1:15:16How two straight guys bought Grindr and made $2B
From My First Million · Published Nov 6, 2025 · Watch on YouTube
TL;DR
Two straight private equity operators (Rick and Jeff) bought Grindr for ~$600M after CFIUS forced a sale due to Chinese ownership, benefiting from a ~50% discount because homophobia scared off most buyers. They fired 70% of staff, fixed the tech stack, applied the Tinder playbook, doubled revenue to $200M in 2.
Key insights
- CFIUS forced the sale of Grindr from Chinese owner Kunlun within one year; this was one of the only cases where CFIUS retroactively unwound a deal (only TikTok would be the second).
- The buyer pool was artificially limited because many investors and banks refused to be associated with gay sex/dating, creating a ~50% discount versus what a comparable straight dating app would have
- Grindr had a 1.8-star app store rating, 19% employee approval on Glassdoor, and was being sued by 13 US attorney generals over HIV data privacy, yet it generated $100M revenue and $45M profit – the ho
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