Chinese Company Gobbles Up Grindr

The hookup app is now solely owned by a Chinese corporation.

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

May 26 2017 1:17 PM EST

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After purchasing 62 percent of the gay hookup app Grindr last year for $88 million, a Chinese tech company has plunked down another $152 million to buy the remaining percentage.

Beijing Kunlun Tech is now the sole owner of eight-year-old Grindr, which reaches 27 million people in nearly 200 countries.

"It is of strategic importance for us to fully engage in the daily operations of Grindr and make it our development milestone," Kunlun said in a statement, as reported by the South China Morning Post. "[With the deal], we also aim to be a world leading social media company in the future, and to expand our platforms into film, streaming and animation,"

Chinese companies like Kunlun are realizing the huge potential of queer customers, even as China limps forward on LGBT equality. Unlike nearby Taiwan, which just legalized same-sex marriage, China affords gays have few legal rights.

Kunlun likely hopes to expand Grindr's reach in Asia, even though China, the world's most populous nation is already served by a similar hookup app, Blued, which boasts about the same number of users as Grindr.