# Blackstone Keeps Selling Bumble, Now at Its Lowest Price Yet

_SEC filings show Bumble's largest outside shareholder selling on a quarterly schedule while the company explores a sale. The latest sale was its cheapest yet._

Source: https://highintentmedia.com/news/blackstone-keeps-selling-bumble
Author: Bill Alena
Published: 2026-10-02T20:00:00+00:00
Last updated: 2026-10-05T22:56:08.024661+00:00
Category: M&A

## Summary

Blackstone sold about 4.8 million more Bumble shares on September 28 at roughly $2.94, its third quarterly sale this year and the lowest price yet.

## Key takeaways

- Blackstone funds sold about 4.8 million Bumble shares on September 28 at roughly $2.94.
- Earlier 2026 sales cleared at $3.51 in March and $3.78 in June.
- Blackstone held 17.2% of Bumble's Class A shares as of June, all pledged against margin loans.
- Bumble is exploring a sale; Q2 revenue fell 15.2%.

Blackstone-affiliated funds sold about 4.8 million Bumble Class A shares on September 28 for roughly $11 million, according to a Form 144 notice filed with the SEC on September 29. That works out to about $2.94 a share. The filing also lists a further forward sale planned for the next three months.

It is the third sale of its kind this year, and the cheapest. Blackstone entities sold 7,477,504 shares on March 17 at a volume-weighted $3.51, and another 7,477,500 on June 16 at $3.7751, both settled through forward contracts with an unaffiliated financial institution. The September sale was smaller and cheaper than either.

## What the filings show

Blackstone's most recent amended Schedule 13D, filed June 18, put its direct holding at 22,432,496 Class A shares, or 17.2% of the class. The same filing says all of those shares were pledged under margin loans with about $28.9 million outstanding. The filings describe the forward sales as running on quarterly calculation periods. They do not say why Blackstone is selling or whether it intends to exit completely.

## The business behind the stock

Bumble's second quarter did not give sellers a reason to wait. Revenue fell 15.2% to $210.5 million, paying users fell 16.4% to 3.2 million, and the company guided third-quarter revenue to $205 million to $213 million. In June, Reuters reported that Bumble had hired Morgan Stanley to explore a sale, while cautioning that no deal was certain. Bumble went public in February 2021 at a valuation above $7 billion.

Why it matters: A large holder selling steadily into a live sale process is a signal buyers will read closely. If Blackstone expected a takeover premium soon, the rational move would be to wait for it. Selling on a schedule instead, at its lowest price this year, suggests either little confidence in a near-term bid or a need for liquidity that outweighs it. For any acquirer, it also means one less large shareholder to win over.

Sources: Form 144, September 29, 2026 · Form 4, March 2026 · Form 4, June 2026 · Schedule 13D/A, June 18, 2026 · Bumble Q2 2026 results · Reuters on the sale process

Correction, October 5, 2026: An earlier version of this story said each of Blackstone's 2026 sales cleared at a lower price than the last. The June sale was priced above the March sale. The September sale was the lowest of the three.

## Sources

- [Form 144, September 29, 2026](https://stocktitan.net/sec-filings/BMBL/144-bumble-inc-sec-filing-84afc069f093.html), Stocktitan
- [Bumble Q2 2026 results](https://ir.bumble.com/news/news-details/2026/Bumble-Inc--Announces-Second-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx), Ir.Bumble
- [Reuters on the sale process](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/exclusive-bumble-dating-app-explores-162231056.html), Finance.Yahoo

Published by High Intent (High Intent Media Inc). Citation permitted with a link to the source URL above.