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Whitney Wolfe Herd

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Whitney Wolfe Herd
Herd in 2018
Born
Whitney Wolfe

July 1989 (age 35)
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
EducationSouthern Methodist University (BA)
Occupations
  • Entrepreneur
  • business executive
Known for
Spouse
Michael Herd
​
(m. 2017)​
Children2

Whitney Wolfe Herd (born July 1, 1989)[1] is an American entrepreneur. She is the founder, executive chair, and former CEO of publicly traded Bumble, an online dating platform, launched in 2014. She is a co-founder of Tinder and was previously its Vice President of Marketing.[2][3]

Herd was named as one of 2017's and 2018's Forbes 30 Under 30, and, in 2018, she was named in the Time 100 List.[4][5][6] In February 2021, Herd became the world's youngest female billionaire when she took Bumble public.[7] She is the youngest woman to have taken a company public in the United States, at age 31.[8]

Early life and education

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Wolfe Herd was born as Whitney Wolfe in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Kelly Wolfe, who was Catholic, and Michael Wolfe, a wealthy property developer, who was Jewish.[9][10] Wolfe Herd attended Judge Memorial Catholic High School. When she was in sixth grade, the family went on a sabbatical in Paris, France.

Wolfe Herd attended Southern Methodist University, where she majored in international studies and was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.[11][12] While in college and at the age of 20, she started a business selling bamboo tote bags to benefit areas affected by the BP oil spill. Wolfe Herd partnered with celebrity stylist Patrick Aufdenkamp to launch the non-profit organization called the "Help Us Project". The bags received national press after celebrities such as Rachel Zoe and Nicole Richie were photographed with them.[13][14] Soon after, she introduced a second business with Aufdenkamp called "Tender Heart", a clothing line dedicated to raising awareness around human trafficking and fair trade.[13] After graduating, Wolfe Herd traveled to Southeast Asia where she worked with orphanages.[15][16]

Career

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Early career

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In 2012, at age 22, Wolfe Herd joined the startup Cardify, a project led by Sean Rad through Hatch Labs IAC incubator. The project was later abandoned, but Wolfe Herd joined the development team for the dating app Tinder (previously known as MatchBox) with Rad and Chris Gulczynski.[17][18][19]

Wolfe Herd became vice president of marketing for Tinder.[12][16] She was reportedly behind the name of the app, taking inspiration from the flame logo and the idea of tinder, which is easily combustible material used to start a fire.[20] She has also been credited with fueling its popularity on college campuses and growing its user base.[21][better source needed]

Wolfe Herd resigned from Tinder in April 2014 due to growing tensions with other company executives. On June 30 she filed a lawsuit against Tinder for sexual harassment.[22][23] She reportedly received more than US$1 million as well as stock as part of a settlement in September 2014.[12][24]

Having received online hate, Wolfe Herd started sketching out a female-only social network centered around compliments which was to be called Merci.[25] Even though she didn't want to go back to the dating industry initially, in the following months she cooperated with Badoo founder Andrey Andreev on assembling a team and developing a new female-friendly dating app. She planned to name the app Moxie, but this name was already taken.[26]

Bumble, Inc (2014–present)

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In December 2014, Wolfe Herd moved to Austin, Texas, and founded Bumble, a female-focused dating app.[23][16][27] By December 2015, the app had reached over 15 million conversations and 80 million matches.[23] After Wolfe Herd left Tinder, Andrey Andreev, founder of Badoo, contacted her about creating a dating platform and partnered with her,[28][11][12] and the company remains majority owned by Badoo.[4]

Herd in 2016

As of November 2017, Bumble had over 22 million registered users.[29] In January 2018, CNBC reported that Badoo was seeking a sale that could value the company at about $1.5 billion.[30]

Wolfe Herd was named one of Business Insider's 30 Most Important Women Under 30 In Tech in 2014.[31] In 2016, she was named as one of Elle's Women in Tech.[32] She was named to Forbes 30 under 30 in 2017 and 2018.[33][5]

In December 2017, she was listed in a TechCrunch feature on 42 women succeeding in tech that year.[34]

As of September 2019, Tinder and Bumble were the first and second most popular dating apps in the U.S., with monthly user bases of 7.9 million and 5 million, respectively.[35]

In March 2019, Wolfe Herd testified before the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence committee about the prevalence of unsolicited explicit photos sent to female users on dating applications.[36]

In April 2019, Wolfe released the first print issue of Bumble Mag in partnership with Hearst.[37]

In November 2019, Bumble's parent company MagicLab was sold to the private equity firm The Blackstone Group, with co-founder Andreev relinquishing his entire stake in both Bumble and its sister company, Badoo. Wolfe Herd became CEO of the newly acquired MagicLab, valued at $3 billion with an estimated 75 million users, and received an ownership stake of approximately 19% of the company.[38]

