  

Adjustments to reconcile net earnings to net cash provided by operating activities:

             

Depreciation and amortization

    2,073     2,216  

Bad debt expense

    13     508  

Deferred income taxes

    (5 )   6  

Changes in assets and liabilities:

             

Accounts receivable

    (1,455 )   (1,940 )

Prepaid and other current assets

    (556 )   (227 )

Accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities

    777     449  

Income taxes payable

    (501 )   634  

Deferred revenue

    2,140     5,704  

Other, net

    (184 )   168  

Net cash provided by operating activities

    21,594     33,176  

Cash flows from investing activities:

             

Capital expenditures

    (2,099 )   (3,496 )

Purchases of time deposits

        (10,000 )

Transfers to related parties

    (1,402 )   (5,196 )

Transfers from related parties

    1,039     6,998  

Other, net

    (44 )   22  

Net cash used in investing activities

    (2,506 )   (11,672 )

Cash flows from financing activities:

             

Dividends

    (9,800 )   (33,850 )

Net cash used in financing activities

    (9,800 )   (33,850 )

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

    9,288     (12,346 )

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

    22,993     32,281  

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

  $ 32,281   $ 19,935  

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

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Plentyoffish Media Inc. and Subsidiaries
Notes to consolidated financial statements

Note 1—Company overview and basis of presentation

Company overview

Plentyoffish Media Inc. ("POF") was founded in 2004 in Vancouver, Canada and is a leading provider of subscription-based and ad-supported online personals servicing North America, Europe, Latin America and Australia. Services are provided through websites and mobile applications that POF owns and operates.

All references to "POF," the "Company," "we," "our" or "us" in this report are to Plentyoffish Media Inc.

Basis of presentation

The Company prepares its consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). The Company's consolidated financial statements are expressed in Canadian dollars ("CAD").

Basis of consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and all entities that are wholly-owned by the Company. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.

Note 2—Summary of significant accounting policies

Accounting estimates

Management of the Company is required to make certain estimates, judgments and assumptions during the preparation of its consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP. These estimates, judgments and assumptions impact the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses and the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

On an ongoing basis, the Company evaluates its estimates and judgments including those related to: the carrying value of accounts receivable, including the determination of the allowance for doubtful accounts and revenue reserves; the useful lives and recovery of property and equipment; and the liabilities for uncertain tax positions. The Company bases its estimates and judgments on historical experience, its forecasts and budgets and other factors that the Company considers relevant.

Revenue recognition

The Company's revenue is derived both from subscription fees and on-line advertising revenue.

Subscription fees are generated from customers for our subscription-based online personals and related services. Revenue is presented net of credits and credit card chargebacks. Revenue recognition occurs ratably over the terms of the applicable subscriptions, which primarily range from one to twelve months, beginning when there is persuasive evidence of an arrangement, delivery has occurred (access has been granted), the fees are fixed or determinable, and collection is reasonably assured. Subscribers pay in advance, primarily by using a credit card, and, subject to certain conditions identified in our terms and conditions, all purchases are final and nonrefundable. Fees collected in advance for subscriptions are deferred and recognized as revenue using the straight-line method over the term of the applicable subscription period. POF also earns revenue from online advertising which is recognized every time an ad

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is displayed. Deferred revenue is $5.7 million and $11.4 million at December 31, 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash and short-term investments, with maturities of less than 91 days from the date of purchase.

Time deposits

The Company has guaranteed investment certificates, which are classified as time deposits on the balance sheet. Time deposits have original maturities exceeding three months, and have remaining maturities within twelve months. Time deposits accrue interest daily based on a fixed interest rate for the term. The carrying value of these financial instruments is recorded at cost plus accrued interest, which approximates their fair value.

Fair value measurements and financial instruments

The Company categorizes its financial instruments measured at fair value into a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used in pricing the asset or liability. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are:

Level 1: Observable inputs obtained from independent sources, such as quoted prices for identical assets and liabilities in active markets.

Level 2: Other inputs, which are observable directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active and inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data. The fair values of the Company's Level 2 financial assets are obtained from observable market prices for identical underlying securities that may not be actively traded.

Level 3: Unobservable inputs for which there is little or no market data and require the Company to develop its own assumptions, based on the best information available in the circumstances, about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the assets or liabilities.

Assets and liabilities are classified based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurements. Changes in the observability of valuation inputs may result in a reclassification of levels for certain securities within the fair value hierarchy.

