Bumble to Go Private in $1.3 Billion Deal With Ithaca Holdings

(Bloomberg) -- Dating-app company Bumble Inc. is being taken private by newly formed firm Ithaca Holdings for $1.3 billion.

Ithaca Holdings will pay $6.05 per share, according to a statement on Monday. Bloomberg reported on Monday that Bumble and Ithaca Holdings were in advanced talks about a sale. The deal price represents a 138% premium over Bumble's closing share price on Friday, the last trading day before Bloomberg and other news outlets reported on a possible deal.

After the deal is completed, Bumble will remain based in Austin with other major offices in London and New York.

The deal marks a dramatic turn for Bumble, which was valued at $14 billion when it went public more than five and a half years ago. The app was founded in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd, a former Tinder cofounder, on the premise that only women could make the first move on the app. But Bumble, like many of its dating-app peers, has suffered user declines as young people have grown fatigued with online dating and have shown an interest in other forms of meeting, including in-person events.

In August, Bumble ditched the women-go-first model, its latest move to boost user engagement. The company this year also introduced an artificial intelligence-powered assistant designed to act as a personal matchmaker, offering an alternative experience to swiping through user profiles.

In the statement, Wolfe Herd said she would "remain actively involved with Bumble."

Bumble shares were halted ahead of the announcement. The stock had surged 50% on Monday to close at $3.80, its best single-day gain since the company went public on Feb. 11, 2021.

Ithaca Holdings was founded earlier this year by Sequoia Capital partner Ravi Gupta and former Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Revenue Officer John Hegeman with a plan to acquire at least one public or private firm and infuse it with new technology, potentially including AI, Bloomberg reported in March.