Tinder CEO's bizarre interview forced parent company on brink of IPO to race out a filing with the SEC
"You can't deny Tinder is what the world wants," Rad told the Evening Standard, adding that Tinder has managed to solve"the biggest problem in humanity: that you're put on this planet to meet people."
The so-called "free writing prospectus" filed with the SEC however on Wednesday, is not to clarify Rad's outrageous comments, but rather the number of users that Tinder has, which the article thankfully (for Match's sake) had attributed to an analyst:
Had Rad himself been the one to mistate the numbers it's unclear if the CEO would have violated the pre-IPO quiet period, which bars company executives from publicly discussing the company's business. The filing clarifies that Rad is not a company director or officer or authorized to make statements in its behalf.
Match, the owner of online-dating properties including Tinder, is set to IPO this week. Match has set a price range of $12 to $14 a share and plans to sell 33.3 million shares.
In an infamous example, Google CEO's Larry Page and Sergey Brin broke the quiet period in an interview with Playboy. It's rumored that that misstep is the reason Brin and Page rarely do media interviews.
In the wide-ranging interview, which was included in the SEC filing, Rad put his foot in his mouth discussing his affinity for smart women, while flanked by his VP of communications Rosette Pambakian:
Rad also spoke to the Evening Standard about hook-up culture, which he says has been caused less by Tinder and more by feminism, "because now women are more independent and pursuing their desires. And that leads to both parties being more sexually active. It's not because of Tinder."