The Week in Dating Business: October 8 to October 14, 2026

This was Bumble's week. The company agreed to be taken private by Ithaca Holdings, a technology holding company, for $6.05 a share in cash, valuing it at $1.3 billion and ending its run as a public company. The deal is already approved: Blackstone and founder Whitney Wolfe Herd approved it by written consent after signing, Wolfe Herd is rolling her stake into the buyer, and Blackstone sold shares at less than half the deal price two weeks earlier. Beyond Bumble, Norway issued its largest data protection fine to Xandr, the Microsoft-owned ad tech company, over Grindr users' data, a reminder that liability follows dating data downstream. In India, Info Edge's matchmaking billings rose 23%, led by its Aisle dating app. And the trade body ODDA set up a panel of users and fraud survivors to advise companies on safety.