Match quarterly revenue hit by slowing Tinder growth

(Reuters) - Match Group Inc <MTCH.O> reported quarterly revenue that fell short of Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, hit by slowing growth in its popular dating app "Tinder" as fewer people signed up and paid for its premium features amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company had flagged earlier that in Europe, which is hard hit by the novel coronavirus, fewer subscribers are signing up with more significant declines in Italy and Spain

Total revenue rose 17% to $544.6 million (437.7 million pounds) in the first quarter from a year ago, just shy of analysts' estimates of $544.9 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Tinder, which competes with rival Bumble, added about 100,000 average subscribers in the quarter, it's lowest in at least a year, taking its total average subscriber count to 6 million.

Net earnings attributable to Match Group shareholders rose to $160.4 million, or 55 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31, from $123 million, or 42 cents per share, a year earlier.

(Reporting by Ayanti Bera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)