Yep, Grindr's New Owners Are Indeed Straight

No one really knew much about Grindr's new owners when they announced a $600 million purchase of the popular geolocation-based dating app. We knew the name of the group was San Vicente Acquisition LLC, but that's about it. Now, a few members of the group who are all entering the C-suite of the giant, are coming out from the shadows.

As straight.

Previously owned by Beijing Kunlun Tech, a Chinese company who bought the company from its gay founder Joel Simkhai, Grindr's new CEO, COO, and CFO are Jeff Bonforte, Rick Marini, and Gary Hsueh, respectively according to a feature in The Advocate. The three had previously tried to by the company a year prior under a different name but were successful with San Vicente -- the rest of that group is currently unknown.The men come from companies like Yahoo!, Flickr, Hearst Corporation, and more. Bonforte and Marini told the publication that they identify as straight but are allies -- Hsueh was unavailable.

"I don't think you have to be gay to want to have a strong, healthy, safe LGBTQ community," Bonforte told The Advocate when asked why the group was interested in the company though they are not queer. "And so I think we see Grindr's role in that, and we hope we can further it."

Of the things they are committed to: boosting security, recruiting more LGBTQ+ employees, creating a better user experience in general.

"I really want this to be a positive place for everyone, not just the good-looking people that already have an easy enough time in society," Marini said. "It's got to work for everyone. Love is love. So we're going to be working on that for sure."

The company's former CEO Scott Chen, who is also straight, ended his tenure at the company this month. Chen was at the center of controversy in 2018 after he said holy matrimony was between a man and a woman.

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