The Company's financial instruments consist of cash and cash equivalents, time deposits, accounts receivable, prepaid and other current assets, accounts payable, and accrued expenses and other current liabilities. The carrying values of these financial instruments approximate their fair values due to the immediate or short-term maturity of these instruments.

Cash and cash equivalents are valued based on Level 1 inputs and time deposits are valued based on Level 2 inputs. There are no assets or liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis using Level 3 inputs.

The Company's non-financial assets, such as property and equipment are adjusted to fair value only when an impairment charge is recognized. Such fair value measurements are based predominantly on Level 3 inputs.

Accounts receivable

Accounts receivable are stated at amounts due from customers, net of an allowance for doubtful accounts and revenue reserves. Accounts receivable outstanding longer than the contractual payment terms are

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considered past due. The Company determines its allowance by considering a number of factors, including the length of time accounts receivable are past due, the Company's previous loss history, the specific customer's ability to pay its obligation to the Company and the condition of the general economy and the customer's industry. The Company writes off accounts receivable when they become uncollectible. The Company also maintains allowances to reserve for potential credits issued to customers or other revenue adjustments. The amounts of these reserves are based, in part, on historical experience.

Property and equipment

Property and equipment, including significant improvements, are recorded at cost. Repairs and maintenance costs are expensed as incurred. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets.

 
  Estimated useful lives
Asset category:    
Computer hardware and software   3 years
Furniture and other equipment   5 years
Leasehold improvements   7 years

For the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014, the Company did not capitalize any website or internally developed software costs due to the Company's rapid development cycle and frequency of releases. The Company has charged such costs to product development expense in the period incurred.

Property and equipment is reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. The carrying value of a long-lived asset is not recoverable if it exceeds the sum of the undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use and eventual disposition of the asset. If the carrying value is deemed not to be recoverable, an impairment loss is recorded equal to the amount by which the carrying value of the long-lived asset exceeds its fair value.

Advertising costs

Advertising costs are expensed in the period incurred (when the advertisement first runs for production costs that are initially capitalized) and represent online marketing, including fees paid to search engines and offline marketing, which is primarily television advertising. Advertising expense is $8.7 million and $6.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Legal costs

Legal costs are expensed as incurred.

Income taxes

The Company accounts for income taxes under the liability method, and deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying values of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. A valuation allowance is provided on deferred tax assets if it is determined that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will not be realized. The Company records interest, net of any applicable related income tax benefit, on potential income tax contingencies as a component of income tax expense.

The Company recognizes liabilities for uncertain tax positions based on a two-step process. The first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of related appeals or litigation processes, if any. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount which is more than 50% likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement.

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Comprehensive income

The Company has no items of other comprehensive income. Our comprehensive income is equivalent to our net earnings for all periods presented, and as such, no statement of other comprehensive income is presented.

Foreign currency transaction gains and losses

Transaction gains and losses resulting from assets and liabilities denominated in a currency other than the functional currency are included in the consolidated statement of operations as a component of other (expense) income, net.

Certain risks and concentrations

The Company's business is subject to certain risks and concentrations including dependence on third-party technology providers, exposure to risks associated with online commerce security and credit card fraud.

Financial instruments, which potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk, consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents and time deposits. Some of the cash and cash equivalents are maintained with international financial institutions that are not covered by deposit insurance.

Recent accounting pronouncement

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which clarifies the principles for recognizing revenue and develops a common standard for all industries. The new guidance is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Entities have the option of using either a full retrospective or cumulative effect approach to adopt ASU No. 2014-09. In July 2015, the FASB decided to defer the effective date by one year, with early adoption on the original effective date permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the new guidance and has not yet determined whether the adoption of the new standard will have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements or the method and timing of adoption.

Note 3—Income taxes

The components of the provision for income taxes are as follows:

 
  Years ended
December 31,
 
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Current income tax provision:

             

Canadian federal

  $ 3,658   $ 5,024  

Provincial

    2,814     3,843  

Foreign

    314     234  

Current income tax provision

    6,786     9,101  

Deferred income tax (benefit) provision:

             

Canadian federal

    (5 )   3  

Provincial

        3  

Deferred income tax (benefit) provision

    (5 )   6  

Income tax provision

  $ 6,781   $ 9,107  

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The tax effects of cumulative temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities are presented below.

