Bumble Cuts Paid Users as Whitney Wolfe Herd Leads Gen Z Overhaul

Bumble is preparing a major overhaul to win back Gen Z users while its latest earnings show paying users slipping, with total paying users falling 21.1% to 3.2 million in the first quarter of 2026 from 4 million a year earlier. The company also reported total revenue down 14.1% to $212.4 million, while Bumble app revenue fell to $172.7 million. During an investor call, CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd framed the decline as a deliberate shift, saying, "We have undertaken a deliberate reset of our user base." She added that the company is betting on technology to improve matchmaking, telling investors, "When our technology and the next-generation recommendation engine can truly connect people more compatibly".

“Ten years ago, Bumble was born from a woman named Whitney Wolfe Herd, weary of the Tinder model she herself co-founded two years earlier, in 2012”

01net

Bumble’s overhaul replaces its old technology platform with a cloud-native, AI-powered system designed to improve matches and roll out updates more quickly, with some changes already starting to reach users. The company said the full “reimagined” experience is now expected to launch in Q4, with a broader rollout continuing into late this year and early next year. As part of the plan, Bumble introduced “Bee,” described as a built-in matchmaker that learns daters’ preferences, relationship goals, and communication style before suggesting matches. Wolfe Herd also tied the timing of any rebound to the new recommendation engine, saying, "When do we start to see a rebound in the numbers you’re all looking for?" and answering, "Well, the answer is very simple."

Bumble’s earnings also show profitability improving even as paying users decline, with net earnings increasing to $52.6 million compared to $19.8 million in the year-ago quarter. The company reported total average revenue per paying user rising nearly 9%, and it said the higher profits were largely from cutting sales and marketing expenses. Beyond dating, Bumble BFF added a Groups tab last year where users can join chats, plan hangouts, and organize events, and Herd said engagement is growing, especially among Gen Z women. TechCrunch reported that group joins nearly doubled between December and March, and Bumble is now in wait-and-see mode until the new experience is fully out, with the company hoping it can bring users back by fixing how people go from matching to going on dates.

“The dating platform Bumble is going through a delicate phase”

Fredzone