On Monday, Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of dating app Bumble, announced that she was stepping down as CEO of the company she started in 2014, a day before the company gave an unremarkable update to investors, the combined effect of which is a share price that’s down ~7% this morning.
Wolfe Herd is dating app royalty. She was co-founder and VP of marketing at Tinder, before an acrimonious exit from the company, which included allegations of sexual harassment, led her to start Bumble — an app where women kick off the conversations. Bumble’s success took Wolfe Herd to billionaire status, though a heart-wrenching 81% slide in its share price (not including the latest drop) has recently seen Forbes give her the “former billionaire” treatment.
But, it’s not just Bumble. Match Group, Tinder’s parent company, has also been through a rocky period, reporting a 5% decline in paying swipers last week, a trend that’s expected to worsen as price hikes take effect.
Not so hot
If you asked most people about the typical dating app user, most answers might include some reference to “younger folks” — but an increasing amount of evidence suggests that even they might be losing interest.
Indeed, an Axios/Generation Lab survey out this week revealed that a whopping 79% of US college students reported they don't use any dating apps even once a month, with only 12% admitting to using Tinder every month. To combat slipping user numbers, Tinder is focusing on those "highly motivated daters" by introducing a $499-a-monthVIP subscription.
