Bumble

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.

Blackstone offloaded the majority of shares, with Wolfe Herd cashing out just under $2 million in her shares of the company.

Bumble surprised investors and analysts with its latest earnings report, which showed better-than-expected revenue in the last quarter of 2022. Shares of the company’s stock rose about 2 percent as a result.

According to Seeking Alpha, Wall Street analysts had expected fourth quarter revenue to reach only $235.9 million, but the company reported revenue of $241.6 million, up from $207 million in the same quarter the previous year.

Bumble also reported 3.4 million paying users during the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 3 million in the same quarter of 2021. Total average revenue per paying user was about $23.01 for the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 22.68 the year before.

Dating app Bumble found that more singles in India are practicing “dry dating” or dating while sober. In fact, the dating app expects this to be the number one dating trend in the country in 2023, thanks to young daters.

A recent poll taken by the app found that 24 percent of single Indians who drink say they don’t plan to do so on dates this year, even past dry January. When asked why, the majority (56 percent) said they wanted to get to know the other person “without being distracted,” according to The Economic Times.

Forty-five percent said they were choosing not to drink on dates to improve their health and wellness by consuming less alcohol.

Representatives from dating app companies alongside ministers, victim-survivors, government officials and technology companies attended a roundtable in Sydney to discuss safety measures needed for dating apps. They discussed adding background checks and ID verification requirements, as well as increasing transparency and sharing of data between dating app companies.

According to The Guardian, Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said that “there’s no one law that’s going to fix this issue,” placing the burden of responsibility on dating app companies.

The talks were led by federal communications minister, Michelle Rowland and included representatives for popular dating apps such as Bumble and Tinder. She noted the talks were an “important first step,” according to The Guardian. The roundtable was convened after a report from the Australian Institute of Criminology found that three quarters of survey respondents had been subjected to sexual violence on dating apps in the last five years.

Image: Bumble & Netflix

Dating app Bumble has teamed up with leading streaming service Netflix to launch a game that is themed around some of its most popular shows, including Emily in Paris, Squid Game, Selling Sunset, and Stranger Things, among others.

According to Netflix’s blog post, the new game called Netflix Nights In will challenge matches to find out how deep their knowledge goes about their favorite shows by answering questions like: “How much was Davina’s infamous listing in Selling Sunset?” In a twist, the game requires matches to answer the question before responses are revealed, and both will be able to see their compatibility based on their answers.

Stars from fan favorites like Ashley Park from Emily in Paris or Jonathan Daviss from Outer Banks will present new questions each week in the app, according to Netflix.

Bumble has partnered with Kele Confectionery to offer its users in Singapore the chance to obtain a complimentary bin of treats in celebration of Chinese New Year. In addition, the dating app launched a new video intended to help break down barriers for single women during the holiday, when added pressures are put on them.

Sending a “love letter snack” to the object of your affection during Chinese New Year is an age-old practice in Singapore, and Bumble is hopping on the tradition to spread the love, and to get people to download the app. Since Bumble’s motto is “women make the first move,” the company has been focusing its efforts to appeal to young single women in more conservative cultures in the APAC region, like Singapore.

According to website The Drum, Lucille McCart, APAC communications director of Bumble, said about the promotion: “Our findings in Singapore indicate that cuffing season occurs around Chinese New Year to Valentine’s Day, owing to social pressures around being coupled up during this period. Bumble Love Letters is our contemporary spin on this age-old practice. We want to revive the tradition of initiating a date with treats but also encourage singles to show love to the ultimate date – themselves.”