 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Deferred tax assets:

             

Losses carryforward

  $ 486   $ 508  

Total deferred tax assets

    486     508  

Deferred tax liabilities:

             

Property and equipment

    (316 )   (324 )

Total deferred tax liabilities

    (316 )   (324 )

Net deferred tax assets

  $ 170   $ 184  

At December 31, 2014, the Company has $1.9 million of non-capital losses for income tax purposes which can be carried forward to be applied against future taxable income. These losses will expire at various times between 2031 and 2034.

A reconciliation of the income tax provision to the amounts computed by applying the Canadian statutory federal income tax rate to earnings before income taxes is shown as follows:

 
  Years ended
December 31,
 
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Income tax provision at the Canadian federal statutory rate of 15%

  $ 3,911   $ 5,215  

Provincial taxes

    2,810     3,840  

Non-deductible expense

    9     21  

Other, net

    51     31  

Income tax provision

  $ 6,781   $ 9,107  

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits, excluding interest, is as follows:

 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Balance at January 1

  $   $ 296  

Additions based on tax positions related to the current year

    296     322  

Balance at December 31

  $ 296   $ 618  

The Company recognizes interest and, if applicable, penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in the income tax provision. At December 31, 2013 and 2014, the Company has accrued less than $0.1 million, respectively, for the payment of interest.

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At December 31, 2013 and 2014, unrecognized tax benefits, including interest and penalties, are $0.3 million and $0.6 million, respectively. If unrecognized tax benefits at December 31, 2014 are subsequently recognized, $0.1 million, net of related receivables and interest, would reduce income tax expense. The comparable amount as of December 31, 2013 is $0.1 million.

Various jurisdictions are open to examination for various tax years beginning with 2011. Income taxes payable include reserves considered sufficient to pay assessments that may result from examination of prior year tax returns. Differences between the reserves for income tax contingencies and the amounts owed by the Company are recorded in the period they become known.

Note 4—Redeemable preferred stock

The Company has 10,000 shares of redeemable preferred stock, $0.01 par value, outstanding as of December 31, 2013 and 2014. There is no maximum number of authorized shares. These shares were issued on September 30, 2009 with a redemption value of $9.3 million. The holder of the redeemable preferred stock is not entitled to any dividends or otherwise participate in the profits of the Company.

The holder of the preferred stock has the right to require the Company to redeem each of its shares within 60 days after the receipt of a written request; accordingly, the Company recorded the preferred stock outside of permanent equity.

The Company will not, while any preferred stock is outstanding, declare or pay any dividends; redeem or acquire any shares other than preferred stock; or reduce its capital otherwise than by way of a redemption or acquisition of any common shares unless the board of directors determine that the fair value of the preferred stock, immediately thereafter, is not less than its redemption value. In connection with the cash dividends paid on the outstanding Class A common stock the director of the Company determined that the fair value of the preferred stock was not less than its redemption value. The holder of preferred stock shall not have any right to receive notice of or attend at or vote at any general meeting of the shareholders of the Company.

In the event of any liquidation, dissolution, or winding-up of the Company, or other distribution of the assets of the Company among its shareholders for the purpose of winding-up its affairs, each holder of preferred stock shall be entitled to be paid and in preference to and priority over any distribution or payment on any other share, the amount that would have been the redemption price for such share if the date of payment had been the date for redemption, and after such payment each such holder will not be entitled to participate in any further distribution of property or assets of the Company.

Note 5—Shareholder equity

The Company's amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the Company to issue 30,000 shares of common stock (10,000 Class A shares, 10,000 Class B shares and 10,000 Class C shares) no par value. As of December 31, 2013 and 2014, there was 100 Class A shares issued and outstanding and no Class B or Class C shares issued or outstanding. Class B common stock has identical rights to Class A common stock. Class C common stock has no voting rights for the election of directors or any other purpose and shall not be entitled to receive notice of or to attend any annual or special meeting of the shareholders of the Company.

The holder of the Company's Class A common stock has one vote for each share of common stock and is entitled to receive dividends out of funds that are legally available if declared by the board of directors.

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For the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014, $9.8 million and $33.9 million in cash dividends had been declared and paid.

Note 6—Commitments

The Company leases office space used in connection with its operations under various operating leases, some of which contain escalation clauses.

Future minimum payments under operating lease agreements are as follows:

Years ending December 31,
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

2015

  $ 516  

2016

    523  

2017

    394  

Total

  $ 1,433  

Expenses charged to operations under these agreements are $0.8 million for both years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014.

