Bumble is exploring a potential sale, hiring Morgan Stanley to advise on options after a challenging 2025 that saw its user base shrink and revenue decline. The dating app company, which went public in 2021 at a valuation of over $13 billion, now has a market value of roughly $388 million — a stark reminder of how quickly the online dating boom has cooled.
The talks are private and Bumble could still decide to remain independent, but the move signals that the company is under pressure to find a path forward. Shares have fallen 48% over the past 12 months, reflecting investor concerns about the sustainability of its business model.
What Happened to Bumble's Growth?
Bumble's struggles are rooted in a sharp decline in its paying user base. In 2025, the number of paying users fell more than 11% to about 3.7 million, while revenue dropped nearly 10% to roughly $966 million. The company tried to offset the slowdown by raising prices and tweaking its monetization strategy, which lifted average revenue per paying user. But those efforts weren't enough to reverse the broader trend.
The first quarter of 2026 brought even worse news: paying users fell about 20% year-on-year after Bumble removed lower-engagement accounts from its platform. While that move may improve the quality of the remaining user base, it also makes the growth story harder to sell to potential buyers who want stability.
Why Dating Apps Are Struggling
Dating apps like Bumble rely heavily on network effects — the idea that more active users create better matches and a more valuable experience. When engagement drops, the app feels less useful, which can lead to more cancellations and a downward spiral. This dynamic makes the business particularly sensitive to shifts in user behavior.
Price increases can lift revenue per paying user for a while, but on a shrinking base they can also accelerate churn. Bumble's experience mirrors broader challenges in the online dating industry, where competition from rivals like Match Group and newer apps has intensified, and user fatigue has grown.
Blackstone's Stake Looms Large
Private equity firm Blackstone still owns about 22% of Bumble after taking control of MagicLab — the parent company of Bumble and Badoo — in 2019 at a valuation of roughly $3 billion. That means any sale price will be anchored to today's fundamentals, which are far weaker than when Blackstone first invested.
Blackstone is watching the sale process closely, as its exit options are limited by the low valuation. At roughly $388 million of market value against about $966 million of 2025 revenue, Bumble trades near 0.4 times sales. That multiple typically signals that investors see the revenue as fragile or hard to turn into durable profit.
What It Means for Investors
For everyday investors, Bumble's situation offers a cautionary tale about the risks of growth stocks that depend on user engagement. The company's low valuation relative to its revenue suggests the market is pricing in further deterioration, not recovery.
The sale process led by Morgan Stanley will likely hinge on whether paying users can stabilize after the Q1 2026 drop. Even if some of that decline came from pruning low-engagement accounts, potential buyers will want to see evidence that the core user base is healthy and growing.
Until then, the low multiple also limits how cleanly Blackstone can exit compared to its entry valuation in 2019. For investors, the key takeaway is that Bumble's story is now about survival and restructuring, not growth — and that makes any deal price uncertain.
For more on Morgan Stanley's recent advisory work, see our coverage of its private credit dealings. And for context on how IPOs can go wrong, check Safepoint's withdrawn IPO.