In 2020, Bumble replaced MagicLab as the parent company of both Bumble and Badoo. As of 2020, Bumble has over 100 million users worldwide.[39]

In February 2021, Bumble topped $13 billion in valuation after listing shares on the Nasdaq exchange.[40] Her 18-month-old son was on her hip as she rang the Nasdaq bell.[41]

In 2021, Wolfe Herd became the world's youngest female billionaire after taking Bumble public.[42]

As of May 2023, Forbes estimates her net worth at approximately $510 million.[43]

In November 2023, Wolfe Herd announced she would enter the role of executive chair in January 2024, with Lidiane Jones stepping into the position of CEO of Bumble.[43][44][45]

In May 2024, Wolfe Herd suggested at the Bloomberg Tech Summit that single people might use AI dating concierges as stand-ins for themselves when contacting potential partners online.[46]

Chappy

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In 2017, UK-based gay dating app Chappy was co-founded by Jack Rogers, Max Cheremkin and Ollie Locke and funded primarily by Bumble and Wolfe Herd.[47] The app closed down in February 2020.[48]

Personal life

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In December 2013, she met oil and gas heir Michael Herd on an Aspen skiing trip.[49] They married in 2017 at Positano, Italy.[49][50] They have two sons, Bobby and Henry, born in 2019 and 2022, respectively.[51][52] The family lives in Austin, Texas.[50]

In June 2018, Wolfe Herd told The Times that she suffers from anxiety. At that time, she travelled with a bodyguard and employed a security team after a neo-Nazi cyberattack against Bumble took place in 2017.[50]

