Match Group, the company that owns Tinder, Match.com and OKCupid, recently filed a lawsuit against Bumble, alleging that the rival company is in violation on two of its patents. Now, Bumble has shot back against Match Group.
Bumble published an open letter on its website, where in no uncertain terms that it believes the lawsuit is Match Group’s ongoing attempt to acquire it and has called the lawsuit “baseless.”
“We swipe left on you. We swipe left on your multiple attempts to buy us, copy us and, now, to intimidate us,” Bumble said in its letter. “We’ll never be yours. No matter the price tag, we’ll never compromise our values.”
When details of the lawsuit emerged, it was speculated that the suit was an attempt by Match Group to intimidate Bumble and pursue a buyout. TechCrunch asked Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd if the company had received any buyout offers from other companies, and she replied, “Bumble is very excited about other potential opportunities that are still very much in discussion, and none of the recent news has affected these conversations.”
What’s more interesting is that Tender recently brought a Bumble-like feature to its app that gives women control over initiating a conversation. This is something that Bumble cites multiple times in its letter. We’re more than a feature where women make the first move. Empowerment is in our DNA. You can’t copy that,” it said. “So when you announced recently, in another attempt to intimidate us, that you were going to try to replicate our core, women-first offering and plug it in to Tinder, we applauded you for the attempt to make that subsidiary safer.”
In the letter, Bumble bashes Match Group, saying that the company is a bully and emphasizes that it will not be intimidated by litigation. “We as a company will always swipe right for empowered moves, and left on attempts to disempower us. We encourage every user to do the same. As one of our mottos goes, ‘bee kind or leave,'” writes Bumble. “We wish you the best, but consider yourselves blocked.”
