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Fast Company
a day ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Bumble is stumbling. Tinder is flagging. But this go-to gay dating app is thriving
Dating app Bumble continues to lose its footing. After subpar earnings, sluggish user growth, and internal stagnation, the company has laid off 30% of its staff. Meanwhile, its dating app competitor Grindr is soaring. Among dating apps, Match Group's properties— mostly Hinge, sometimes Tinder—lead the market. The duo's ubiquity frame apps like Bumble and Grindr as boutique alternatives, designed for their innovative features or specialty user bases. That's a difficult market to occupy, especially as dating app fatigue sets in and Gen Z seems to push for more in-person (and sexless) encounters. Those factors are just part of the reason why Bumble and its competitors are falling behind. But LGBTQ+ hookup app Grindr is flourishing—posting solid growth in both user acquisition and revenue. In May, Grindr CEO George Arison spoke with Fast Company about his efforts to build a broader offering on the foundation of its core location-based grid of users—including some popular new features and a foray into telemedicine. He isn't convinced that generational patterns entirely explain the struggles of dating apps. 'This whole 'Gen Z-avoiding-apps' thing makes no logical sense. Gen Z loves TikTok and loves Reels and thinks you can read something online and you're an expert in it, but they're not gonna do dating online?,' he says. 'What I do think and what makes logical sense, is that if you don't build a product that Gen Zers want, they're not going to use it. That's where I think some of our peers have fallen flat.' His vision is still in progress, but here's how the company's constant efforts to test and scale new ideas could serve as a guide to its competitors. Comparing Bumble and Grindr Bumble and Grindr both went public in the early 2020s, when the dating app market was still hot thanks to the pandemic's digital boom. Since their IPOs, both Bumble and Grindr have hit rough waters—though Grindr managed to right itself while Bumble continues to, well, bumble. Bumble's stock opened at $43 per share—a height it hasn't reached since late 2021. In 2025, Bumble's share price was hovering around $5 in early June, jumping above $6 only at the news of layoffs earlier this week. Meanwhile, Grindr—which debuted at $16.90 in 2022, initially dropped to $5, but has been above $15 since November 2024 and exceeded $20 per share since mid-April. Revenue figures have told a similar story. Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd returned to Bumble in March on the eve of some sour news: Bumble's Q1 earnings showed an 8% decrease in revenue year-over-year. For the same quarter, Grindr's revenue grew 25% over the prior year. Arison told Fast Company he sees the company's performance as a reflection of the contributions that the LGBTQ+ community—he is gay himself—can make to the business world. 'Part of our mission has to be we do super well as a business and we force everybody to change,' he says. Neither app releases consistent and specific user counts. Grindr appears to be growing its user base as Bumble's gains are slow. In its Q1 earnings, Grindr reported 'more than 14.5 million' monthly active users, up from 'more than 13.5 million' the year prior. Bumble's earnings are split by paying users, a focus for former CEO Lidiane Jones. While the company grew its paying app users by 11% in 2024, it has since shed 100,000 of those subscribers in 2025. What should a dating app look like? Under Arison's leadership, Grindr has turned into an innovation powerhouse. In his May interview, Arison emphasized the creation of Albums—bundles of photos sent via chats and not directly displayed on a profile—which debuted in 2022. In 2024, Grindr users sent over two billion albums. He also pointed toward the app's new Right Now feature, which lets users search specifically for more immediate action. In D.C. and Sydney, two of the feature's trial markets, Arison said that '25 to 35% of our weekly active users were regularly going into the Right Now experience at least once a week.' Grindr's new features are available for all users, though paid subscribes receive additional uses. For example, free Grindr users get to post to the Right Now feed three times a week. Down the line, the company plans to make sessions available for purchase. That's part of Arison's strategy: Opening new features with limitations as a bridge to paid customer conversion. 'I don't want Grindr to end up like some of our competitors, who hollowed out their products focusing only on monetization and building nothing,' Arison told Fast Company. 'We are doing product-led processes—it's not just monetize, monetize, monetize. We're saying: Build new things, and those things will lead to revenue.' In contrast, Bumble has moved slowly with their feature rollouts. The 'Opening Moves' feature debuted in 2024, allowing users to list prompts for new matches to respond to. The feature undercut Bumble's initial mission that women should message first. Since then, they've also instituted ID verification and date-sharing safety features. Many of the app's most compelling features—like backtracking left swipes, Travel Mode, and Incognito Mode—are only available to paid users. With dating app fatigue on the rise, both Bumble and Grindr have also expanded into alternate markets. Both have emphasized the role of friendship and platonic encounters on their apps, with Arison promoting Grindr's ongoing effort to become the 'global gayborhood in your pocket,' noting 'Our younger, 18-plus cohort wants to be in an environment where there are older people as well. Friendships between younger and older people are much more common in our community.' Bumble launched its friend-focused Bumble B.F.F. in 2016, and broke it out into a stand-alone app, Bumble for Friends, in 2023. While Bumble for Friends doesn't release stand-alone user numbers, its million-plus Google Play downloads is dwarfed by Bumble's more than 50 million downloads. Grindr's 'gayborhood' model also flows easily with the original app; users have been employing Grindr for non-dating activities since its advent. By spinning their Friends function out into a separate app, Bumble must seek out an entirely separate user base. In this area, Grindr is making a similarly big bet on how it can show up in different ways for its users. The company recently launched Woodwork, a telemedicine company selling erectile dysfunction pills, in Illinois and Pennsylvania. Arison also predicted that Grindr would expand into 'haircare, skincare, and other things of that nature.' 'When I started talking to shareholders, part of the conversation was: What do we want Grindr to be? Just a dating app or something more?' Arison told Fast Company. 'Their view was very strong: We want to be a lot more.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Match Group Stock Underperforming the Dow?
