‘We lit a fire’: Spencer Rascoff’s Match Group overhaul reflects broader tech reckoning

A familiar name pops up at the end of a Wall Street Journal article today about the new balance of power between tech companies and workers in the age of artificial intelligence: Spencer Rascoff.

The former CEO of Seattle-based Zillow Group now leads Match Group, the parent company of Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid. Last week, he announced plans to cut 13% of the workforce — 325 jobs — while touting a leaner structure, faster product cycles, and a growing role for AI in the dating experience.

Rascoff’s comments to investors about the cuts will sound familiar to anyone tracking Andy Jassy’s efforts to thin Amazon’s management ranks.

“These changes make us more nimble, more focused and better aligned, enabling faster decision making, reducing management layers, including around one in five managers overall,” Rascoff said on the Match Group call.

This should give individuals greater impact and accelerate Match Group’s “ability to ship products and features that deliver meaningful user outcomes,” he said.

While Rascoff didn’t directly link the layoffs to artificial intelligence, he went into detail on the call about the ways AI is changing the user experience.

For example, he highlighted a new AI-powered Tinder feature being tested in New Zealand that offers users a single, personalized match each day. With permission, the system pulls in information such as photos from a user’s camera roll and answers to questions about what they’re looking for in a partner.

He called it a “major leap” in how the company is using artificial intelligence to improve dating results.

“Signs are promising, and we see this as a clear example of how AI and product innovation can drive more relevant, higher quality connections,” he said, adding that it “reflects our commitment to reimagining the experience beyond the swipe feature.”

The Wall Street Journal article, titled “Everybody’s Replaceable,” notes a shift in tone among executives who are increasingly blunt about cost-cutting, performance expectations, and the role of AI in shaping hiring and staffing decisions.

Rascoff and Match Group appear as the closing anecdote in the piece, where he told investors the company is cutting costs and reorganizing to focus more directly on product development. “We lit a fire under the team here,” he’s quoted as saying.

Here’s the full quote from the Match Group call:

“Basically, I came in here and said, ‘Why do something in 2027 that we could do in 2025?’ We lit a fire under the team here, and we pulled forward a lot of organizational changes, cost reductions, reorganization, reshaping and restructuring of how the company operates, and that pulled forward savings, which now we’re reinvesting.”

Read the full WSJ article here.