{"id":33023,"date":"2025-07-02T15:22:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=33023"},"modified":"2025-07-02T15:22:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:22:32","slug":"bumble-chief-criticises-staff-for-freaking-out-over-london-job-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=33023","title":{"rendered":"Bumble chief criticises staff for \u2018freaking out\u2019 over London job cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=d1f8e7f1-dbf2-4a85-8a59-f42febecb5de\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Bumble chief executive Whitney Wolfe Herd has criticised staff for \u201cfreaking out\u201d after announcing the company would eliminate more than 160 roles in London, warning drastic cost-cutting measures were needed as \u201cdating apps are feeling like a thing of the past\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>The online dating group\u2019s founder, who returned as chief executive in March, made the remarks while telling staff this week that its British office would bear the brunt of 240 planned job cuts that represents 30 per cent of its global workforce.<\/p>\n<p>According to people familiar with a company-wide call, Wolfe Herd said she was \u201cworried\u201d that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/stream\/2b4a7c4e-13fc-419c-9d3e-0e4a276fee94\" data-trackable=\"link\">Bumble<\/a> \u2014 which also owns dating app Badoo \u2014 may collapse by next year if measures were not taken to safeguard the business. A person with knowledge of the move also said that staff globally had been offered voluntary redundancy.<\/p>\n<p>Wolfe Herd said its \u201ccentre of gravity\u201d would move to the US where the \u201ctalent pool is right now\u201d. She said that \u201cLondon\u2019s not the first choice, that\u2019s the frank reality\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>The move represents a strategic change for the online dating company, with 70 per cent of the staff currently based in the UK. <\/p>\n<p>Those with knowledge of the video call said that Wolfe Herd turned critical when staff responded with a series of thumbs down emojis. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI see a lot of freaking out emojis, y\u2019all need to calm down,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is being taken out of context. I like London and I think everyone is overreacting to this candidly\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. Everyone\u2019s going to have to be adults in dealing with this.\u201d She also suggested all staff take the rest of the week off following the call.<\/p>\n<p>Bumble\u2019s market capitalisation has shrunk almost 30 per cent over the past year to about $700mn, down from around $13bn when the company went public in 2021, with investors concerned with its falling revenues.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside aria-labelledby=\"aside-label\" class=\"n-content-recommended--single-story n-content-recommended--inset\" data-component=\"recommended\">\n<p class=\"n-content-recommended__title o3-type-body-highlight\">Recommended<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser o-teaser--article o-teaser--small o-teaser--stacked o-teaser--has-image js-teaser\" data-id=\"6f28bf28-8378-436f-ac7f-8fd1e2de17e2\">\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-container js-teaser-image-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/6f28bf28-8378-436f-ac7f-8fd1e2de17e2\" data-trackable=\"image-link\" data-trackable-context-story-link=\"image-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-placeholder\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1930\/1085\"><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The group \u2014 which has ditched its signature feature that women must message men first \u2014 is one of several dating apps including industry leader Tinder, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/6f28bf28-8378-436f-ac7f-8fd1e2de17e2\" data-trackable=\"link\">steadily lose users in recent years<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Industry surveys have shown that many Gen Z users were complaining of dating \u201cburnout\u201d, while women have reported concerns about receiving unsolicited material and violent threats while using the online dating services.<\/p>\n<p>On the staff call, Herd said that although Bumble would not close its UK office entirely, it could not continue to be \u201cLondon first\u201d, adding that global expansion \u201chadn\u2019t delivered\u201d for the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She added the group would open a new office in Silicon Valley to capitalise on the artificial intelligence talent in the California Bay Area.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The company is set to announce a series of new products such as a photo and phone number verification system to attempt to convince users to stick with the service in the coming months, according to a person familiar with the company\u2019s thinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are in a decline from a numbers standpoint,\u201d said Wolfe Herd. \u201cDating apps are feeling like a thing of the past.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/d1f8e7f1-dbf2-4a85-8a59-f42febecb5de\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}