Bumble Agrees to $1.3 Billion Takeover After Losing More Than 95% of Its Peak Value

Dating app company Bumble has agreed to be acquired by Ithaca Holdings in an all-cash deal valuing the business at $1.3 billion, according to a MarsBit report citing an article from the WeChat account Investment Circle authored by Zhou Jiali. The price marks a steep fall from Bumble’s public-market peak, when its valuation approached $14 billion after its 2021 IPO. Founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd, the company built its brand around a rule that required women to send the first message in heterosexual matches, a design choice that once helped it stand out from rivals such as Tinder. The report says Bumble’s operating picture deteriorated sharply in recent years. Full-year 2025 paid users fell more than 11% to about 3.7 million, while revenue slipped nearly 10% to roughly $966 million. In the first quarter of 2026, paid users dropped 21.1% year over year to 3.2 million and total revenue fell 14.1%. Bumble responded with layoffs of about 240 employees, testing an AI matching assistant, and in August scrapping its long-standing women-first messaging rule. Once the transaction closes, Ravi Gupta, formerly a partner at Sequoia Capital, and John Hegeman, former chief revenue officer at Meta, are set to become co-CEOs of Bumble. Wolfe will remain involved in some capacity but will no longer run day-to-day operations.