Gay hookup app Grindr has been completely bought up by a Chinese gaming company, and what that means for you and your Friday night sexy time remains up in the air.
According to Instinct:
Back in January 2016, Beijing Kunlun Tech bought 61.5% of Grindr’s stakes for $93 million, which bumped up the business’s value to $155 million. Then, in an announcement yesterday, they said that they would be buying the the rest of the the stakes for $152 million.
Beijing Kunlun Tech is run by billionaire Zhou Yahui, and is one of China’s largest game developers. The purchase is a strategic strategy to allow the company to advertise and market itself to the more than 3 million daily users who are on the app from all over the globe.
Hmmm. Using the hookup site as a way to advertise Chinese video games seems…. an odd fit.
Also, as Instinct points out, the Chinese government seems very fickle when it comes to its treatment of LGBT citizens
One second it’ll have a “live and let live” attitude towards LGBT people on the internet, and the next it’ll ban gay web series and shut down gay-centric websites.
So, although Grindr inventor Joel Simkhai said at the time of the first Kunlun Tech investment, that it would be “business as usual” … that seems unlikely.
But time will tell.
