After almost a decade in leadership, the creator and CEO of one of the most popular dating applications globally, Bumble, is resigning.
The company’s founder, Whitney Wolfe Herd, will take on the role of executive chair at Bumble Inc. in 2014. Lidiane Jones, the head of Slack, will succeed her and start in January.
“The baton to a leader and a woman I deeply respect,” Herd said she was passing.
When Wolfe Herd, 34, took Bumble public in February 2021, she became the youngest self-made female billionaire in history.
She founded the business in 2014 and set the app apart from competitors by giving women control over conversations. According to Wolfe Herd, her dissatisfaction with the way outdated gender stereotypes dominated dating is what motivated her to establish a site where women “make the first move.”
In contrast to other dating apps, this one allows only female users to initiate contact with male users who match them; in same-sex matches, however, any user can initiate contact.
Shares of Bumble Inc. rose to $75 shortly after it floated, but they have since fallen sharply, reaching an all-time low of $12.77 after it was revealed that Wolfe Herd is stepping down. The company that rivals Bumble and controls Hinge and Tinder, Match Group, has also suffered a decline in share price at the same time.
But Herd declared herself to be “incredibly optimistic about the future. I believe in Bumble Inc’s significant potential today more than ever before.”
New CEO
Jones is going to take over as CEO of Bumble Inc., the firm that owns Bumble and all of its other products, which include applications for business and social networking.
Since January 2023, she has served as the CEO of Slack, an instant messaging service that is widely used in offices. She had previously worked for Microsoft and Salesforce, the parent firm of Slack.
“As a woman who has spent her career in technology, it’s a gift to lean on my experience to lead a company dedicated to women and encouraging equality, integrity and kindness, all deeply personal and inspiring to me,” said Jones in an official statement.
The Wall Street Journal broke the story first, and Jones stated in an interview that she wants to see additional AI elements added to Bumble Inc.’s offerings.
“AI can play such a big role in accelerating people finding the right person, finding the right friends and the right community,” she stated.
Bumble’s initiatives for women safety
Bumble is renowned for supporting initiatives promoting women’s safety, such advocating for the outlawing of cyber-flashing in the EU and the UK.
In October, the UK passed the Online Safety Act, making cyber-flashing unlawful.
Like other dating apps, Bumble claims to restrict users who body shame others. It also use artificial intelligence (AI) to identify nude photographs transmitted in private chats and gives the receiver the option to see or block them.
