Billionaire Andrey Andreev sold dating services Badoo and Bumble for $3 billion

Andrey Andreev, the founder of the Badoo dating service, has sold control of his MagicLab holding, which owns both Badoo and the popular US dating service Bumble, as well as a number of others. The buyer, the American investment company Blackstone Group, valued the dating empire of Andreev, a native of Russia, at $ 3 billion. After Andreev's departure, MagicLab will be headed by Bumble founder Whitney Wolf Heard, who was a co-founder of the competing service Tinder.

Andreev spoke about the deal on Instagram. "I'm leaving MagicLab to do what I love most - building something big," wrote the billionaire.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4m-y7en-qf/?utm_source=ig_embed

Details. With over 450 million users in 190 countries, Badoo is one of the largest dating services in the world. Bumble has about 75 million users.

• In 2018, Match Group, owner of dating service Tinder, wanted to buy MagicLab for $1 billion, sources told The Wall Street Journal. Andreev allegedly refused.
• Now The Wall Street Journal sources say that the company, whose revenue is growing at 40% per year, may go public in the future. In May of this year, Andreev himself did not rule out such a possibility. According to him, the placement of shares "will help to get more resources to conquer more markets, create more products."

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What is important to know about Andrey Andreev and Badoo. Andreev founded Badoo in 2006. The main office is located in London. In Russia, Andreev had a dating service called Mamba. It was launched in 2003, and already in 2005, Finam investment company bought it for $20 million. Later Finam also invested in Badoo.

In 2018, Andreev was among the dollar billionaires for the first time and ranked 63rd in the Forbes ranking of the richest Russians. The magazine estimated his fortune at $1.5 billion.

In the summer of 2019, the American Forbes released an investigation in which they described the toxic atmosphere that thrives in Badoo. For example, 13 former employees of the company said that women were required to "look good in front of investors and 'excite' candidates with the idea of ​​working for Badoo." The entrepreneur himself denied everything.

What's next. Blackstone says they are ready to invest "billions" in the company. With $554 billion in assets and a goal of $1 trillion by 2026, Blackstone is looking for new investment opportunities as global economic growth slows.