Texas abortion law is regressive says Match Group CEO Shar Dubey
Typically, business owners and chief executives in the U.S. do not comment on political issues, especially controversial ones, in order to avoid offending clients as well as politicians, who can try to punish the companies, including by asking regulators to launch investigations.
As Sharmistha (Shar) Dubey, chief executive of $41 billion Match Group, said in a note to employees earlier this month, her company “generally does not take political stands unless it is relevant to our business.” But, earlier this month, after a “highly punitive and unfair” and regressive abortion law went into effect in Texas, Dubey, 50-years-old, said, “I personally, as a woman in Texas, could not keep silent.”
Founded in Silicon Valley, California, in 1995, Match moved its head office to Dallas, Texas, in 2000. The Texas law bans most abortions after about six weeks. As several women’s health experts have noted, most women do not know they are pregnant till after six weeks. In fact, nearly 90 percent of the abortions, previously performed in Texas, were carried out after the six-week mark, the New York Times reported.
The law effectively prohibits all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. Also, individuals can sue doctors or any private citizen who helps a woman obtain an abortion. If successful, they will receive a $10,000 reward, plus coverage for their legal expenses, paid by the Texas government. Also this month, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a challenge to the Texas abortion law, with five justices ruling in favor while four opposed. .
“I’m speaking about this personally, as a mother and a woman…this is a very sad day.” Dubey, who has a daughter, added. “I immigrated to America from India over 25 years ago…I am shocked that I now live in a state where women’s reproductive laws are more regressive than most of the world, including India.”
Dubey’s note to Match Group employees was published by dmagazine.com. Her stance got wide coverage in major U.S. media outlets, with the stories contrasting her criticism of the abortion law to the silence of other CEOs, especially of technology companies, which operate in Texas.
Over the past decade, several major technology companies moved their head offices from California to Texas, saying they were attracted by the lower taxes, financial incentives, cheaper real estate and fewer regulations. They include: electrical vehicle maker Tesla, with a market value of $760 billion; software vendor Oracle, $238 billion; cyber-security firm Palantir; $53 billion; and Hewlett Packard Enterprises, $17 billion. In addition, Apple, Google, Facebook and others have hired thousands of employees in Texas. So far, none of the CEOs of these companies have criticized the Texas abortion law, like Dubey has done.
The Match Group owns Tinder, Match, OkCupid, Hinge, PlentyOfFish and other dating sites. These sites, in 40 languages, have 15 million subscribers around the globe. Tinder is the most downloaded and highest revenue generating dating site in the world.
In 2020, Match’s revenues rose 17% to $2.4 billion; it earned $587 million in pre-tax profits, giving it a very attractive 25% pre-tax profit margin. Last year, Dubey earned a total compensation of $14 million, including $9.5 m stock options. She also owns Match shares worth about $35 million.
Dubey, who joined the Match Group in 2006, took over as CEO in 2020. Earlier, she served in a number of roles including: president of the company, Chief Operating Officer of Tinder and President of Match Group, North America. Prior to that, she was the Chief Product Officer of the Princeton Review and Tutor.com, both vendors of educational tools, then owned by the Match Group.
Dubey’s interest in technology was sparked by her father, a professor of mechanical engineering. She grew up in Jamshedpur, India and earned a degree in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Her profile in the Match documents do not identify the IIT she attended. Some reports say she graduated from IIT New Delh while others say it was IIT Kharagpur. At IIT, “It was hard to be the only girl in a class of 80 to 100 boys.” Dubey told DallasInnovates. “I remember another girl who was two years senior to me. And she said, ‘If you quit, you’re the only one that’s going to lose. So grit it up.'” And Dubey did.
Upon graduation, she worked for a year at Tata Steel. She then went on to earn a master’s in engineering from Ohio State University. After graduating, Dubey worked at an aerospace company in Philadelphia, where she was the first female engineer and also the first foreigner to be hired. In 1998, she and her husband moved to Dallas, Texas, where she joined Texas Instruments. That same year, she switched to i2 Technologies, a Dallas based supply chain management software company founded by Sanjiv Sidhu, another Indian American. She stayed at i2 up until she joined Match, according to Crunchbase.
A sizeable number of Match’s roughly 2,000 employees are based in Texas. Already, following the passage of the abortion law this month, some small companies as well as technology workers are planning to move out of the state. Others like Salesforce - which has a market value of $252 billion - are offering to relocate their Texas employees to other states. “If you want to move we’ll help you exit TX (Texas). Your choice,” tweeted Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.
Match CEO Dubey set up a fund to “help cover the additional costs incurred” by employees and their dependents, impacted by the abortion law, who “need to seek care outside of Texas.” But since abortion is a deeply personal matter, it remains to be seen if employees will apply for financial help from their employers.
Ultra-conservative groups are seeking passage of similar anti-abortion laws in other Republican-run states. They also succeeded in lobbying for a law that permits Texans to carry handguns without a license or training. In July, the Texas Governor passed an executive order banning masks, for protection against COVID-19, and proof of vaccination in government locations, including schools; the order was stayed by a court. Elated by their wins, the groups are now seeking other regressive measures, including an audit of the 2020 Presidential election in Texas, even though Republican Donald Trump won the state.
On the business side, Match - and major rival Bumble, based in Austin, Texas - potentially face an image problem in the U.S., their largest and most lucrative market. Now it may be easier for rival dating sites, based in states other than Texas, to lure some of Match’s U.S. subscribers, especially women and those with college degrees, by simply stating they operate in states that respect a woman’s right to choose abortion and support gun control laws.
The U.S. currently faces an acute shortage of technical and other skilled staff. Now, in the competition to hire such talent, companies operating in other states have an edge over those in Texas, like Match. Also, Match and other Texas based companies, which rely on highly skilled staff, will likely find it challenging to hold on to key employees, especially women.
Already, some who moved to Austin, Texas, where Tesla, Oracle and other technology companies are based and which is viewed as a relatively liberal and hip city, have started trickling out to other states - and, as typically happens in America, led by artists. As a headline in a Washington Post story descibes it: “They came to Texas for the big houses and barbecue. They also got new laws on abortion, guns and voitng.”
Deep Barot, an Indian American who grew up in Texas, is a San Francisco-based angel investor in biotech, software, and cryptocurrency companies. He told the Washington Post, the Texas abortion law “scares the living daylights out of me…This is an abortion law, but what’s next?”