Whitney Wolfe Herd speaks on stage in Dana Point, California.
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Bumble posted revenue of $ 165.6 million on Wednesday, surpassing Wall Street forecasts, and in its first quarterly report since its February release, it was almost equal. The share rose by more than 6% in extensive trade.
The company behind popular dating apps Bumble and Badoo has shown strong revenue and subscriber growth, fueled by a global pandemic that has driven daters online.
This is what the company reported for the fourth quarter, compared to what Wall Street analysts at Refinitiv expected:
- Loss per share: 1 cent
- Income: $ 165.6 million compared to the expected revenue of $ 163.3 million.
Wall Street was looking for a quarterly loss of 13 cents a share. CNBC does not compare the reported earnings per share with the expectations for the first report of a business as a public company, as uncertain stock counts may skew the forecasts.
Revenue grew 31% year-on-year, with the company’s Bumble app reaching $ 105.8 million during the period and its Badoo app totaling $ 59.8 million.
The company reported a net loss of $ 26.1 million, compared to a net profit of $ 17.2 million in the same period a year earlier.
Bumble reported 2.7 million paying users for the fourth quarter in both apps, an increase of 32.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. The company did not release recent figures for total app users, but previously reported 42.1 million monthly active users as of September 2020.
Bumble launched a $ 2.2 billion initial public offering in February and a claim in the online dating market with industry leader Match Group, which runs popular dating apps Tinder and Hinge.
Bumble operates its namesake app primarily in the US, UK, Australia and Canada and a similar offering, Badoo, primarily in Europe and Latin America.
Bumble’s unique pitch for its flagship app is simple: In heterosexual matches, only women can send a message only after expressing interest, and men must reply within 24 hours. In gay matches, one of the parties can send a message first.
Dating apps have seen an increase in usage as Covid-19 exclusions have kept singles at home and online.
Bumble president Tariq Shaukat said the company had seen evidence of pent-up demand amid coronavirus closures, but use of applications varied by market.
“We see that the engagement gain we’ve seen this year is holding up quite strongly,” Shaukat said.
The total average revenue per user during the fourth quarter was $ 20.02, compared to $ 19.99 during the fourth quarter of 2019.
For the first quarter of 2021, Bumble expects revenue of $ 163 million to $ 165 million. For the full year of 2021, Bumble forecasts revenue of $ 716 million to $ 726 million.
In addition to the dating service, the company also offers adjacent services, Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz, for platonic and professional connections.
CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said the company will not make money from Bumble BFF until at least 2022, although the company sees its future in platonic relationships as an important opportunity to serve its female first-time user base.
—CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos and Sara Salinas contributed to this report.
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