Bumble cuts annual revenue forecast as Ukraine war, competition bite

By Deborah Mary Sophia

(Reuters) -Bumble Inc cut its full-year revenue forecast on Wednesday, taking a hit from the war in Ukraine while also grappling with stiff competition from rivals such as Match Group Inc in the online dating market.

Shares of Austin, Texas-based Bumble fell nearly 13% in after-hours trading, as its current-quarter forecast also remained below Wall Street estimates.

While Bumble has experienced a surge in popularity, its other dating app, Badoo, which is mostly used in Western Europe by the urban middle class segment, remains under pressure.

Bumble exited Russia and Belarus earlier this year following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, removing all of its apps from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store in those countries.

The impact from the war is expected to dent full-year revenue by $20 million, primarily in Badoo and other apps, at a time when Bumble is already playing catch-up with Tinder owner Match in the European market.

“It has been a challenging first half for Badoo… As Badoo serves a more economically sensitive user base, it has also felt the effects of COVID and now the macro environment, much more than Bumble app,” Chief Executive Officer Whitney Wolfe Herd said on an earnings call.

Bumble now expects annual revenue between $920 million and $930 million for 2022, lower than its prior estimate of $934 million to $944 million and also below market estimates for $934.1 million, according to Refinitiv data.

While the Bumble app’s paying users surged 31% to 1.9 million in the quarter ended June 30, Badoo and other apps saw a cumulative slide of about 25% to 1.1 million.

Bumble’s revenue rose 18.4% to $220.5 million in the quarter, edging past analysts’ estimate of $219.4 million, while a loss of 3 cents per share came in wider than estimates for a 1-cent loss.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)