Bumble tumbles after weak fourth-quarter revenue forecast on forex hit

7:46 pm Wednesday, November 09th, 2022

By Vansh Agarwal and Shreyaa Narayanan

(Reuters) – Online dating firm Bumble Inc forecast fourth-quarter revenue below Wall Street expectations, as it struggles with product launch delays at a time when inflation has hit users hard, sending its shares down 13% in extended trading.

“Some of our user segments are facing greater pressure on disposable income, and these segments are renewing their subscriptions at a modestly lower rate,” Chief Executive Officer Whitney Wolfe Herd said on an earnings call.

A strong dollar and the Ukraine war has also taken a toll on the company’s business, with third-quarter revenue falling short of both its own and Wall Street’s expectations.

Adjusted for both foreign exchange and the Ukraine crisis, revenue growth would have been 10% higher, Herd said.

In the current-quarter, Bumble expects a forex hit of $16 million and a $5-million impact, primarily at its Badoo App and other revenue due to the ongoing war.

A more than 15% surge in the dollar this year has hit sales of companies across sectors, while the highest price pressures in decades have led consumers to curb non-essential spending.

Bumble also faces competition from larger rival Match Group Inc, which topped revenue estimates last week on the back of a jump in paying users for its flagship app Tinder.

While the company saw a rise in popularity, its sister app Badoo, which is mostly used in Western Europe remains under pressure. Earlier in March, Bumble said it is discontinuing operations in Russia, including the removal of all of its apps from Apple App Store and Google Play Store in Russia and Belarus.

Bumble now expects current-quarter revenue between $232 million and $237 million, compared to Wall Street’s estimates of $254.5 million, according to Refinitiv data.

The company reported third-quarter profit of 14 cents per share compared with analysts’ estimate of 1 cent per share, according to Refinitiv data.

Bumble, which made its market debut in February 2021, said its total paying users for the quarter increased to 3.3 million from 2.9 million last year.

(Reporting by Vansh Agarwal and Shreyaa Narayanan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)