Bumble agrees $1.3bn takeover by Ithaca Holdings and will go private

Five years after Bumble rang the opening bell at a valuation of roughly $14bn, the company has agreed to leave the stock market for a tenth of that. On 13 October 2026, Bumble Inc. announced it will be acquired by Ithaca Holdings in an all-cash deal valuing the business at $1.3bn.

Shareholders will receive $6.05 for each Class A share. According to the company, that is a premium of about 138% to the unaffected closing price on 9 October, and about 119% to the 30-day volume-weighted average price to that date. Once the deal completes, Bumble will be privately held.

The Bumble buyout terms, and who signed off

The board approved the transaction unanimously on the recommendation of a special committee, with founder and chief executive Whitney Wolfe Herd recusing herself from deliberations and the vote. Shareholder approval came quickly: after signing, affiliates of Blackstone and of Wolfe Herd approved the deal by written consent, which the company says provides the required stockholder approval. Bumble will now file an information statement for remaining shareholders.

Ann Mather, chair of the board and of the special committee, said the committee had “determined that this transaction with Ithaca represents the best outcome for our shareholders.”

The deal is not complete. Bumble’s own release flags that closing depends on “required governmental and regulatory approvals”, and no completion date was given. One practical consequence is immediate: Bumble says it will not publish a third-quarter earnings release or hold an investor call, though it still plans to file its quarterly 10-Q by 9 November.

Ithaca Holdings: the new owners of Bumble and Badoo

Ithaca describes itself as a long-term holding company for “enduring” technology businesses. Its co-founders and co-chief executives, Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman, will become co-chief executives of Bumble when the deal closes. The pair framed the purchase in sweeping terms, saying “this investment is a bet on the future of humanity.”

Wolfe Herd, who founded Bumble in 2014, is not walking away. “I will remain actively involved with Bumble,” she said, adding that she was “pleased to support this transaction based on the Board’s recommendation.” TechCrunch reports that she will work alongside Gupta, Hegeman and the existing team. The company will remain headquartered in Austin, with offices in London and New York.

Why Bumble’s shares sank far enough to make a sale attractive

The price reflects a difficult two years. In its second-quarter 2026 results, published on 5 August, Bumble reported total revenue of $210.5m, down 15.2% year on year. Paying users fell 16.4% to 3.2 million, although average revenue per paying user edged up 1.2% to $21.96. The quarter included a $169.3m impairment charge and a net loss of $127.9m. Badoo and the group’s other apps fared slightly worse than the flagship, with revenue down 17.1%.

Management had guided to third-quarter revenue of between $205m and $213m, which would have been another year-on-year decline.

What changes for people who use Bumble

For now, nothing visible. The app, subscriptions and Badoo carry on as before, and the release makes no mention of product changes. The more interesting question is what private ownership allows. Away from quarterly scrutiny, a company can take bigger swings, and Bumble had already signalled one. On its August earnings call, Wolfe Herd said the business was working on a replacement for swiping, describing a shift “away from optimizing for swipe speed and velocity”, while declining to say what would take its place. She also pointed to Plans, Bumble’s small-group meet-up product announced in July, as an early sign of the company leaning into real-life experiences.

That direction mirrors its rivals. Tinder has spent 2026 pushing events and group features, and Hinge continues to grow inside Match Group. Whether a privately held Bumble can close the gap is now a question for Ithaca rather than the Nasdaq.

For how the app performs today, see our Bumble review, and for the wider slump in swiping, our research on dating app fatigue.

Sources

• Bumble Inc. to Be Acquired by Ithaca Holdings (Business Wire, 13 October 2026)
• Bumble agrees to a $1.3B acquisition deal as online dating faces a reset (TechCrunch, 13 October 2026)
• Bumble Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results (Bumble investor relations, 5 August 2026)
• Bumble teases a swipe-free future as it doubles down on IRL meetups (TechCrunch, 6 August 2026)