It looks like Grindr Inc. isn’t going private after all.

The West Hollywood-based dating app platform announced on Monday the company’s special committee has declined to engage with further conversation on a take-private deal valued at nearly $3.5 billion.

The special committee, which was made up of independent members selected to evaluate the terms of the deal, said it was unable to confidently confirm details about the deal’s financing.

“After careful consideration, the special committee has unanimously determined that further discussions with the proposing shareholders with respect to the proposal are not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders at this time,” said Chad Cohen, chair of the special committee, in a statement. “The special committee remains confident in the company’s ability to create significant value for all shareholders as the management team executes its long-term strategic plan…”

On Wednesday, James Fu Bin Lu and George Raymond Zage III, the two board members who filed the proposal to take the company private, announced via regulatory filings that they have withdrawn their buyout proposal.

“Over the past several weeks, there was regular engagement and negotiation around the signing of a confidentiality agreement to allow the proposing shareholders team of financial advisers to conduct confirmatory due diligence in order to finalize a committed debt facility for the going private transaction,” according to the filings.

“The proposing shareholders secured significant expressions of interest, in multiple cases unsolicited, to participate in acquisition financing, including multiple highly confident letters as well as contributions in the form of senior debt, hybrid securities and equity.”

A confusing takeover

The month-long saga wraps up a rather chaotic period for the company.

In early November, then-Grindr Chairman Lu resigned from his position after five years, largely in part due to his proposal to acquire Grindr and take the company private.

Lu, along with board member Zage, proposed to acquire the rest of Grindr’s stock for $18 each, Grindr announced in late October. Together, Lu and Zage own more than 60% of Grindr’s outstanding stocks, making them the largest shareholders of the company.

Grindr shares dropped nearly 15% to reach a low of $11.81 on Monday (Nov. 24), following the latest announcement of the special committee’s decision to cease further talks about the offer.

Lu and Zage acknowledged via regulatory filings that new Wall Street investment bankers priced Grindr stock well above their $18-per-share offer following positive third quarter earnings. The stock closed at $12.16 a share last Monday, and it has since rebounded to end the trading week at $12.94 a share on Wednesday.

Zage said he intended to continue purchasing additional shares of Grindr in the market.

“The special committee remains confident in the company’s ability to create significant value for all shareholders as the management team executes its long-term strategic plan,” Cohen said.

Indeed, Grinder considered this year to be the company’s most successful since it was founded in 2009, in terms of profitability and growing engagement. Grindr’s third quarter earnings – announced under the shadow of the potential take-private deal – were largely positive. The company generated almost $116 million in revenue, representing a 30% year-over-year growth.

Dating app market

Grindr is an outlier among dating app companies, which are by and large struggling to retain users and capture paid customers. Before Los Angeles-based venture capitalist Spencer Rascoff became the chief executive of dating app conglomerate Match Group Inc. in February, the company highlighted that West Hollywood-based Tinder, a subsidiary, contributed greatly to its 4% decline in revenue in the first quarter.

Grindr, by comparison, has dramatically expanded its product offerings – from travel-friendly social media connections to using artificial intelligence to provide chat summaries and discover users they might be compatible with.

“A defining strength of Grindr is its ability to renew itself with new users. Every year, gay and bi men all over the world join as they become adults,” George Arison, the chief executive and executive director at Grindr, said during third quarter earnings. “Grindr is often the first place they learn about…then engage, explore gay culture and find all types of connections from casual dates and hookups to love, to workout mates to friendships.”

Arison said that the generational shift has kept the Grindr dating platform quite “vibrant, relevant and ever growing with younger cohorts driving engagement across the network and older ones driving monetization.”

Plenty of Los Angeles companies have quietly exited the stock market in 2025. Sketchers U.S.A. Inc., the Manhattan Beach-based sneaker company, went private in a $9.4 billion deal back in September. The sale reflected a $63-per-share price. Santa Monica-based TrueCar Inc. announced in October it would go private in a $227 million deal.