Bumble may be bouncing back: Shares of the dating app soared 25.14% after the company announced plans to lay off 30% of its employees.
The elimination of 240 roles is expected to save Bumble $40 million annually, which will be funneled into product and technology development, according to the securities filing. The Austin-based company also adjusted its revenue forecast for the current quarter to a range of between $244 million and $249 million, up from the $235 million to $243 million it previously predicted.
But no matter what kind of rose-tinted glasses you slap on these cutbacks, it’s clear that the company is floundering like a really awkward first date. Although the stock popped today, it’s still down by around 18.19% for the year and over 91.36% since its public debut in 2021. In that time, the digital matchmaker’s market value has plunged from $7.7 billion to about $954.17 million as of Wednesday’s close.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
CEO and founder Whitney Wolfe Herd stepped down near the start of 2024, but boomeranged back earlier this year with hopes of helping her flailing company find a sense of direction again.
“Bumble needs me back,” she told the New York Times. “Watching it fall from its peak has been very hard. And so I raised my hand.”
She faces a tough slog ahead. In the first quarter, revenue dropped 7.7% to $247.1 million, while total paying users remained flat at around 4 million. As for where the app could go next, Wolfe Herd hopes to follow up on the success of the company’s friend-matchmaking BFF feature by rolling out quizzes to help users find love by teaching them to adore themselves.
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Suffice to say, analysts remain skeptical about the fortunes of a company predicated on finding romantic matches telling its users that they don’t need anyone else.
A rough patch for dating apps
Bumble is hardly the only romantic platform that has been stumbling in search of purpose and profits.
Tinder is the largest of them all, with 9.6 million subscribers and 60 million active users, though subscribers have fallen since its peak in 2022 at 10.9 million. Still, it remains the cash cow of parent company Match Group, generating $1.94 billion in revenue in 2024. Match Group, which also owns Hinge, OKCupid, PlentyofFish and others, reported first-quarter total revenue of $831 million, down 3% year over year.
Spencer Rascoff, who assumed the role of CEO of Match in February and will double his duties by taking on that same role at Tinder in July, said the app must shed its smarmy reputation. “This generation of Gen Z, 18 to 28—it’s not a hookup generation,” he explained to investors. “We need to adapt our products to accept that reality.”
To woo younger singletons, Tinder has rolled out a double-dating feature, turning high-pressure hookups into fun gatherings with friends.
Although Bumble, Tinder, and other dating apps seem to be going through a rocky period, one thing we know in our heart of hearts is that the search for love will never go out of business.—JD