In 2016 when a largely unknown Chinese company dropped $93 million to purchase a controlling stake in the world’s most ubiquitous gay hookup app, the news caught everyone by surprise. Beijing Kunlun and Grindr were not an obvious match: The former is a gaming company known for high-testosterone titles like Clash of Clans; the other, a repository of shirtless gay guys seeking casual encounters.
At the time of their unlikely union, Kunlun released a vague statement that Grindr would improve the Chinese firm’s “strategic position,” allowing the app to become a “global platform”—including in China, where homosexuality, though no longer illegal, is still deeply stigmatized.