Despite strong user spending, Bumble sees a drop in revenue forecast

Bumble users are spending more on the namesake app as singles return to their pre-pandemic habits.

The dating company, which owns Bumble, Badoo, and Fruitz, reported 2Q revenue of $220.5 million, up 18% year over year and just over Wall Street’s expectations. The Bumble app specifically brought in $169.6 million in revenue, which is up 33% from the same quarter a year ago.

But shares plunged double digits in extended trading Wednesday after the company cut its 2022 revenue forecast to between $920 million and $930 million, citing the strong U.S. dollar and the ongoing war in Ukraine. (Bumble closed its Russia operations and removed its apps from app stores in Russia and Belarus following the invasion.) It previously expected between $934 million and $944 million.

Companies this earnings season have pointed to the strong dollar impacting their guidance, since U.S. products becoming more expensive could eat at foreign sales. While Bumble may be taking off in the U.S., Badoo, which is widely popular in Western Europe by middle-class users, is facing pressure from the broader macro environment. Revenue from Badoo and other sources declined about 14% to $50.8 million in the past quarter. Badoo app paying users also decreased 136,000 sequentially in Q2, which it said was primarily due to the war.

“It has been a challenging first half for Badoo,” Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said on a call with investors. “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.”

Bumble’s report follows that of Match Group, which disappointed Wall Street last week with its second-quarter results. Match also pointed to foreign exchange headwinds, along with product missteps.

Still, Bumble’s executives remained bullish on the eponymous app’s ability to withstand current economic uncertainties.

“We are not noticing any impact on the business so far as it pertains to these macro moving trends,” Herd added on the call. “We tend to have a more affluent customer base on Bumble app, and the behaviors we’ve seen . . . suggests that they are continuing as they always have.”

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