In 2022, Forbes listed Wolfe Herd at number 33 of the top 100 "America's richest self-made women," up from number 39 in 2020.[53][54]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Guillen Gilthorpe, Darla (July 10, 2019). "Texas entrepreneur, Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd celebrates 30th birthday amid company rumors". Chron. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
  2. ^ Charlotte Alter/Austin (March 19, 2021). "How Whitney Wolfe Herd Turned a Vision of a Better Internet Into a Billion-Dollar Brand". Time. Archived from the original on February 25, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  3. ^ "How I Built This". NPR. Archived from the original on January 28, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  4. ^ a b Ryan Mac (January 3, 2017). "2017 30 Under 30: Consumer Technology – 28 of 30". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Forbes Releases 2018 Edition of the 30 Under 30 List". Forbes. November 14, 2017. Archived from the original on November 14, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  6. ^ Anita Sarkeesian. "Whitney Wolfe Herd". Time. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  7. ^ Mousinho, Katy. "How Whitney Wolfe Herd became the world's youngest female self-made billionaire". Management Today. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  8. ^ "Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd becomes the youngest woman to take a company public". Fortune. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  9. ^ "Whitney Wolfe is Bringing Feminism to Your Phone". Austin Woman Magazine. April 1, 2016. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  10. ^ Amanda FitzSimons (November 27, 2017). "Whitney Wolfe Helped Women Score Dates. Now She Wants to Get Them Their Dream Job". ELLE. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  11. ^ a b Charlotte Alter (May 15, 2015). "Whitney Wolfe Wants to Beat Tinder at Its Own Game". Time. Archived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  12. ^ a b c d Hannah Ellis-Petersen (April 12, 2015). "WLTM Bumble – A dating app where women call the shots". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  13. ^ a b Hilary Hirschfeld (November 3, 2010). "SMU senior Whitney Wolfe launches second business, clothing line Tender Heart". Daily Campus. Archived from the original on September 3, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  14. ^ "Meet Bumble chief executive Whitney Wolfe". The Washington Post. October 23, 2015. Archived from the original on July 26, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  15. ^ Sarah Thurmond (August 2, 2015). "Queen Bee". Austin Monthly. Archived from the original on August 3, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  16. ^ a b c Kimya Kavehkar (March 7, 2016). "Whitney Wolfe: The Matchmaker". Paper Mag. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  17. ^ Josie Ensor (May 23, 2015). "Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe: 'The word 'feminist' seemed to put guys off, but now I realise, who cares?'". Telegraph. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  18. ^ Melissah Yang (January 29, 2015). "Whitney Wolfe Says Goodbye Tinder, Hello Bumble". Los Angeles Business Journal. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  19. ^ Shontell, Alyson. "What It's Like To Found A $750 Million Startup, Go Through A Sexual-Harassment Lawsuit, And Start All Over By Age 25". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  20. ^ "Whitney Wolfe: The Woman Who Took Tinder To Court – And Came Back Fighting". Grazia. August 3, 2016. Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  21. ^ Tucker Cummings (July 1, 2014). "Tinder's Whitney Wolfe: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  22. ^ "The Story of Whitney Wolfe Vs. Tinder". July 9, 2014. Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  23. ^ a b c Todd C. Frankel (December 2, 2015). "Whitney Wolfe, founder of dating app Bumble, has had quite the year. She just can't discuss parts of it". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  24. ^ Kosoff, Maya. "Report: Ousted Tinder Cofounder Settled Her Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against The Company For 'Just Over $1 Million'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  25. ^ "Billion-Dollar Bumble: How Whitney Wolfe Herd Built America's Fastest-Growing Dating App". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  26. ^ "How Whitney Wolfe Herd Changed the Dating Game". January 18, 2018. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  27. ^ Bennett, Jessica (March 18, 2017). "With Her Dating App, Women Are in Control". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  28. ^ Leora Yashari (August 7, 2015). "Meet the Tinder Co-Founder Trying to Change Online Dating Forever". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  29. ^ Clare O'Connor (November 14, 2017). "Billion-Dollar Bumble: How Whitney Wolfe Herd Built America's Fastest-Growing Dating App". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  30. ^ Alex Sherman, Leslie Picker (January 23, 2018). "Badoo, the majority owner of the dating app Bumble, is seeking a sale that could value the company at $1.5 billion". CNBC. Archived from the original on December 27, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  31. ^ Kosoff, Maya. "The 30 Most Important Women Under 30 In Tech". Business Insider. Archived from the original on June 20, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  32. ^ Molly Langmuir (May 13, 2016). "Meet Elle's 2016 Women in Tech". Elle. Archived from the original on September 12, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  33. ^ Clare O'Connor (November 14, 2017). "Billion-Dollar Bumble: How Whitney Wolfe Herd Built America's Fastest-Growing Dating App". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  34. ^ "A look at 42 women in tech who crushed it in 2017". TechCrunch. December 22, 2017. Archived from the original on January 14, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  35. ^ "U.S. dating apps by audience size 2019". Statista. Archived from the original on February 15, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  36. ^ "Texas May Outlaw Unsolicited Sexual Images. Would That Be Enforceable—and Does It Even Matter?". Texas Monthly. March 28, 2019. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  37. ^ "Bumble goes to print with its new lifestyle magazine, Bumble Mag". TechCrunch. April 4, 2019. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  38. ^ "Andrey Andreev sells stake in Bumble owner to Blackstone, Whitney Wolfe Herd now CEO of $3B dating apps business". TechCrunch. November 8, 2019. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  39. ^ "Bumble hits 100 million users—and has new plans to take over the dating world". July 15, 2020. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  40. ^ "Bumble: Female-founded dating app tops $13bn in market debut". BBC News. February 11, 2021. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
  41. ^ "The tech billionaire who is putting women first". BBC News. April 7, 2021. Archived from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  42. ^ Au-Yeung, Angel. "Bumble Cofounder Becomes World's Youngest Self-Made Woman Billionaire, Thanks To IPO". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
  43. ^ a b Saul, Derek (November 6, 2023). "Former Billionaire Whitney Wolfe Herd Out As Bumble CEO Amid Stock's 80% Slide". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 21, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  44. ^ O’Brien, Sara Ashley. "WSJ News Exclusive | Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd Steps Down". WSJ. Archived from the original on November 6, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  45. ^ Gross, Jenny (November 6, 2023). "Whitney Wolfe Herd Is Stepping Down as Bumble's C.E.O. After a Decade". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 13, 2024. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  46. ^ Tolentino, Daysia (August 27, 2024). "AI personas are the future of dating, Bumble founder says. Many aren't buying". Yahoo Tech. Archived from the original on August 29, 2024. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  47. ^ "6 things you need to know about gay dating app Chappy". Evening Standard. August 17, 2017. Archived from the original on July 26, 2020. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  48. ^ Milton, Josh (February 17, 2020). "Gay dating app Chappy is shutting down this month and now we'll be single for all eternity". PinkNews. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  49. ^ a b Macon, Alexandra (October 5, 2017). "Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe's Whirlwind Wedding Was a True Celebration of Southern Italy". Vogue. Archived from the original on February 12, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  50. ^ a b c Rose, Hilary (June 26, 2018). "The queen of dating apps: how Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of Bumble, plans to stop men behaving badly". The Times. Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  51. ^ "Whitney Wolfe Herd on Instagram". Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  52. ^ "Whitney Wolfe Herd Is Also Up With Her Toddler at 1 A.M." Time. February 24, 2023. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  53. ^ "#33 Whitney Wolfe Herd". Forbes.com. June 14, 2022. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  54. ^ "#39 Whitney Wolfe Herd". Forbes.com. October 13, 2020. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
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