Bumble Sold for $1.3 Billion in Stunning Fall From Its IPO Glory Days
Ithaca Holdings will take the dating app private at $6.05 a share — a fraction of its 2021 IPO price — as founder Whitney Wolfe Herd stays on and new co-CEOs Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman take the wheel.
Bumble is going private. The dating app announced this week that it has agreed to be acquired by Ithaca Holdings in an all-cash deal valued at roughly $1.3 billion, a steep comedown for a company that once commanded a $14 billion valuation on Wall Street.
Under the terms of the deal, Ithaca will pay Bumble shareholders $6.05 per share — about 86% below the $43 share price at which the company priced its February 2021 IPO. According to TechCrunch's reporting, the price represents a sizable premium over Bumble's recent trading range even as it underscores how far the stock has fallen since the company's splashy debut.
Ithaca Holdings, a technology investment firm founded by Silicon Valley executives Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman, will see its founders step in as Bumble's new co-CEOs once the deal closes. Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, who returned to the CEO role in 2025, is set to remain "actively involved" with the company, though she abstained from the board's vote approving the sale.
A Business in Retreat
The sale caps a rough stretch for Bumble. Revenue fell more than 15% year-over-year in the most recent quarter to roughly $210 million, while its paying user base shrank by over 16%, continuing a decline that has dogged the dating app sector broadly as rivals compete for a shrinking pool of subscribers. UK coverage of the deal framed Ithaca's purchase as a bet that the company's turnaround plan — and its brand — still has value even after the steep slide.
$6.05 A SHARE — DOWN FROM A $43 IPO PRICE IN 2021.
An independent committee of Bumble's board reviewed the offer and recommended it, and the full board voted unanimously to approve the sale. Affiliates of Blackstone, among Bumble's largest shareholders, have already signed off. Once it closes, pending customary regulatory approvals, Bumble is expected to remain headquartered in Austin, Texas, as a private company, with Wolfe Herd's original app-turned-public-company completing a round trip from Nasdaq darling to private holding in under six years.
Analysts say the deal is as much a referendum on the broader dating-app category as it is on Bumble specifically, with user fatigue and subscription pullback squeezing nearly every player in the space.