Ithaca Holdings said Tuesday it will acquire Bumble for $1.3 billion, or $6.05 per share. Bloomberg reported Monday the companies were in advanced talks, and the agreed price comes in 138% above Bumble's Friday close, the final session before media reports flagged a possible sale.
That's a stark reversal considering Bumble's IPO valued it at $14 billion just over five and a half years ago. Launched in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd, a former Tinder cofounder, the app originally let only women start the conversation. As younger users have cooled on dating apps, Bumble has seen declines and has tried to reignite interest, dropping the women-go-first rule in August and, this year, introducing an AI assistant meant to play matchmaker rather than just serve up more swipes.
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Once the deal is finalized, Bumble will be run by co-CEOs Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman, the co-founders and co-CEOs of Ithaca. Wolfe Herd said she will "remain actively involved with Bumble." The company will remain headquartered in Austin and retain large outposts in London and New York. Ithaca itself came together earlier this year under Gupta, a Sequoia Capital partner, alongside Hegeman, previously Meta Platforms Inc.'s chief revenue officer. In March, Bloomberg reported their goal was to buy at least one public or private company and add new technology, potentially including AI.
In New York trading after the announcement, Bumble jumped as much as 57% to $5.98. The stock had already surged 50% on Monday, its biggest single-day gain since the February 2021 IPO. If the deal goes through, the $6.05 per share offer would set the exit price for shareholders, leadership would shift to Gupta and Hegeman, and Bumble would keep its footprint centered in Austin with significant offices in London and New York. For everyday investors, the takeaway is simple: M&A can swing prices fast, but the long game still does the heavy lifting.
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