Kirkland & Ellis, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett advised on Ithaca Holdings’ US$1.3 billion acquisition of Bumble.
Ithaca Holdings entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bumble Inc. (NASDAQ: BMBL) in an all-cash transaction valuing the company at US$1.3 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Bumble common shareholders will receive US$6.05 per share of Class A common stock, representing an approximately 138% premium to the unaffected closing share price on October 9, 2026.
Upon closing, Bumble will operate as a privately held company. Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd will become a minority investor in the company and serve as a board member and strategic advisor. Ithaca co-CEOs Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman will become co-CEOs of Bumble.
Kirkland & Ellis advised Ithaca Holdings on the acquisition.
The team included corporate lawyers Edward Lee, Lee Blum, John Sheridan, Stephanie Barbanell, Lilly Rohan, Matisse Rogers, Logan Zhu, Vlad Kroll, Ari Levi, Michael White, Jane Tianzhen Guo and Chris Kenefick; executive compensation lawyers Rohit Nafday, Anthony Ji, Katie Uszakiewicz and Matthew Mutino; debt finance lawyers Adam Shapiro and Conor O’Muiri; technology & IP transactions lawyers Seth Traxler and Abby O’Neill; tax lawyers Devin Heckman and Stephen Nye; antitrust & competition lawyers Andrea Murino and Mackenzie Pike; international trade & national security lawyers Lucille Hague, Justin Schenck and Joyce Song; employee benefits lawyers Justin Coddington and Mackenzie Packard; employment & labor lawyers Jackie Heffernan and Maayan Sachs; litigation lawyers Sandra Goldstein, Yosef Schaffel and William Pruitt; and capital markets lawyers Joshua Korff and Jennifer Lee.
Davis Polk advised the independent special committee of Bumble’s board of directors on the sale.
The corporate team includes partner Daniel Brass, counsel Saagar Kaul and associates Leah Shatkin and Narda Esther Vasquez Arancibia. Partner Jennifer S. Conway and counsel Justin Alexander Kasprisin are providing executive compensation advice. Partner William A. Curran and counsel Ziyuan (Constance) Zhang are providing tax advice. Partners Howard Shelanski and Matthew Yeowart are providing antitrust and competition advice. Members of the Davis Polk team are based in the New York, Washington DC and London offices.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acted as legal advisor to Whitney Wolfe Herd in connection with the transaction.
The corporate team comprised Partners Andrew J. Nussbaum and Victor Goldfeld, Associate Ryan J. Olson and Law Clerk Nicholas B. Bayer.
The executive compensation and benefits team comprised Partner Jeannemarie O’Brien and Associate Dixing Tang.
The finance team comprised Partner Gregory E. Pessin, Counsel Daniel R. Loeser and Associate Benjamin W.J. Nadolsky. The antitrust team comprised Partner Emily E. Samra and Associate Christian Fischoeder.
Partner Jodi J. Schwartz advised on tax, Partner Justin R. Orr advised on intellectual property, and the litigation team included Of Counsel Theodore N. Mirvis and Partner Steven P. Winter.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal advisor to Blackstone in connection with the transaction.
