INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Chinese gaming giant Beijing Kunlun has agreed to sell popular gay dating app Grindr for about $608 million, ending a tumultuous four
years under Chinese ownership.
Reuters reports that the Chinese company sold its 98% stake in Grindr to a United States -based company, San
Vicente Acquisition Partners.
The app, originally developed in Los Angeles, raised national security concerns after it was acquired by
Beijing Kunlun in 2016 for $93 million
That ownership was later scrutinized by a United States government national security panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the
United States (CFIUS), which reportedly told the Beijing-based parent company that its ownership of Grindr constituted a national security
threat.
CFIUS expressed concern that data from the app some 27 million users could be used by the Chinese government
Last year, it was reported that while under Chinese ownership, Grindr allowed engineers in Beijing access to the personal data of millions
of United States users, including their private messages and HIV status.
Beijing Kunlun had agreed to sell the unit by June.
Little is
known about San Vicente Acquisition, but a person with knowledge of the deal said that the company is made up of a group of investors that
fully owned and controlled by Americans
Reuters said that one of those investors is James Lu, a former executive at Chinese search giant Baidu.
The deal is subject to shareholder
approval and a review by CFIUS.
A spokesperson for Grindr declined to comment on the record.
Grindr sends HIV status to third parties, and
some personal data unencrypted
