A full-page print advertisement in Tuesday’s Dallas Morning News makes a bold statement about the on-again, off-again relationship between Austin-based dating app Bumble and its established rival, Dallas-based Match Group.
"We'll never be yours," reads the ad in The News. "No matter the price tag, we'll never compromise our values."
Bumble's unusual public rebuff comes after Match Group went to court last week in Waco and accused the company of violating patents and stealing trade secrets from Tinder, which is Match Group's most popular dating app.
Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble’s founder and a Southern Methodist University graduate, also was a co-founder of Tinder. She later sued the company for sexual harassment before winning a settlement that helped her establish Bumble in 2014.
Bumble, with nearly 30 million users, has gotten big enough to attract a $450 million buyout offer last summer from Match Group, according to TechCrunch. Some estimates now put Bumble's value at more than $1 billion.
The ad, which also appeared in the New York Times, accuses Match Group and Tinder of trying to bully Bumble into selling with a "baseless lawsuit."
"We -- a woman-founded, women-led company -- aren't scared of aggressive corporate culture," the ad read. " ... We swipe left on bullies. Ask the thousands of users we've blocked from our platform for bad behavior."
It ends with a note of finality: "We wish you the best, but consider yourselves blocked."
In an internal memo sent to Match Group employees on Monday, CEO Mandy Ginsberg wrote that the lawsuit was nothing personal, according to technology website Recode. Match Group's portfolio of matchmaking apps includes some of the world's best known brands, such as Match, Tinder, OkCupid and OurTime.
"I want to be clear about something: this is not about singling out any individual company," Ginsberg wrote. "This is about protecting the integrity of your work."
Match Group's revenue topped $1.3 billion in 2017, according to its year-end financial report.
Whitney Wolfe Herd's long history with Tinder and Match have been written about extensively, including a lengthy cover story last month in Texas Monthly on the rise of Bumble. That story itself created an ethical debate in journalism circles.
The full text of Bumble's ad is below.