With a market cap of $7.7 billion, Match Group, Inc. (MTCH) is a leading provider of digital dating products, operating a diverse portfolio of more than 45 global brands including Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, and Meetic. The company offers services in over 40 languages across multiple countries, catering to a wide range of demographics and relationship goals. Companies valued at less than $10 billion are generally considered 'mid-cap' stocks, and Match Group fits this criterion perfectly. With Tinder as its flagship app and primary growth driver, Match Group continues to shape the online dating industry through innovation and strategic brand development. Tesla's Robotaxis Reportedly Sped and Veered Into the Wrong Lanes. Does This Crush the Bull Case for TSLA Stock? 1 Dividend Stock to Buy Yielding Over 7% Up 93% in 2025, Palantir Stock Is Too Hot to Handle Here Stop Missing Market Moves: Get the FREE Barchart Brief – your midday dose of stock movers, trending sectors, and actionable trade ideas, delivered right to your inbox. Sign Up Now! Shares of the Dallas, Texas-based company have declined 20.2% from its 52-week high of $38.84. Over the past three months, its shares have fallen 2.6%, underperforming the broader Dow Jones Industrials Average's ($DOWI) marginal rise during the same period. Longer term, MTCH stock is down 5.2% on a YTD basis, lagging behind DOWI's over 1%. Moreover, shares of the media and internet company have risen 2.2% over the past 52 weeks, compared to DOWI's 9.9% increase over the same time frame. The stock has fallen below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages since late February. Yet, it has risen above its 50-day moving average since late May. Despite beating revenue expectations with $831.2 million in Q1 2025, Match Group stock fell 9.6% on May 8 due to a 3% year-over-year revenue decline and a 5% drop in paying users to 14.2 million, signaling weakening core business performance. Additionally, operating income fell 7% to $173 million, and adjusted operating income slightly decreased to $275 million. Although the company rolled out new AI features and expects Q2 revenue of $850 million - $860 million, guidance implies flat to declining growth and ongoing challenges in engaging Gen Z users, reinforcing investor pessimism. Nevertheless, rival Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) has lagged behind MTCH stock. GOOG stock has dropped 8.9% on a YTD basis and 6.4% over the past 52 weeks. Despite the stock's weak performance relative to the Dow, analysts remain moderately optimistic about its prospects. The stock has a consensus rating of 'Moderate Buy' from 23 analysts in coverage, and as of writing, MTCH is trading below the mean price target of $34.33. On the date of publication, Sohini Mondal did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Bumble sacks hundreds of staff as Gen Z ditches dating apps to find love the old fashioned way
Online dating service Bumble has revealed plans to cut a third of its staff as Gen Z have started to ditch online dating in favour of finding love the old fashioned way. The company behind the UK's third most popular dating app, has reportedly told investors that 240 jobs could be axed in order to save $40 million (£29.4m) a year, with the restructure expected to cost the company $18m. The company has warned that the industry had reached an 'inflection point', weeks after it revealed falling sales, The Telegraph reported. Dating apps such as Tinder, Hinge and Bumble peaked during the pandemic when social distancing and isolation made it difficult for young people to meet. Since 2020, Bumble's share price has plunged 92 per cent. Tinder's owner Match Group has fallen 68 per cent over the same period. Whitney Wolfe Herd, the Bumble chief executive who also co-founded Tinder, told staff on Wednesday: '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. 'We've reset our strategy, and are going back to a start-up mentality – rooted in an ownership mindset and team structures designed for faster, more meaningful execution.' It follows warnings from Tinder that Gen Z were seeking more authentic ways to find romance. Ofcom revealed last November that usage of the most popular dating apps had fallen last year, as Bumble lost 368,000 users, around 2.3 per cent. The watchdog said: 'Some analysts speculate that for younger people, particularly Gen Z, the novelty of dating apps is wearing off.' A study by Ipsos found that 63 per cent of men and 66 per cent of women in Gen Z prefer meeting potential partners in real life. Just 10 per cent of men and 7 per cent of women preferred dating apps. Women account for just 35 per cent of users of dating apps, according to Ofcom, with many avoiding the apps for reasons of safety and unwanted contact. Researchers are suggesting that users are now turning to traditional methods of meeting through sports clubs or mutual friends, or even newer methods such as gaming. Hobby apps including Strava are also being used to find potential partners.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Bumble to lay off 30% of global workforce as dating apps struggle
