Contributed by: kellyseal on Wednesday, March 15 2023 @ 12:10 pm
Last modified on Wednesday, March 15 2023 @ 12:28 pm
Dating app company Bumble Inc announced a secondary stock offering by majority stockholders Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble’s founder and CEO, and Blackstone. The price set for the secondary offering is at $22.80.
The price of Bumble stock fell 7 percent after this announcement, and after news that the previously announced 12.5 million secondary shares the company was originally going to sell went up to 13.75 million shares. Blackstone offloaded about $313 million in their stake in Bumble at the $22.80 share price, below the previous day’s closing price of $24.54. Another $47 million in stock “has been earmarked for over-allocation purposes,” according to Investing.com[*1] .
Blackstone offloaded the majority of shares, with Wolfe Herd cashing out just under $2 million in her shares of the company.
Underwriters are also offering a 30-day option to purchase an additional 2.06 million shares. According to Investor Place, Bumble will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the secondary shares because they aren’t selling common stock. The offering is expected to close by March 8th.
This move surprisingly comes after a better-than-expected fourth quarter for the company, with revenue coming in above analyst expectations thanks in part to its growth in new markets in Europe and Latin America. The company also announced new features coming out this year, specifically in regard to safety and security for app users.
The move also comes as Wolf Herd has stepped away from some of her roles within the company, and hired a general manager to run the Bumble app. Herd said she wanted to focus on certain projects within Bumble that she wants to personally be involved in creating.
"This gives me more time to actually lean into the areas that I am super passionate about and add the most value," she told CBS News in February. "So really focusing on our product and safety and engineering, a more accountable way forward and thinking about GenZ and women in general, but also public policy and really all of our brand efforts."
Wolfe Herd also teamed up with Pamela Anderson to help domestic violence survivors, according to People Magazine[*2] . Herd said that she is making a donation to the National Domestic Violence Hotline “on behalf of Pamela and survivors everywhere.” The CEO was inspired after watching Anderson’s Netflix documentary, Pamela, A Love Story.
"Pamela is a powerful voice for women everywhere and her experiences and unwavering dedication to helping others epitomizes Bumble's mission to empower women," Wolfe Herd says.