Match Group has approached rival company The Meet Group, and asked whether it would be interested in buying them out, according to a Bloomberg article.
The news comes after IAC announced in December that it would allow Match Group, worth $22 billion, to become an independent company.
Following the announcement from Bloomberg, The Meet Group shares rose by 21% while Match Group’s rose by nearly 5% on the New York Stock Exchange during Thursday trading.
There have been concerns that Match Group may struggle on its own. It faces competition from Facebook, which announced its dating service in 2018, and the Blackstone Group, which aquired a majority share in MagicLab in November.
Match Group’s fourth-quarter revenue fell below expectations of $553 million, only reaching $547 million. The company puts it down to an Apple update, which reported last week that it had made it easier for daters to cancel subscriptions.
When approached, Match declined to comment and a spokesperson from The Meet Group did not respond.
The Meet Group focuses on livestreaming as well as online dating, and owns apps such as MeetMe, Growlr and LOVOO.
In December, Reuters reported that a division of the German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE might be interested in buying The Meet Group.
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