Bumble Inc. Q2 FY2025 earnings call

• Reset strategy to quality over quantity across the business, removing over $100 million from cost base by streamlining operations, restructuring head count, and shifting to efficient organic marketing engine.
• Reorganized for speed and focus, rebalancing engineering to U.S., unifying product roadmap, and bringing in exceptional leadership.
• Implemented beehive fit framework to improve member quality, categorizing members into approved, improve, and remove; aim to move improve members to approved.
• August launch includes trust first product update with phone/ID verification, mandatory selfie checks, and coaching hub; Bumble BFF app launched with group tech and safety infrastructure.
• AI embedded responsibly across product ecosystem; bumble date building AI-first cloud-native tech stack, BFF migrating to modern platform via acquisition.
• Marketing realigned for organic growth, high-quality acquisitions, and durable engagement; brand remains strong with high favorability among women and Gen Z.

Bumble Inc. Q2 revenue was $248 million. Bumble app revenue was $201 million. Venue app and other revenue was $47 million. Total paying users in the quarter were $3.8 million, with Bumble app paying users at $2.5 million and Badoo App and Other paying users totaling $1.3 million. Subscriptions now represent approximately 80% of total payers, up from 70% in Q1, and ARPPU increased. Foreign exchange had a favorable impact on revenue, with approximately $2 million from overall and $1 million from Bumble app.

• Q3 total Bumble Inc. revenue expected $240 million - $248 million, Bumble App revenue $194 million - $200 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA in Q3 expected $79 million - $84 million, margin ~33% at midpoint.
• Impact of brand spending for August product moment and member base improvement efforts on year-over-year revenue comparisons; near-term attrition from lower intent members expected from August launch, with positive impact on retention and ARPPU from higher intent users long term.

• Near-term headwind to payers from member base cleanup efforts to remove low intent members.
• Potential headwinds to reported revenue from testing alternative payments with discounted pricing.
• Uncertainty around timing of member quality improvements translating to sustained growth and positive inflection in members.

Q: Provide updates on alternative payment options, apps tested, discounts, and adoption rates?

A: Limited testing on Apple iOS with 30% take-up on direct billing, continuing tests with different discount rates and potential upside in numbers if rolled out broadly.

Q: Was ARPPU growth solely from promotional strategy exit? Any underlying ARPPU growth?

A: ARPPU growth from deliberate monetization changes and pricing optimization, an early signal of impact from focus on fewer, better, deeper relationships, not a number managed to currently.

Q: Guardrails or quantitative sense on relative size of user buckets (approve, improve, remove)?

A: Improve makes up vast majority, remove accounts for under 10% of member base; approved members have higher yes votes, better retention, double willingness to pay, focus on moving improve to approved to improve overall ecosystem.

Q: Metrics tracked internally for quality push and best way for investors to track progress?

A: Tracking deeper member inputs related to getting members to high-quality compatible matches; team focused on these, will update metrics as expanded.

Q: Biggest priorities to move needle over 12-18 months and timing of investments?

A: Priorities include products/tech for AI-first infrastructure, trust and safety, Bumble For Friends; investments surgical, only where necessary for quality strategy, some spend near term, some deferred for brand marketing.

Q: User base bottoming out and building back up; how to get back to higher peak?

A: Not about removing whole base, but improving profile quality of improved members; focus on removing less than 10% bad actors, helping improved move to approved, resulting in higher quality base; marketing to amplify great product, not for marketing's sake.

Q: Appealing to Gen Z and reason for Kevin Cook's CFO hire?

A: Gen Z wants trust, safety, efficiency; August launch addresses their pain points. Kevin Cook hired for understanding technology, product thinking, leading for members first, with deep expertise in technical components to navigate AI and growth era.