RPT — BREAKINGVIEWS — Bumble buyout needs more than a cheap wedding

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.) By Sebastian Pellejero NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) — Bumble is getting hitched. The matchmaking platform announced on October 13 that it had agreed to sell itself to private equity firm Ithaca Holdings for $1.3 billion. An undemanding valuation lowers the bar for a makeover of the business. But with daters drifting to rivals, restoring the company's financial spark is easier said than done. Bumble’s public-market stumble was swift. Blackstone bought a majority stake in 2019 and helped list the company two years later, when the pandemic forced prospective daters to rely heavily on apps to meet people. Impressive growth pumped up the company's valuation. When society re-opened, that tailwind for virtual businesses faded, and competition from Match Group’s Tinder and Hinge intensified. Shares are down roughly 92% from the IPO. Beauty, however, is in the eye of the leveraged buyer. At $1.3 billion, Bumble is valued just under five times fiscal 2027 forecast adjusted EBITDA, according to Visible Alpha. If the new owner funds 60% of the deal with equity, then leverage sits at a modest two