Grindr Growth Cools as Margins Compress Despite Raised Guidance
Grindr posted second-quarter revenue of $138 million, up 33% from a year earlier, even as profitability metrics slipped for a third straight quarter.
Grindr (GRND) reported second-quarter revenue of $138 million, up 33% year-over-year. The growth rate marked a deceleration from 38% in the first quarter and from 30% in the third quarter of 2025, though the dollar figure still topped the $116 million posted in that earlier period.
The deceleration arrived alongside a broader pattern of margin compression that has now persisted for three consecutive quarters. Net income margin fell to 12.8% in the second quarter from 16.0% a year earlier, and from 21% in the first quarter of 2026 and 27% in the third quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA margin followed the same trajectory, declining to 41.7% from 43.4% in the prior-year quarter and slipping from 45% and 47% in the two preceding quarters. Adjusted EBITDA dollars still rose to $57.6 million from $45.2 million a year earlier, meaning the company's profit base kept expanding even as the rate of profitability slowed.
Several new cost items weighed on the quarter's results. Litigation-related costs added back to Adjusted EBITDA climbed to $2.9 million from $0.75 million in the prior-year quarter. Interest expense, net nearly doubled to $6.5 million from $3.6 million. Grindr disclosed for the first time an equity method investee loss and related credit loss of $1.9 million in its Adjusted EBITDA reconciliation, along with a new $1.0 million other expense tied to a bifurcated derivative from forward repurchase transactions initiated in the first quarter. The reconciliation also continued to carry employee transition costs tied to the CFO change that brought John North into the role effective October 1, 2025.
Despite the margin pressure, Grindr raised its full-year 2026 outlook for the second consecutive quarter. Revenue guidance moved to approximately $540 million, up from the "at least $535 million" given in the first quarter, which itself had been raised from "greater than $528 million" at the time of the fourth-quarter 2025 report. Full-year Adjusted EBITDA guidance rose to approximately $232 million, up from "at least $227 million" in the first-quarter guide and from an initial "greater than $217 million" target set at year-end reporting.
The pattern of successive guidance raises against a backdrop of slowing growth rates dates back to the company's full-year 2025 results, when revenue grew 28%, a deceleration from the more than 26% growth outlook the company had reaffirmed in the third quarter. Full-year 2025 net income reached $95 million and Adjusted EBITDA totaled $196 million, a figure that exceeded its total revenue from three years earlier.
Grindr has continued returning capital to shareholders through the period. The company disclosed a $400 million increase to its stock repurchase authorization at the time of its fourth-quarter 2025 report, adding to roughly $50 million remaining from the original $500 million program approved in March 2025, and extended the buyback window through March 2029.
The combination of raised full-year targets and compressing quarterly margins leaves Grindr's near-term profitability trend running counter to its longer-range guidance path.