Match Group

None of the warning signs we check for were found.

We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.

We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 26 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 5 Aug 2026 and 5 later 8-Ks.

• It owes more than it owns on paper (negative equity). Often that's from borrowing to buy back shares.

Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.

• we developed and made available via open source for improper purposes.

  Could happen

  We use open source software in connection with a portion of our operations and services and expect to continue to use open source software in the future. Under certain circumstances, some open source licenses require a user of the licensed code to provide the user’s own proprietary source code to third parties upon request, or prohibit a user from charging a fee to third parties in connection with the use of the user’s proprietary code. While we try to insulate our proprietary code from the effects of such open source license provisions, we cannot guarantee that we will be successful, that all open source software is reviewed prior to use, that our developers have not incorporated open source software into our operations or services, or that they will not do so in the future. Accordingly, we may face claims from others challenging our use of open source software, claiming ownership of, or seeking to enforce the license terms applicable to such open source software, including by demanding release of the open source software, derivative works or our proprietary source code that was developed or distributed with such software. Such claims could also require us to purchase a commercial license or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our software, any of which would have a negative effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, if the license terms for the open source code change, we may be forced to re-engineer our software or incur additional costs. Additionally, the terms of many open source licenses to which we are subject have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts. There is a risk that open source software licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to conduct our operations or market or provide our services.

  Read moreShow less

• Our success depends, in part, on the integrity of third-party systems and infrastructure.

  We rely on third parties, primarily data center and cloud-based, hosted web service providers, such as Amazon Web Services, as well as third party computer systems, service providers, software providers, and broadband and other communications systems, in connection with the provision of our services generally, as well as to facilitate and process certain transactions with our users, including to operate facial or liveness verification features at many of our brands. We have limited control over these third parties and their operations, and such third party systems are increasingly complex. Further, we have experienced outages by our service providers in the past, and expect to experience more outages in the future. As AI adoption increases, we are also seeing many existing service providers incorporate AI into their existing services via the rollout of new features, which may not have adequate AI governance processes or controls. Further, many AI service providers have limited operating histories and therefore often have unsophisticated systems and governance processes and are at increased risk of failure. Any (i) changes in service levels at our data centers or hosted web service providers, (ii) interruptions, outages, or delays in our systems or those of our third party providers, (iii) deterioration in the performance of these systems, (iv) cyber or similar attacks on these systems, (v) discontinuation of services, for example from a software provider, for which there is no readily available alternative or (v) need to migrate our business to different third-party data centers or hosted web service providers as a result of any such problems, could impair our ability to provide our services or process transactions with our users, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations. For additional information, see “Item 1—Business—Dependencies on services provided by others— Cloud and Other Services.”

  Read moreShow less

• financial results, and business may be significantly harmed.

  Could happen

  In addition, on February 22, 2026, Apple removed our Azar app from the Apple App Store following a February 6, 2026 update to Apple’s App Review Guidelines, meaning the app is no longer available for download from the Apple App Store. While we continue to evaluate potential modifications to Azar in order to potentially gain reinstatement to the Apple App Store, there can be no assurance that any efforts to apply for reinstatement will be successful. If we are not successful in having the Azar app reinstated to the Apple App Store, we expect there would be a decrease in the size of our user base over time, but we are uncertain how quickly this decrease would occur and to what extent we will be able to offset this decrease with increases of users from other sources, such as on Android or the desktop and mobile web versions of Azar. Further, the size of Azar’s user base may be adversely affected by the timing of our ability, if any, to gain reinstatement of Azar to the Apple App Store and the usefulness to users of any future version of the app that is able to gain reinstatement to the Apple App Store, if at all. Any of these impacts from the removal of the Azar app from the Apple App Store could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

  Read moreShow less

• We are subject to taxation related risks in multiple jurisdictions.

  Could happen

  Tax laws are being re-examined and evaluated globally. New laws and interpretations of the law are taken into account for financial statement purposes in the quarter or year that they become applicable. Tax authorities are increasingly scrutinizing the tax positions of companies. Many countries in the European Union, as well as a number of other countries and organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Commission, are actively considering changes to existing tax laws that, if enacted, could increase our tax obligations in countries where we do business. These proposals include changes to the existing framework to calculate income tax, as well as proposals to change or impose new types of non- income taxes, including taxes based on a percentage of revenue. If the U.S. or other foreign tax authorities change applicable tax laws, our overall taxes could increase, and our business, financial condition or results of operations may be adversely impacted.

  Read moreShow less

• risks in connection with certain of our international operations.

  • difficulties in staffing and managing international operations, including as a result of differing laws relating to employee benefits and management;