Note 7—Contingencies

From time to time, the Company is party to litigation in the ordinary course of business. The Company establishes reserves for specific legal matters when it determines that the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome is probable and the loss is reasonably estimable. The Company also evaluates other contingent matters, including income and non-income tax contingencies, to assess the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome and estimated extent of potential loss. Management currently believes that resolving claims against us will not have a material impact on the liquidity, results of operations, or financial condition of the Company, however, these matters are subject to inherent uncertainties and management's view of these matters may change in the future. See Note 3 for additional information related to income tax contingencies.

Note 8—Supplemental cash flow information

 
  Years ended
December 31,
 
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Cash paid during the year for:

             

Interest

  $ 5   $ 2  

Income tax payments

    7,289     8,648  

Note 9—Related party transactions

The Company's shareholders are Mr. Markus Frind, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and entities affiliated with him. From time to time, the Company has transferred cash to entities controlled by Mr. Frind and/or his affiliates. In addition, the Company has paid certain operating expenses on behalf of one of these entities. During 2013 and 2014, cash transfers from the Company to Mr. Frind and his affiliates were $1.4 million and $5.2 million, respectively, and cash transfers to the Company from

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Mr. Frind and his affiliates were $1.0 million and $7.0 million, respectively. The amounts due from Mr. Frind and his affiliates totaled $2.0 million and $0.2 million as of December 31, 2013 and 2014, respectively. These receivables are included in "Other non-current assets" in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet.

Note 10—Benefit plans

The Company offers a defined contribution plan for its employees. The Company's contributions to this plan for both years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014 is $0.1 million.

Note 11—Consolidated financial statement details

 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands CAD)
 

Property and equipment, net:

             

Computer hardware and software

  $ 8,804   $ 11,967  

Leasehold improvements

    943     1,115  

Furniture and other equipment

    381     447  

    10,128     13,529  

Accumulated depreciation and amortization

    (5,845 )   (7,967 )

Property and equipment, net

  $ 4,283   $ 5,562  


 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Other non-current assets:

             

Receivables from related parties

  $ 2,004   $ 202  

Income taxes receivable

    247     532  

Deferred income taxes

    170     184  

Other

    897     708  

Other non-current assets

  $ 3,318   $ 1,626  


 
  December 31,  
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities:

             

Value-added taxes payable

  $ 1,427   $  

Accrued license fees

        771  

Other

    183     266  

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

  $ 1,610   $ 1,037  

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  Years ended
December 31,
 
 
  2013
  2014
 
 
  (In thousands of CAD)
 

Other (expense) income, net:

             

Interest income, net

  $ 273   $ 443  

Foreign currency exchange (losses) gains, net

    (475 )   1,060  

Other

        (439 )

Other (expense) income, net

  $ (202 ) $ 1,064  

Note 12—Subsequent events

On June 29, 2015, the Company amended and restated its articles of incorporation to issue two new classes of common stock, Class D and Class E, and a new class of redeemable preferred stock, Class F. In connection with the new classes of common stock and redeemable preferred stock the holder of the Class A common shares exchanged his outstanding shares for 1.0 million shares of Class E common stock and 4.9 million shares of Class F redeemable preferred stock. There was no issuance of Class D common stock.

On July 14, 2015, the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Match Group, Inc. for USD $575 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.

In preparing these consolidated financial statements, management evaluated subsequent events through October 5, 2015 on which date the consolidated financial statements were available for issuance.

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GRAPHIC


Table of Contents


33,333,333 shares

GRAPHIC

Common stock

Preliminary Prospectus

J.P. Morgan

  Allen & Company LLC   BofA Merrill Lynch

 

Deutsche Bank Securities   BMO Capital Markets   Barclays   BNP PARIBAS

 

Cowen and Company   Oppenheimer & Co.   PNC Capital Markets LLC   SOCIETE GENERALE   Fifth Third Securities

              , 2015

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with information different from that contained in this prospectus. We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, our common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of our common stock.

No action is being taken in any jurisdiction outside the United States to permit a public offering of the common stock or possession or distribution of this prospectus in that jurisdiction. Persons who come into possession of this prospectus in jurisdictions outside the United States are required to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions as to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus applicable to that jurisdiction.

Until                    , 2015, all dealers that buy, sell or trade in our common stock, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers' obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.


Table of Contents

Part II

Information not required in prospectus

Item 13.    Other expenses of issuance and distribution.

