Whitney Wolfe Herd has received a £4 million dividend from Bumble following a profitable period for the social app’s UK arm.
A total of £20 million was paid out to investors, with the CEO entitled to a windfall due her 20% ownership. Badoo and MagicLab founder Andrey Andreev holds a 79% controlling stake.
The news has caused The Telegraph to speculate about a potential IPO for the company.
12 months ago, Andreev confirmed that Bumble was “deep” in discussions to be listed on the NASDAQ. MagicLab has now said the firm is still “exploring options” but refused to issue any further comment.
At the time of writing, it is still unclear whether a future listing would come under the name of Bumble, Badoo or MagicLab.
Some commentators are adamant that any flotation should be carried out using the Bumble branding. Early estimations from Synovus Trust claimed that an IPO would be worth around $1.1 billion, while Profit Confidential argued that it could become one of the most desirable stocks on the US market.
Bumble launched its third international ‘Find Them On Bumble’ campaign in London this September. The major marketing push featured 53 real users, promoting the variety of people that can be found on the app.
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