Whitney Wolfe Herd speaks on stage in Dana Point, California.
Joe Scarnici | Entertainment Getty Images
On Wednesday, Bumble posted $ 165.6 million in revenue, surpassing Wall Street forecasts, and reached almost the first quarterly report since its release in February. Stock increased by over 6% in extended trading.
Here is what the company reported for the fourth quarter, compared to what Wall Street analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected:
- Losses per share: 1 cent
- Income: $ 165.6 million compared to expected revenue of $ 163.3 million.
Wall Street was looking for a quarterly loss of 13 cents a share. CNBC does not compare earnings per share with expectations for a firm’s first report as a public company, as the uncertain number of shares can distort forecasts.
Revenue increased 31% year-over-year, with the company’s Bumble app accumulating $ 105.8 million during the period, and the Badoo app recording $ 59.8 million.
However, the company reported a net loss of $ 26.1 million, down from a net profit of $ 17.2 million in the same period last year.
Bumble reported 2.7 million paying users for the fourth quarter, up 32.5% from the fourth quarter of 2019. This figure includes subscribers who pay for both the Bumble and Badoo applications.
Bumble did not disclose recent figures for total app users, but previously reported 42.1 million monthly active users as of September 2020.
Bumble went public in February, with an initial public offering of $ 2.2 billion, supporting a claim on the online dating market with industry leader Match Group, which operates the popular dating applications Tinder and Hinge.
Bumble operates its eponymous application mainly in the US, UK, Australia and Canada and a similar offer, Badoo, mainly in Europe and Latin America.
Bumble’s unique pitch for its flagship app is simple: In heterosexual matches, only women can receive the message after they have expressed mutual interest, and men must respond within 24 hours. In gay matches, either party can send the first message. The company also offers adjacent services, Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz for platonic and professional connections.
Dating apps have seen an increase in usage, as Covid-19 locks have kept people alone at home and online.
Bumble chairman Tariq Shaukat said the company saw evidence of demand for the coronavirus block, but that the use of applications varied by market.
“We see that those earnings gains we’ve seen this year are staying pretty strong,” Shaukat said at the company’s investor call.
The average total revenue per user in the fourth quarter was $ 20.02, compared to $ 19.99 in the fourth quarter of 2019.
In the first quarter of 2021, Bumble expects revenue of $ 163 million to $ 165 million. For the full year of 2021, Bumble forecasts revenue of $ 716 million to $ 726 million.
—NBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos and Sara Salinas contributed to this report.
This is breaking news. Please check again for updates.