WALL STREET JOURNAL – Bumble's share price slid ~5% on Monday morning after the company said that founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is stepping down from the CEO role. She will remain as executive chair, while Lidiane Jones will take over as CEO on Jan 2. She currently heads up Slack Technologies, where she became CEO almost a year ago under the ownership of Salesforce. Shweta Khajuria of Evercore ISI wrote: "We view Whitney's departure as a near to midterm headwind for business operations and a negative for overall company morale." Investors weren't exactly hot for Bumble anyway, or Tinder owner Match for that matter. Bumble's share price was already down 35% for the year ahead of Monday's news, while Match was down 31%. The latter's stock slid more than 15% after it reported third-quarter results last week that showed a continued decline in the number of "payers" on the Tinder app.
Category: Bumble
How Bumble’s New CEO Lidiane Jones Plans to Use AI
Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd Steps Down
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Whitney will become exec. chair and will be replaced by Lidiane Jones, the Slack CEO, on Jan 2. Bumble reports Q3 earnings Tuesday. Bumble Inc. comprises Bumble, Bumble for Friends, Badoo, Fruitz (for Gen Z) and Official, a newly acquired app that helps couples relationships. Jones, 44, worked for Microsoft for a decade, then Salesforce, which acquired Slack in 2021. Jones will be based in Cambridge, MA. (Bumble's HQ is in Austin, Texas). "We really want to embark big on AI," she said. "AI can play such a big role in accelerating people finding the right person, finding the right friends and the right community." Blackstone is the largest institutional shareholder in Bumble Inc. Whitney is the largest individual shareholder.
by Sara Ashley O'Brien
See full article at Wall Street Journal
Mark Brooks: Jones brings the culture of Slack and Microsoft to the dating space. Seems like a good potential match for the #2 player in the dating industry.
Bumble BFF Launches in Germany
by André Westphal
See full article at Caschys Blog
Festival Romance: Bumble’s Insight Into India’s Dating Trends and Preferences
HINDUSTAN TIMES – Bumble's study reveals that 63% of Indians are interested in festival dating. During India's festive season, 36% prefer celebrating with friends, and 27% with their partners. 18% are open to finding a festive date when away from home. For couples, 48% enjoy festive shopping together, and 42% attend festive parties as a duo. However, 30% feel self-conscious about being single during festivals. Another 32% feel pressured to find a date, with Millennials feeling this more than GenZers. Tips for festival dating include normalizing feelings, prioritizing self-love, and enjoying the experience without undue pressure. The survey was conducted among 2,003 adults in India.
Veteran Tech Exec Sissie Hsiao Joins Bumble Board of Directors
BUSINESSWIRE – Sissie Hsiao, VP and GM for Google Assistant and Bard, has been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. In her current role at Google, Ms. Hsiao is leading many of Google's advancements applying AI, natural language, and speech technologies to consumer products. Prior to this role, she was responsible for Google's Display, Video, and App Advertising businesses.
Chancery Sends Bumble Insider Trade Suit Toward Trial
LAW360 – A Delaware vice chancellor refused to dismiss Bumble derivative stockholder suit accusing the online dating platform's board of lining up a secondary offering that allowed controlling shareholder Blackstone to sell ahead of a bad news-fueled stock drop, netting an extra $328M.
Bumble CEO: “Hacks I Used to Grow My App”
CNBC – Bumble launched in Dec 2014 with $10M in funding from Badoo co-founder Andrey Andreev. Most of that money seemingly didn't go toward marketing – instead, when Wolfe Herd noticed signs outside local college lecture halls banning social media platforms in class, she hung additional signs, adding Bumble to the list. Another tactic involved spending $20 on cookies decorated with the Bumble logo and distributing them to college sororities. She also gave away branded gifts like balloons and underwear to sorority girls and pizzas with Bumble stickers to fraternities.
Bumble Introduces Campus Safety Kits
AXIOS – Austin's Bumble partners with NightCap and She's Birdie to distribute drink-spiking prevention kits and safety alarms to students during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. These kits will be available at the University of Texas and 160+ other campuses in October. The safety tools include keychain alarms and drink covers designed like hair scrunchies. The initiative addresses the rising campus incidents of drink-spiking and violence.
MasterClass: Whitney Wolfe Herd on How to Rewrite the Rules of Success
PR NEWSWIRE – MasterClass, the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world's best, today announced that Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble, will teach a class on how to rewrite the rules and move ahead – in life and work. Wolfe Herd will give members an inside look into her journey of launching the women-first dating and social networking app Bumble, and share advice on how to follow your ambition with confidence, build a viral brand and redefine success.