Bumble in Advanced Talks for $1 Billion Take-Private Deal

what happened

Newsmetry API, citing The Wall Street Journal, reported that dating service Bumble is in advanced discussions to leave the public market. Ithaca Holdings is the prospective buyer, and the transaction could value Bumble at about $1 billion. The agreement could be reached as soon as this week if negotiations remain on track. Bumble stock rose 21% to $3.08 around midday Monday, although it was still down about 14% year to date.

Ithaca was recently established by Silicon Valley executives Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman. The firm intends to use advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, in its investments. Bumble's market value was approximately $335 million at Friday's close, while its shares have lost more than 90% since the company went public in 2021.

Whitney Wolfe Herd launched Bumble in 2014 after co-founding Tinder at Match Group. She is expected to contribute at least some of her holding to the transaction and stay involved with the business. Wolfe Herd returned as Bumble's chief executive in 2025, and the company cut roughly 30% of its workforce several months later. Blackstone, an early Bumble investor that acquired control in 2019, reduced most of its position after the IPO but still held about 14%, according to FactSet.

Bumble and Badoo, its other app, both reported lower revenue. At Match Group, second-quarter growth at Hinge partly made up for roughly unchanged revenue at Tinder. Both companies have been expanding their use of AI, while Bumble said in August that it would remove its women-first messaging feature. Ithaca says its mission is to use frontier technology to build products that meaningfully improve people's lives. Gupta is a Sequoia Capital partner and former Instacart chief financial officer; Hegeman previously worked at Meta and most recently served as its chief revenue officer.

why it matters

The potential transaction would compare with Bumble's market value of more than $14 billion after its IPO, highlighting the scale of the decline. The share move reflects deal speculation, while the reported agreement remains subject to talks.

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