July 7, 2020
Grindr, Worth Over $600M, Cleared for Trump Admin's PPP Loan for Small Business
READ TIME: 2 MIN.
The gay dating app Grindr, which was valued at $620 million when it was sold by a Chinese gaming company to a California-based business last month, has been approved for a $1 million to $2 million loan for small businesses that are suffering from the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.
The news comes from official U.S. data released on Monday.
It was reported in March that San Vicente Acquisition LLC, based in West Hollywood, Calif., would buy a 98.59% stake in Grindr. The move comes after the U.S. government's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States set a June 2020 deadline for Beijing Kunlun Tech to sell the app. The government panel did not reveal its concerns with the company owning Grindr.
Reuters reports Grindr earned a net profit of about $31 million in 2019, according to Kunlun's annual report.
"This is a company that is doing well over $100 million of revenue (annually). It is highly profitable and growing quickly," Grindr Chief Operating Officer Rick Marini told the Los Angeles Times in an interview last week.
As part of the loan application, companies had to certify in good faith that "current economic uncertainty makes this loan necessary to support" their ongoing operations. A Grindr spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the company applied for the loan and whether it had received and used it.
Aid provided under the Paycheck Protection Program allows small businesses hurt by the pandemic to apply for a forgivable government-backed loan from a lender.
In the scramble to distribute funds, the program was beset by technology glitches, documentation snags and revelations that some lenders prioritized their most profitable clients, leading to some affluent companies receiving funds while less wealthy borrowers missed out.
