Ithaca Holdings has agreed to acquire Bumble for $1.3 billion, a deal that would take the dating company private after years of declining subscriber numbers, falling revenue and mounting pressure to rethink online dating.
Bumble has faced declining paying users, weaker revenue and growing dissatisfaction with the familiar swipe-based model. In the second quarter of 2026, revenue reached $211 million, down 15.2% year over year, and the number of paying users dropped 16.4% to approximately 3.2 million.
Whitney Wolfe Herd founded Bumble in 2014, and the app became known for its rule that only women could make the first move. The company went public in 2021 at a valuation of roughly $14 billion. Going private might give Bumble more flexibility to experiment with new features and make changes without answering to public-market investors every quarter.
Bumble has been exploring AI-driven features and focusing more on helping people meet offline, part of a broader shift in how younger users approach dating. Its Plans app, announced in July, is built around real-world activities. Wolfe Herd has also said the company is working on a new way for users to interact that could eventually replace swiping. These plans point to Bumble’s direction, but paying users and revenue have continued to decline.
An independent committee of Bumble’s board assessed strategic options and recommended the acquisition after consulting outside legal and financial advisers. The press release says Wolfe Herd took no part in the board’s discussions or vote on the deal.
“In Ithaca, we have found a partner who shares our vision, believes in our women-first mission, and is committed to investing in Bumble’s future,” Wolfe Herd said in a statement. She plans to stay actively involved in the business, working alongside Ithaca’s Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman and the Bumble team.
The acquisition would put Bumble’s next product chapter under private ownership as the company works to move past the swipe-based experience that helped distinguish it.
