Every day, what's left of the once-mighty ranks of reporters across this country tap out stories meant to inform, entertain and expose. Sometimes they are the work of minutes, the first bits of knowledge on breaking news such as fires, storms or even elections. Sometimes they are investigations that have taken years. Inevitably, as soon as we publish, rich dudes with algorithms come in and sweep this work away for their own profit, like deodorant off a Target shelf. Retail theft is causing a civic meltdown and inspiring a ballot measure to incarcerate repeat toothpaste thieves.

Three of Tinder's founders and a handful of current executives say the popular dating app's parent companies cheated them out of as much as $2 billion by manipulating financial information to undermine its valuation, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The co-founders and executives claim that Match Group Inc. MTCH -0.21% and IAC/InterActiveCorp . IAC 0.18% hid projections of Tinder's rapid growth in order to reduce payments to the holders of stock options, which were based on the company's valuation. The suit, filed by 10 plaintiffs in New York Supreme Court, also says that Greg Blatt, a longtime executive of IAC who served as interim chief executive of Tinder, groped and sexually harassed Tinder's vice president of marketing and communications, Rosette Pambakian, during the Los Angeles-based company's 2016 holiday party. Mr. Blatt didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wolfe Herd's app has expanded beyond dating, with features promoting female friendship and career networking.Jamel Toppin/Forbes Some users of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd's dating app, are lucky enough to swipe right and find love, a new friend or a job opportunity. Wolfe Herd, though, may be the luckiest of all: The app, which Forbes values at $1 billion, has brought its 29-year-old founder a $230 million fortune. While Wolfe Herd missed the cut for this year's Forbes list of America's Richest Self-Made Women, Forbes predicts it won't be too long before she joins the ranks, assuming Bumble keeps growing at the rate it has. Bumble's biggest competitor is Tinder, founded in 2012 as one of the first "swiping" dating apps,using a customer's location to find matches. Wolfe Herd actually helped build what is now her adversary.

As more information continues to pour in about what happened at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, here's what we know about the shooter, Omar Mateen. The logo of Jack'd, an online dating and chat app for gay men. According to some reports, Orlando shooter Omar Mateen used the app to message men in the months prior to the shooting. SAN FRANCISCO -- The CEO of Jack'd, a Tinder-like gay chat and dating app, says he hasn't been contacted by law enforcement since reports surfaced late Monday Orlando shooter Omar Mateen might have been using the app for at least a year. The service also hasn't been able to substantiate Mateen had been a member, said Hector Camacho, CEO of Jack'd parent company Online Buddies. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mateen, 29, had messaged at least one regular Pulse patron sporadically over the past year using the Jack'd app.

As more information continues to pour in about what happened at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, here's what we know about the shooter, Omar Mateen. The logo of Jack'd, an online dating and chat app for gay men. According to some reports, Orlando shooter Omar Mateen used the app to message men in the months prior to the shooting. SAN FRANCISCO -- The CEO of Jack'd, a Tinder-like gay chat and dating app, says he hasn't been contacted by law enforcement since reports surfaced Tuesday that Orlando shooter Omar Mateen might have been using the app for at least a year. The site also hasn't been able to substantiate that Mateen had been a member, said Hector Camacho, CEO of Jack'd parent company Online Buddies.

The logo of Jack'd, an online dating and chat app for gay men. According to some reports, Orlando shooter Omar Mateen used the app to message men in the months prior to the shooting. SAN FRANCISCO -- There are reports that Orlando shooter Omar Mateen had been using a gay chat and dating app called Jack'd for at least a year before his assault at a gay dance club left 49 victims dead and 53 wounded on Sunday. However the company that runs the app says it can't find profile information and that police haven't contacted them. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mateen, 29, had messaged at least one regular Pulse patron sporadically over the past year using the Jack'd app.

The logo of Jack'd, an online dating and chat app for gay men. According to some reports, Orlando shooter Omar Mateen used the app to message men in the months prior to the shooting. SAN FRANCISCO -- There are reports that Orlando shooter Omar Mateen had been using a gay chat and dating app called Jack'd for at least a year before his assault at a gay dance club left 49 victims dead and 53 wounded on Sunday. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mateen, 29, had messaged at least one regular Pulse patron sporadically over the past year using the Jack'd app. Kevin West was at Pulse the night of the attack and said he recognized Mateen from the app.

The gunman who attacked a Florida LGBT nightclub had attended the club before the attack and had used a gay dating and chat app, witnesses said. Kevin West, a regular at Pulse nightclub, said Omar Mateen messaged him on and off for a year before the shooting using the gay chat and dating app Jack'd. West was dropping off a friend at the club when he noticed Mateen – whom he knew by sight but not by name – crossing the street wearing a dark cap and carrying a black cellphone about 1 a.m., an hour before the shooting. "He walked directly past me. I said, 'Hey,' and he turned and said, 'Hey,'" and nodded his head, West said.

Kevin West, a regular at Pulse, said Omar Mateen messaged him sporadically over the last year using the app Jack'd. West was dropping off a friend at the club when he noticed Mateen crossing the street wearing a dark cap and carrying a cellphone at about 1 a.m., an hour before the shooting. "He walked directly past me. I said, 'Hey,' and he turned and said, 'Hey,'" and nodded his head, West said. At least four regular customers of Pulse told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday that they believe they had seen Mateen there before.

Still in the depths of sleep, I reach out and grab it, knocking a cold cup of coffee over the unread mountain of books on my bedside. I swear loudly, mop up the mess with one hand and look blearily at the message on my screen. It's from Otis, 27, who I have apparently just matched with on Tinder: "Hey sexy like ur curls. Wanna come over n get naked and I'll show you my curls." There is no denying that the pursuit of love in the 21st century has become littered with digital landmines. There are now more than 91 million people around the world on dating apps – and most of that is thanks to Tinder.