Bumble swipes right on $1.3 billion go-private deal amid online dating industry reset

Adds details in paragraphs 3-4, shares in paragraph 5

Oct 13 (Reuters) - Bumble BMBL.O said on Tuesday it had agreed to be taken private by Ithaca Holdings in a deal valued at $1.3 billion, as the dating app pushes forward with its months-long turnaround amid shifting Gen Z dating habits and declining paying users.

Bumble and larger rival Match Group MTCH.O, which owns Tinder and Hinge, have been grappling with weak user engagement, particularly from younger users tired of endless swiping.

Ithaca co-founders Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman will become Bumble's co-CEOs after the takeover.

The private equity firm has offered $6.05 per share for Bumble, representing a 122.4% premium to the dating app's closing share price on June 24, a day before Reuters first reported the company was exploring a sale.

Shares of the company soared 57% to $5.96 in premarket trading.

Founded in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble pioneered the "women-first" approach to online dating.

Under Herd, who returned as CEO in March 2025 after stepping down in 2023, the company has doubled down on revamping its core product with AI-powered features, group dating and a redesigned member experience in a bid to revive growth.

The efforts follow steep declines in total paying users and revenue. Total paying users fell 16.4% to 3.2 million in the second quarter, while quarterly revenue has been declining for nearly two years.

Bumble's market capitalization has shrunk to about $582 million as of Monday's close, a far cry from the $14 billion valuation when it went public in 2021.

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The company, which also owns friendship-focused Bumble For Friends, is also expanding group-based ways for people to meet, reflecting an industry-wide effort to attract Gen Z users seeking more social and less swipe-driven ways to connect.

"There hasn't been a lot of innovation in the dating space for a while, and now that AI is here, the apps are going to be forced to innovate," said Liesel Sharabi, an associate professor at Arizona State University who studies online dating and relationship technology.

The company entered into advanced talks to be taken private by Ithaca Holdings in a deal valuing it at roughly $1 billion, Reuters and other media outlets reported on Monday.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Leroy Leo)

((HarshitaMary.Varghese@thomsonreuters.com;))