By Milana Vinn
NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) – Dating app Bumble is exploring a sale amid slowing growth in the online dating sector, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The company, which gained recognition as one of the first major platforms to require women to initiate contact, is working with investment bankers at Morgan Stanley on a potential sale process, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the discussions are private.
Sources cautioned that no deal is certain and the company may decide to stay independent.
Bumble did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Morgan Stanley and asset manager Blackstone, which owns about 22% of Bumble according to LSEG data, declined to comment.
Shares of Bumble, based in Austin, Texas, have fallen 48% over the past 12 months, leaving it with a market value of $388 million. Whitney Wolfe Herd, a co-founder of Tinder, founded Bumble in 2014 and built its brand around a “women-first” approach to online dating. Wolfe Herd, the youngest woman to take a company public in the United States when Bumble debuted in 2021, returned as chief executive in March 2025 after previously stepping down as CEO in 2023.
Blackstone acquired a majority stake in MagicLab, Bumble’s parent company, in 2019 in a deal valuing the business at about $3 billion. MagicLab was later renamed Bumble Inc. and went public in February 2021 at a valuation exceeding $7 billion. Blackstone affiliates sold $28.2 million of Bumble shares this month.
PAYING USERS DECLINE
The company has struggled with slowing growth and declining users. Total paying users fell more than 11% in the full year 2025 to about 3.7 million, while annual revenue declined nearly 10% to about $966 million. In the first quarter of 2026, paying users dropped by about 20% year-on-year as the company trimmed lower-engagement accounts.
Larger rival Match Group has also faced slowing growth, but has increased its market value by about 12% over the past year.
Bumble has sought to offset the drop in users by raising prices and improving monetization, with average revenue per paying user rising modestly. Still, analysts say the company faces mounting competition, shifting user preferences and broader fatigue with dating apps, particularly among younger users.
The company’s “Built for Women, Better for Everyone” motto, which defined its women-first brand, was once a key competitive advantage but analysts increasingly view it as less distinctive, with user behavior shifting in the online dating sector.
Bumble has expanded beyond dating with offerings such as Bumble For Friends, a social networking feature, and Bumble Bizz, which focuses on professional connections, but those products remain small parts of its business.
(Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; editing by Colin Barr and Rod Nickel)
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