Bumble shares jump almost 50% on report Ithaca is in talks to buy the dating app for about $1bn

Shares in dating app Bumble rose by almost 50% on Monday after a report that technology holding company Ithaca is in advanced talks to buy it for around $1 billion (about Rs 277 billion), the BBC reported, citing the Wall Street Journal. A deal could be announced as early as this week. The BBC said it had asked both companies for comment.

Far below its peak

Even at the reported price, a buyer would pay about a fourteenth of what the market once said Bumble was worth.

What went wrong for dating apps

Bumble was launched in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd, a co-founder of Tinder, and built its brand on one rule: only women could send the first message. It recently dropped that rule, which split its users. Growth across the industry has slowed as younger users tire of swiping, and Match Group, owner of Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, has also seen its shares fall far from their 2021 highs.

If you pay for an app subscription

Premium tiers on apps like Bumble are billed in dollars through Google Play and the App Store, so the rupee price moves with the exchange rate. To see what a dollar subscription costs today, use the currency converter. For more on how the tech business is moving, see our technology desk.