Bumble makes harsh decision amid shift in customer behavior | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Dating is fun. Dating is hard.

Which of these statements rings more true for you?

Perhaps both.

I see more of my friends having a hard time finding a partner, that person who might be “the one” — a soul mate, if you will. They often tell my husband and me how lucky we are and how easy it is for us. That makes us laugh so hard.

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Easy? Yeah, right. If moving to another town and leaving everything behind is easy, then maybe.

Let’s face it, there are no easy relationships. Every single one requires compromises, compassion, loyalty, love, and sacrifice.

But it’s more than worth it.

As we grow older, it’s much harder to make compromises and sacrifices, and that’s why a lot of my Millennial friends are still single. The media promotes the idea that young people should only have fun, and that there will be time for serious relationships later on.

Well, guess what? Time flies, and before you know it, your biological clock will be ticking, or you’ll find yourself less willing to fight for something good.

Can online dating help?

Dating apps have changed many people’s love lives for better, but their popularity is waning among Gen Z and Millennials.

Image source&colon; Shutterstock

Tinder, Bumble and other modern dating tools

For many people around the world, dating apps are a last resort when they struggle to find a partner. For many others, they are a common, simple, and logical choice.

Then there are those who, despite feeling lonely, just hate the idea, even though dating apps make more sense than ever these days.

But did you know that the first computer matching service was made back in 1965? Long before Match.com, Tinder, Bumble, MeetMe, OKCupid, Grindr, and others, there was Operation Match.

This computer-based system matched users based on questionnaires. It is safe to say that it paved the way for the modern online dating landscape.

Then in 1995, three years before Google, Match.com launched and became a true trailblazer in the dating industry. Match Group also runs some of the biggest dating apps like Tinder, OkCupid, and Hinge.

In such a competitive environment, it seemed hard to stand out. Then in 2014, former Tinder Marketing VP Whitney Wolfe Herd teamed up with Badoo CEO Andrey Andreev to launch a so-called speed dating app, Bumble.

Often dubbed a “feminist platform,” Bumble’s concept was a bit different, as it requires women to make the first move.

More Labor:

What’s more, Bumble is divided into three segments — Bumble Date (for romantic partners), Bumble for Friends (for creating friendships), and Bumble Buzz (for professional networking).

Bumble’s recent struggles and a tough call

Bumble was a success. It went public in 2021, raising $2.2 billion. It listed on the Nasdaq exchange with shares initially valued at $43, but increasing to $76 on the opening day.

However, the same year Bumble’s shares started to drop amid lower user retention. Some sources argue that Bumble’s success during the IPO was due to the timing.

As the company went public during the pandemic, when many people were in a forced lockdown, it gained traction. When people could move again, it became less popular.

Since the IPO, Bumble’s shares dropped 90%, and its valuation sunk from $7.7 billion to about $696 million at the time of writing.

Bumble is now laying off 30% of its workforce in an effort to save $40 million per year. The company confirmed the layoffs in a Wednesday filing, explaining the move will impact around 240 roles, as the company “realigns its operating structure to optimize execution on its strategic priorities.”

The company plans to reinvest most of the saved money into product and technology development.

In an email to Bumble employees, Wolfe Herd, who returned to the position of CEO in March after stepping down in 2023, wrote “The reality is, we need to take decisive action to restructure to build a company that’s resilient, intentional and ready for the next decade,” according to CBS News.

The company said it anticipates incurring costs related to the layoffs, including severance for impacted employees of between $13 and $18 million, in its third and fourth fiscal quarters.

Bumble is not the only dating app that has struggled recently, as Match Group also revealed in May that it was laying off 13% of its employees.

According to a 2024 Fobes Health/OnePoll survey, 80% of Millennials and 79% of Gen Z who use dating apps admit often or always feeling burned out on those platforms.

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