Whitney Wolfe Herd will no longer serve as the CEO of Bumble Inc., the company declared on Monday. The leadership baton will be passed to Lidiane Jones, who is currently leading Slack, and she will assume her new position at Bumble in January. Although Wolfe Herd is stepping aside from the CEO role, she will maintain a significant presence at Bumble in the capacity of executive chair.
Whitney Wolfe Herd has decided to step down as CEO of Bumble Inc. The company shared that Lidiane Jones will replace her as the new CEO starting January 2, 2024. Wolfe Herd will still play a key role in the company as the executive chair.
After parting ways with Tinder, where she was a co-founder, Whitney Wolfe Herd created Bumble in 2014.
The app initially focused on giving women the power to initiate dating conversations and has since branched out into forming friendships and business connections. Bumble Inc., the umbrella company, also operates other platforms, including Badoo, Fruitz, and Official.
“This move to Executive Chair gives me the ability to step forward into a new and exciting role, get back to my founder roots and bring immense passion and focus to this next chapter of growth,” Wolfe Herd said in a statement from Bumble. “Lidiane’s expertise and track record in product and technology is exceptional and having her leading the next chapter of Bumble Inc. is a major win for our company, customers and team.”
“A hugely-deserved achievement for one of our most incredible executives,” Marc Benioff, chair and CEO of Slack owner Salesforce, says in the statement. “While we will all of course miss her greatly (especially me), we recognize what an amazing opportunity this is for Lidiane in becoming a public company CEO. And all the more so at Bumble, a truly great company, with great values that we admire dearly.”
According to CNN, Jones is set to assume leadership of Bumble during a period where economic unpredictability has analysts worried that customers might cut back on spending for subscriptions to dating apps. Additionally, the tech sector’s profits are being pressured by ongoing inflation.
Match Group, which owns Tinder and competes with Bumble, saw its shares drop last week following its announcement that its paid user base had decreased by 5% compared to the previous year in the September quarter earnings report. Bumble’s shares also experienced a decline following the release of Match’s financial results.
“As someone who has built her career in the tech sector, I consider it a privilege to use my expertise to head a company that is committed to the empowerment of women and champions values such as equality, integrity, and kindness, which are all deeply inspiring and resonate personally with me,” Jones said about her new position in the statement from Bumble.
