Bumble joins tech lay off trend, cuts a third of its staff

Bumble is now the latest company to join the tech layoff trend as the news come after a disappointing fourth quarter and a slowdown in user spending. Layoffs will start for some employees immediately, while others will be going through a consultation process set to conclude in April.

“We also concluded that Bumble is not the right size or structure we need to be to meet the opportunity ahead. Ultimately, we need to run a leaner, more agile, and more efficient company,” Chief Executive Officer of Bumble Lidiane Jones said in the message. “In order to do this, we are reducing the size of our workforce, centralizing mission-critical teams, removing layers, and addressing duplicate efforts so we can accelerate how quickly we innovate and go to market.”

This is the first big move since Jones took over Bumble in January from the company’s founder, Whitney Wolfe Herd. Bumble, which also runs dating apps Fruitz and Badoo, fell nearly 7% in extended trading, according to Fortune. 

Lidiane Jones, Bumble’s Chief Executive Officer said on a call with analysts that the cuts will help centralize engineering and product teams in fewer locations and allow the company to prioritize artificial intelligence and safety features. Bumble expects to collect nearly $20 million to $25 million of non-recurring charges from the layoffs, including employee severance, benefits, and related charges for those impacted. 

The company will save about $55 million a year from the job cuts, $15 million of which it expects to reinvest to grow the brand, Bumble’s Chief Financial Officer Anuradha Subramanian told Fortune. In 2022, Bumble had more than 950 full-time employees, with 770 located outside of the U.S., according to a separate filing.