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U.S. Government: Grindr Is a "National Security Risk"

Grindr's parent company is looking... to sell the app!

Grindr is looking... for a new owner!

Beijing Kunlun Tech Co., Ltd., the Chinese gaming company which bought Grindr back in 2016, is looking to sell the popular gay dating app—after a national security panel for the United States government "raised concerns about its ownership," according to Reuters.

Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

Berlin, Germany - February 26: In this photo illustration the app of Grindr is displayed on a smartphone on February 26, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)

According to anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) informed Kunlun that owning Grindr constituted "a national security risk." CFIUS' specific concerns over the app were not divulged, but the U.S. has doubled down on apps that share users' personal data, "especially if some of it involves U.S. military or intelligence personnel."

Kunlun had said last August it was preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) of Grindr. As a result of CFIUS’ intervention, Kunlun has now shifted its focus to an auction process to sell Grindr outright, given that the IPO would have kept Grindr under Kunlun’s control for a longer period of time, the sources revealed.

Last August, Kunlun's executive board also approved an IPO for the popular gay dating app on international stock exchanges. The company’s board said in a public filing that going public would “strengthen” Grindr’s competitiveness and promote the brand’s expansion moving forward.

No details on the timeframe or location for the IPO listing have been released. But those plans would be on hold if the company is thinking about putting Grindr up for sale.

This is just the latest bit of bad news for the app. A year Grindr announced it would stop sharing users’ HIV status with other companies, following a public outcry, and earlier this year Grindr's editorial site, Into, shuttered.

Founded by Joel Simkhai in 2009 and currently headquartered in Los Angeles, Grindr boasts upwards of 3 million daily users and remains one of the most popular gay dating apps in the world. Notably, it’s the second most popular app of its kind in China, falling behind the Beijing-based app Blued, which boasts more than 30 million users worldwide.

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