Bumble Inc. Q4 FY2024 earnings call

• 2024 was a year of rebuilding Bumble's foundation with a focus on three pillars: strengthening ecosystem, driving innovation in customer experiences, and enhancing revenue strategy.
• Ecosystem efforts include removing bad actor accounts and increasing focus on organic marketing.
• Product roadmap: Fall release had updates to matching algorithm, interest filters, and opening moves. Upcoming winter release in March will feature a new Discover tab, AI-assisted photo picker, ID Verification, Share My Date, Review Before Send, and Instant Match.
• Strategic decision to sunset Fruitz and Official apps.

In Q4, total Bumble Inc. revenue was $262 million, with Bumble App revenue at $212 million (down 4% YoY) and Badoo app and other revenue at $49 million (down 7% YoY). Total paying users grew 5% in Q4 to 4.2 million. For full year 2024, total Bumble Inc. revenue increased 2% to $1.072 billion, with Bumble app revenue up 3% to $866 million. Bumble app paying users grew 5% YoY to 2.8 million, while Badoo app and other paying users grew 7% to 1.4 million. ARPPU for Bumble app was $25.17 (down 8% YoY) and for Badoo app and other was $11.13 (down 12% YoY).

• Q1 2025: Bumble Inc. revenue expected $242-248 million (-7% to 10% YoY), Bumble App revenue $198-202 million (-6% to 8% YoY). Expected paying user decline 100,000-120,000 in Q1. Adjusted EBITDA $60-63 million (25% margin).
• Full year 2025: Expected unfavorable FX headwinds ~2%, revenue headwind ~$12 million from Fruitz/Official closure, margin contraction due to investments in product and technology.

• Ecosystem initiatives creating headwinds to paying users growth.
• Revenue decline from sunset of Fruitz and Official apps.
• Margin contraction in Q1 and 2025 due to investments and revenue headwinds.

Q: Whitney, would love to get your perspective as you return to the company in an operating role as CEO, what your take is on the broader online dating industry landscape as we get deeper into 2025, how you see some of the opportunities and challenges facing the industry more broadly?

A: Whitney Wolfe Herd stated the demand for love is strong, but online dating has lost focus on making people feel confident and joyful. Bumble is focused on bringing confidence, curiosity, and joy back to the experience while enhancing safety and relevance.

Q: Could you please provide an update on where you are with the CFO search, what your priorities are as you look for a new CFO, given you may be at a different stage as a company than you were back pre-IPO?

A: Whitney Wolfe Herd said the CFO hire is a high priority, actively interviewing candidates, and looking for a leader suited to the current business environment and future goals.

Q: Maybe for Lidiane, could you just expand on the Discover tab feature? I think this is the first time you mentioned that as being part of the winter release, so we'll be curious to hear more about that and what you're seeing in testing.

A: Lidiane Jones said Discover is a new tab focused on helping users discover others through shared interests, free for users, aiming to reenergize the public funnel and provide a path to freemium, with positive engagement in testing.

Q: We've seen some kind of anecdotal data kind of floating around that, young people especially are just taking longer, maybe a little bit more hesitant to enter the dating market altogether. And I guess as you're thinking about that, how does that kind of impact your plans for monetizing these users as you start to get them in and you start to see, to your point, the engagement from the fall release and the winter release, like you were talking about?

A: Lidiane Jones said they are focused on reigniting top of funnel, ensuring relevance and safety, which are key for younger users, and confident in the data showing progress towards engaging these users.

Q: Hi there, it's Logan on for John. Could you talk us through puts and takes on the 1Q Bumble App guidance in terms of how you're thinking about payer conversion, namely as you focus on the user ecosystem? And could you discuss any short-term negative impacts from new safety features, if any?

A: Anu Subramanian said Q1 guidance reflects revenue decline due to ecosystem work, including safety and marketing efforts, with a focus on strengthening top of funnel and engagement leading to conversion and revenue growth, and no significant short-term negative impacts from new safety features yet.