June 25 (Reuters) - Bumble (BMBL.O), opens new tab said on Wednesday it would lay off nearly a third of its workforce, the latest cuts in a dating app industry striving to develop features that will keep users spending amid economic uncertainty. The company also raised its second-quarter revenue forecast, as a broader effort to revamp the platform starts to take hold. Sign up here. The job cuts will affect 240 roles, or 30% of Bumble's staff. Rival Match (MTCH.O), opens new tab also announced a 13% workforce reduction last month. Bumble shares rose 19% on the news, but their market value has shrunk by about a fifth this year to a little over $500 million. Its peak was around $15 billion, when the company went public in 2021, LSEG data shows. The "layoffs reflect Bumble's new strategy of optimizing for user experience rather than revenue or user growth in the short term", and underscores new CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd's desire for a more agile startup structure, said M Science analyst Chandler Willison. Online dating firms have struggled in recent years to retain audiences, especially Gen Z users, leading to management overhauls at Match and Bumble as well as pressure from activist investors. Bumble's Herd returned as CEO earlier this year with the promise of boosting the company's performance by focusing on match-making quality. The company raised its second-quarter revenue forecast to a range of $244 million to $249 million, up from the prior view of $235 million to $243 million. It had also met Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue in May, even as it posted a 7% decline. Bumble said it will incur about $13 million to $18 million in layoff-related charges, primarily in the third and fourth quarters of 2025. It expects to save about $40 million of annual costs, which it plans to reinvest in initiatives such as product and technology development.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Bumble sacks hundreds of staff as Gen Z dumps dating apps
Young people across the UK may be hoping for their own summer of love. Yet, it turns out, few of them will be using dating apps to find a partner. Matchmaking service Bumble has revealed plans to cut a third of its staff as Gen Z embraces old-school ways of scoring a date. The company behind the UK's third most-popular dating app warned that the industry was at an 'inflection point', weeks after revealing falling sales. Bumble, which is headquartered in Texas and has offices in London, told investors it would axe 240 jobs with the hope of saving $40m (£29.4m) a year. It said the restructure would cost it up to $18m this year. It comes amid growing dating app fatigue. The apps, which include Tinder and Hinge, peaked during the pandemic as people turned to smartphones as a way to escape isolation. Over five years, Bumble's share price has plunged 92pc, while Match Group, the owner of Tinder, has fallen 68pc. Whitney Wolfe Herd, the Bumble chief executive who also co-founded Tinder, told staff on Wednesday: '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. 'We've reset our strategy, and are going back to a start-up mentality – rooted in an ownership mindset and team structures designed for faster, more meaningful execution.' 'Novelty wearing off' Bumble's announcement follows a warning from market leader Tinder, which said that Gen Z were seeking a 'more authentic way to find connections'. Last November, Ofcom revealed that use of most popular dating apps in the UK had fallen last year, with Bumble losing 368,000 users, a dip of 2.3pc. The watchdog said: 'Some analysts speculate that for younger people, particularly Gen Z, the novelty of dating apps is wearing off.' Research from Ipsos found that 63pc of men and 66pc of women between the ages of 16 to 24 prefer meeting potential partners in real life rather than through an app. Just 10pc of those men and 7pc of those women prefer dating apps. Use of dating apps is skewed away from women, who account for just 35pc of users, according to Ofcom. Some women avoid the apps amid concerns over safety and repeated unwanted contact from men. Meanwhile, apps are struggling to keep users engaged, with researchers suggesting that young people are becoming more traditional by choosing potential dates through sports clubs and mutual friends. However, there has also been a rise in dating with people met through online gaming. Hobby apps such as Strava, which has social networking features for runners, are also being used to find partners. Research from Virgin Media found that 70pc of Britons dislike dating apps, and that 51pc would prefer to meet a partner through multiplayer computer games. Luke Brunning, a specialist in the philosophy of romantic life at the University Leeds, told The Guardian: 'There is a growing romanticisation of in-person meeting and interaction. Very few [young people] are turning to the apps as an exclusive means of setting up an in-person meeting. It's much more fluid now.'