Estimated expenses, other than underwriting discounts and commissions, of the sale of our common stock, are as follows (in thousands):

SEC registration fee

  $ 54.0  

FINRA filing fee

    130.5  

Listing fees and expenses

    150.0  

Transfer agent and registrar fees and expenses

    30.0  

Printing fees and expenses

    900.0  

Legal fees and expenses

    5,000.0  

Accounting expenses

    1,700.0  

Miscellaneous expenses

    61.4  

Total

  $ 8,025.9  

Item 14.    Indemnification of directors and officers.

Limitation of personal liability of directors and indemnification

Section 102(b)(7) of the DGCL permits a corporation to provide in its certificate of incorporation that a director of the corporation shall not be personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except for liability (1) for any breach of the director's duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders, (2) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (3) under Section 174 of the DGCL (regarding, among other things, the payment of unlawful dividends or unlawful stock purchases or redemptions), or (4) for any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit. Our certificate of incorporation will provide for such limitation of liability.

Section 145(a) of the DGCL empowers a corporation to indemnify any director, officer, employee or agent, or former director, officer, employee or agent, who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of the corporation), by reason of such person's service as a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or such person's service, at the corporation's request, as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise, against expenses (including attorneys' fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding; provided that such director or officer acted in good faith and in a manner reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation; and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, provided that such director or officer had no reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful.

Section 145(b) of the DGCL empowers a corporation to indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another enterprise, against expenses (including attorneys' fees) actually and reasonably incurred in connection with the defense or settlement of such

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Table of Contents

action or suit; provided that such director or officer acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, except that no indemnification may be made in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which such director or officer shall have been adjudged to be liable to the corporation unless and only to the extent that the Delaware Court of Chancery or the court in which such action or suit was brought shall determine upon application that, despite the adjudication of liability but in view of all the circumstances of the case, such director or officer is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses that the court shall deem proper. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, except as otherwise provided in our bylaws, we shall be required to indemnify any such person in connection with a proceeding (or part thereof) commenced by such person only if the commencement of such proceeding (or part thereof) by any such person was authorized by the board of directors.

In addition, our certificate of incorporation will provide that we must indemnify our directors and officers to the fullest extent authorized by law. Under our bylaws, we are also expressly required to advance certain expenses to our directors and officers and we are permitted to, and currently intend to, carry directors' and officers' insurance providing indemnification for our directors and officers for some liabilities. We believe that these indemnification provisions and the directors' and officers' insurance are useful to attract and retain qualified directors and executive officers.

The proposed form of Underwriting Agreement filed as Exhibit 1.1 to this Registration Statement provides for indemnification of directors and officers of the Registrant by the underwriters against certain liabilities.

Item 15.    Recent sales of unregistered securities.

During the past three years, we have granted certain of our directors, officers and employees the following options and restricted stock units relating to shares of our common stock pursuant to equity incentive plans then in effect:

222,990 options with exercise prices ranging from $211.22 to $237.05 during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012;

23,060 options with an exercise price of $238.28 during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013;

351,109 options with exercise prices ranging from $319.76 to $393.90 during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014; and

545,045 options with exercise prices ranging from $403.78 to $446.43 and 3,583 restricted stock units between December 31, 2014 and the date of this prospectus.

The number of options, exercise price and fair value per share for these awards reflects information before giving effect to the adjustments to be made in connection with the recapitalization of our equity that will occur prior to the completion of this offering and the distributions to be made by us to IAC. Prior to this offering, these options were and are settleable in shares of IAC common stock having a value equal to the difference between the option exercise price and the fair market value of our common stock. Upon completion of the offering, these options will be adjusted in accordance with their terms and conditions to provide that the awards are exercisable for shares of our common stock.

We issued shares of common stock to IAC in respect of its $500.0 million cash contribution to fund our acquisition of PlentyOfFish, $155.0 million of which was contributed prior to September 30, 2015. The number of shares that will be issued will be calculated using the initial public offering price.

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None of the above transactions involved any underwriters or any public offerings and we believe that each of these transactions was exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act pursuant to Section 4(a)(2), Regulation D or Rule 701 of the Securities Act or as transactions not involving the sale of securities.

