The Scoop: Bumble CFO Anu Subramanian resigned last week as the platform grapples with shifting attitudes toward online dating and rearrangements in executive management. Along with Subramanian, Chief Marketing Officer Selby Drummond also submitted her resignation.
Bumble burst onto the scene in 2014, touted to be a “feminist” approach to online dating– only women users could start conversations with men. This subversion of the traditional dating dynamic attracted both men and women to the platform, and by 2018, around 22 million users had joined the app.
During Covid, the Bumble app reached the milestone of 100 million downloads. But those numbers don’t tell the full story.
In online dating’s third decade, and mobile dating’s second decade, the scene provokes plenty of reflection. Online dating is an industry of its own, raking in nearly $3 billion in revenue annually worldwide, with an estimated 390 million users across the globe.
Bumble has gotten its fair share of the earnings pie, generating $844 million in revenue in 2023, a 21.6% increase from 2022. With 58 million active users, Bumble doesn’t seem to be slowing down as it enters its 10th year of operation. But it’s certainly facing some challenges.
Chief Financial Officer Anu Subramanian announced her resignation the first week of December, noting unspecific outside opportunities, and gave a departure date for May 2025.
On the heels of her resignation comes the resignation of Selby Drummond, the Chief Marketing Officer, both of whom have been with the company since 2020.
Tracking Bumble from 2020 to the Present
When Subramanian joined Bumble in 2020, the mobile dating scene was experiencing the COVID boom. In the midst of lockdowns and social distancing, most people had one means to connect with the world outside their house: their phone.
While even the most popular online dating companies worried about their future as governments announced lockdowns and COVID-19 spread, the reality of the online dating scene during the pandemic was something else entirely. Online dating grew.
2020 and 2021 ended up being two of the best revenue years for online dating platforms, with the Match Group seeing a 17% jump in revenue, and swipe and match percentages across several platforms multiplying.
In Subramanian’s first year with Bumble, revenue climbed to over $580 million, compared to the $488.9 million of 2019. Subramanian hit the ground running in her first year, and by 2021, Bumble reported revenue of more than $765 million under her leadership.
But something else happened in 2021 that changed Bumble’s trajectory– the company’s stock went public. Bumble went public on February 11, 2021, on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Throughout 2022 and 2023, Bumble’s revenue continued to grow every quarter.
In the second quarter of 2024, Bumble reported a 3.4% total revenue increase along with an increase in the number of paid users, growing from 3.6 million to 4.1 million. During that same quarter, Bumble announced it would be changing one of its core features, which requires women to make the first move.
New Roles & Stock Shifts
While Bumble’s revenue looks promising, the widespread layoffs that took place earlier this year tell another story.
In February, the company announced it would lay off around 350 employees– 35% of their workforce– in a restructuring effort that aimed to “drive stronger operating leverage.” 2024 was a change year for Bumble, from restructuring the company to reimagining the app’s most popular feature.
Subramanian’s and Drummond’s resignations seem to be the last big changes of 2024. After Subramanian’s resignation was announced, Bumble’s stock fell 1.7% in early morning trading, with Subramanian’s exit appearing to provoke some level of uncertainty among investors.
It’s not clear where Subramanian will go next. Prior to joining Bumble, Subramanian attended Yale School of Management and served as CFO for VICE and Univision. In 2023, she became a Member of the Audit Committee and Finance Committee of The New York Times, a position she still holds.
In the wake of her resignation, Bumble announced a newly created position, the chief business officer, stating the position would be held by Neil Shah, who was previously the chief operating officer and head of business operations at Slack.
With two resignations in executive management, widespread restructuring, and the introduction of new senior leadership positions, Bumble’s 2025 trajectory is still revealing itself.
What’s Next in Digital Dating
When Subramanian’s resignation was announced, many pointed to the challenges facing all dating platforms, not just Bumble. Online dating experienced its big moment in 2020 and 2021, but it seems that things may be slowing down.
While online dating is still popular among Gen Z, some stats show that Gen Z membership is declining, and younger daters may be losing interest in the online approach.
Younger daters, who experienced the pandemic lockdown in their late teens and early 20s, are often looking for a more connective and in-person dating experience.
Bumble’s continued restructuring and its adjustment to Subramnian’s departure can give us insight into what we can expect from the next year of the online dating industry. As platforms adjust to changing attitudes and the increasing saturation of the dating app market, new approaches will be needed to keep young daters engaged and swiping.
