The Austin-based dating app company Bumble Inc. announced plans to lay off about 350 employees Feb. 28.
At the end of 2022, Bumble reported having 950 full-time employees, so the layoffs represent over 30% of their global workforce.
The rundown
While Bumble saw an increase in paying users and revenue in 2023, the company still saw a net loss of $1.9 million.
According to the company's fourth quarter financial report, the layoffs are a part of a strategic "restructuring plan" to slim down operating costs.
This announcement also follows the resignation of founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, who was replaced by Lidiane Jones, the previous CEO of Slack, a team communication software.
What residents should know
The effect of the layoffs on Austin offices remains unclear, and Bumble representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Quote of note
"There continues to be great market demand for connection and tremendous opportunity for our business, but we have been affected by a recent slowdown in some markets, and are also experiencing some execution challenges that have slowed our ability to innovate appropriately for our customers. ... 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," Jones said in the announcement.
Some background
Herd founded the woman-focused dating app in 2014 and opened its Central Austin headquarters in 2017.
Other company offices include London and Barcelona.
Despite stepping down, Herd remains the executive chair of Bumble's board.
Zooming out
This news follows a wave of technology industry layoffs affecting Austin and Central Texas.
Last year, Google announced it would lay off thousands of workers; the cloud-computing company VMWare laid off 577 Austin employees; and most recently, the online travel planning service Expedia announced it would cut 64 people starting in May, according to a Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification Notices, or WARN, letter to the Texas Workforce Commission.