On November 16, 2015, we issued approximately $445.2 million in aggregate principal amount of 6.75% senior notes due 2022. We did not receive any proceeds from the issuance of the senior notes, which were issued in exchange for outstanding 4.75% senior notes due 2022 issued by IAC. We distributed the 2022 IAC Notes that we received in exchange for the senior notes to IAC for cancellation. Only persons who certified that they were (i) "qualified institutional buyers" within the meaning of Rule 144A under the Securities Act, or (ii) not "U.S. persons" and outside of the United States within the meaning of Regulation S under the Securities Act were eligible to purchase the senior notes. We believe that the issuance of the senior notes was exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act and Regulation S under the Securities Act.

Item 16.    Exhibits and financial statement schedules.

(a)    Exhibits:    The list of exhibits set forth under "Exhibit Index" at the end of this Registration Statement is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 17.    Undertakings.

The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes to provide to the underwriters at the closing specified in the underwriting agreement certificates in such denominations and registered in such names as required by the underwriters to permit prompt delivery to each purchaser.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that, in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

The Registrant hereby further undertakes that:

    (1)    For purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, the information omitted from the form of prospectus filed as part of this Registration Statement in reliance upon Rule 430A and contained in a form of prospectus filed by the Registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(1) or (4) or 497(h) under the Securities Act shall be deemed to be part of this Registration Statement as of the time it was declared effective; and

    (2)    For purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each post-effective amendment that contains a form of prospectus shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

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Signatures

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized in the City of New York, State of New York, on November 17, 2015.

    Match Group, Inc.

 

 

By:

 

/s/ GREGORY R. BLATT

Gregory R. Blatt, Chairman

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

Signature
 
Title
 
Date

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
*

Gregory R. Blatt
  Chairman
(Principal Executive Officer)
  November 17, 2015

*

Gary Swidler

 

Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial Officer)

 

November 17, 2015

*

Michael H. Schwerdtman

 

Vice President
(Principal Accounting Officer)

 

November 17, 2015

*

Gregory R. Blatt

 

Director

 

November 17, 2015

*

Gregg J. Winiarski

 

Director

 

November 17, 2015

*

Joseph M. Levin

 

Director

 

November 17, 2015

*by

 

/s/ GREGG WINIARSKI

Gregg Winiarski
as Attorney-in-Fact

 

 

 

 

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Exhibit index

Number   Description
  1.1 ** Form of Underwriting Agreement
  2.1 ** Stock Purchase Agreement, dated as of July 13, 2015, by and among Match.com, Inc. (now "Match Group, Inc."), Plentyoffish Media Inc., Markus Frind, Markus Frind Family Trust No. 2, and Frind Enterprises Ltd.
  2.2 ** List of Exhibits and Schedules omitted from the Stock Purchase Agreement
  3.1 ** Form of Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Match Group, Inc.
  3.2 ** Form of Amended and Restated By-laws of Match Group, Inc.
  4.1 ** Form of Common Stock Certificate of Match Group, Inc.
  4.2 ** Form of Indenture between Match Group, Inc. and Computershare Trust Company, N.A., as trustee
  4.3 ** Form of Registration Rights Agreement by and among Match Group, Inc. and the Dealer Managers party thereto
  5.1 ** Opinion of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
  10.1 ** Form of Master Transaction Agreement
  10.2 ** Form of Employee Matters Agreement
  10.3 ** Form of Investor Rights Agreement
  10.4 ** Form of Tax Sharing Agreement
  10.5 ** Form of Services Agreement
  10.6 ** Form of Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, among Match, as borrower, the lenders party thereto, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, and the other parties thereto
  10.25 †** Form of 2015 Stock and Annual Incentive Plan
  10.26 †** Form of Notice and Terms and Conditions of Stock Options under the Match Group, Inc. 2015 Stock and Annual Incentive Plan
  10.27 †** Form of Notice and Terms and Conditions of Restricted Stock Units under the Match Group, Inc. 2015 Stock and Annual Incentive Plan
  10.28 †** Tutor.com, Inc. 2013 Incentive Plan
  21.1   Subsidiaries of Match Group, Inc.
  23.1   Consent of Ernst & Young LLP
  23.2   Consent of Ernst & Young LLP
  23.3 ** Consent of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (contained in Exhibit 5.1, previously filed)
  23.4 ** Consent of MarketTools Research Solutions, Inc.
  23.5 ** Consent of Research Now Group, Inc.
  24.1 ** Powers of Attorney (included in signature pages)
  99.1 ** Consent of Director Nominees

*      To be filed by amendment.

**     Previously filed.

†      Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan.

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