{"id":800967,"date":"2026-10-13T06:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T06:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/800967\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T06:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T06:36:09","slug":"bumble-shares-soar-after-report-dating-firm-in-1bn-takeover-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/800967\/","title":{"rendered":"Bumble shares soar after report dating firm in $1bn takeover talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shares in dating app company Bumble soared by almost 50% on Monday after a report that it is in advanced talks to be bought for around $1bn (\u00a3757m).<\/p>\n

Technology holding company Ithaca could announce a deal to buy the Texas-based firm as early as this week, according to the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

The jump in Bumble’s shares pushed its stock market valuation to over $580m but that is still far below a peak of more than $14bn it reached after listing on the Nasdaq in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bumble is one of the world’s most downloaded dating apps, operating in a crowded market where growth has slowed. The BBC has contacted Bumble and Ithaca for comment.<\/p>\n

Bumble was launched in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd, who was also a co-founder of dating app giant Tinder.<\/p>\n

Wolfe Herd built Bumble’s brand around a distinctive feature that only allowed women to initiate conversations with matches.<\/p>\n

It recently abandoned that rule<\/a>, prompting debate among users over whether the app had lost what set it apart from rivals.<\/p>\n

“Today, our community is asking for more flexibility, less pressure, and more opportunities to create real, meaningful connections and that is what this new experience provides,” Wolfe Herd said in August.<\/p>\n

Dating apps like Bumble have come under pressure in recent years as some younger users have grown disillusioned with browsing for dates.<\/p>\n

Bumble said in 2025 that it would cut almost a third of its workforce as the industry grappled with what Wolfe Herd described as an “inflection point” in online dating.<\/p>\n

Investments in other dating companies have also soured as apps have struggled to convince users to pay for their services.<\/p>\n

Match Group – which owns apps including Tinder, OkCupid and Hinge – has also seen its shares fall sharply from their peak in 2021.<\/p>\n

According a report by media watchdog Ofcom in 2025, adults in the UK were spending less time on dating apps compared to three years earlier.<\/p>\n

Some single people are instead turning to board game get-togethers<\/a>, book clubs and other group activities in the hope of finding a partner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shares in dating app company Bumble soared by almost 50% on Monday after a report that it is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-800967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}