Tinder Co-Founder Wants to Start Collecting Art

Tinder’s co-founder Sean Rad spoke to the Evening Standard on the eve of his company’s IPO. The 29-year-old says he’ll start spending some his many millions on (what else?) art. And who will be advising him? Why, Rupert Murdoch’s son-in-law. Natch.

The quote has already spawned a parody Twitter account (@TinderGuysArt) and provoked some of the usual suspects to call a top in the art market. (Can you call a top when sales are down from the previous peak?)

On Friday, Tinder’s parent company, The Match Group, is due to float on the New York stock exchange for more than $3 billion. Analysts believe the app, which launched in 2012, has around 80 million users worldwide and records 1.8 billion “swipes” a day.  It is reported that Rad owns  more than 10 per cent of the company, so the float will make him richer and more eligible than he is already.

So far he’s been too busy for extravagance (apart from his gold Audemars Piguet watch and $115,000 black Mercedes G-Class SUV) but says he wants to start an art collection with the help of PR Matthew Freud, with whom he had dinner last night.

Tinder? I’m an addict, says hook-up app’s co-creator and CEO Sean Rad (London Evening Standard)