The investment company Blackstone bought a package of Andrey Andreev from MagicLab, which combines Badoo, Bumble, Chappy and Lumen dating services. The businessman sold his stake in MagicLab, based on an estimate of the entire company at $ 3 billion and leaves the post of general director of the company. His place will be taken by Whitney Woolf, co-founder of the Bumble service.
Andreev's share in MagicLab before the deal was 75%, a Forbes source familiar with the deal said. Andreev himself does not comment on the size of his stake in the company.
With the sale of a 75% stake, Andreev can count on $ 2.25 billion. As a result, his fortune will not seriously change compared to the spring of 2019, when the last rating of the richest Russian businessmen according to Forbes was published. Then Forbes estimated the state of Andreev at $ 2.3 billion.
“I am going to return to what I like to do the most - to create, run and scale big ideas. My next project is still a secret, but know that great news lies ahead, ”said Andreev’s statement to the press.
The stake in MagicLab was sold not only by Andreev, but also by the Finam holding. According to Forbes president of Finam Vladislav Kochetkov, the company sold its stake in 20%, based on the company's overall valuation close to $ 3 billion. Thus, the amount received by Finam from the transaction is about $ 600 million. As a result of the transaction the state of Andreev’s partner and Finam owner Viktor Remsha F 133 will increase from $ 800 million (last year’s rating of the richest Russian businessmen Forbes) to $ 865 million.
In 2018, MagicLab's rival, Match Group, the owner of the dating services Tinder and OKCupid, offered Andreev to sell the business for $ 1 billion, but he refused.
"The main procurer"
Andreyev has been in the dating business for 15 years. In 2004, he launched the Mamba dating site, which he then sold to Finam for $ 20 million. In 2006, he founded the Badoo service. In 2014, Andreev, along with Whitney Woolf, a former Tinder manager who left her previous job due to sexual harassment, created the Bumble dating app, which became the fastest-growing dating app in the United States. Andreev invested $ 10 million in the service and received 79% of the shares. In the fall of 2018, Andreev spoke about plans to go from Bumble to an IPO.
Andreev in his Instagram account calls himself "the main global pimp." The total number of users of Badoo, Bumble, Chappy and Lumen services, according to MagicLab, exceeds 500 million people. If Badoo is a “classic” dating service, then in Bumble only a woman can start chatting first, Chappy is a dating service for gays, Lumen is for people over 50 years old.
In an interview with Forbes in May 2019, Andreev, on the question of why he changed his habit of selling businesses, replied that life in the company was in full swing, and indicated that both Mamba and Begun contextual advertising service, which he launched and sold, after the sale "by all indicators" grew several times. “I really want not to repeat the same mistake. I believe that the business looks quite stable, the eggs are slowly starting to be laid out in all baskets, there are already many baskets, ”Andreev said.
In July 2019, the American Forbes released material entitled “Sex, Drugs, Hatefulness, and Immorality at Badoo Headquarters” (Sex, Drugs, Misogyny And Sleaze At The HQ Of Bumble's Owner, its translation can be read here), which described about the peculiar corporate culture of the company - drug parties, toxic attitude to women. Andreev himself denied all the charges.
Andreev's share in MagicLab before the deal was 75%, a Forbes source familiar with the deal said. Andreev himself does not comment on the size of his stake in the company.
With the sale of a 75% stake, Andreev can count on $ 2.25 billion. As a result, his fortune will not seriously change compared to the spring of 2019, when the last rating of the richest Russian businessmen according to Forbes was published. Then Forbes estimated the state of Andreev at $ 2.3 billion.
“I am going to return to what I like to do the most - to create, run and scale big ideas. My next project is still a secret, but know that great news lies ahead, ”said Andreev’s statement to the press.
The stake in MagicLab was sold not only by Andreev, but also by the Finam holding. According to Forbes president of Finam Vladislav Kochetkov, the company sold its stake in 20%, based on the company's overall valuation close to $ 3 billion. Thus, the amount received by Finam from the transaction is about $ 600 million. As a result of the transaction the state of Andreev’s partner and Finam owner Viktor Remsha F 133 will increase from $ 800 million (last year’s rating of the richest Russian businessmen Forbes) to $ 865 million.
In 2018, MagicLab's rival, Match Group, the owner of the dating services Tinder and OKCupid, offered Andreev to sell the business for $ 1 billion, but he refused.
"The main procurer"
Andreyev has been in the dating business for 15 years. In 2004, he launched the Mamba dating site, which he then sold to Finam for $ 20 million. In 2006, he founded the Badoo service. In 2014, Andreev, along with Whitney Woolf, a former Tinder manager who left her previous job due to sexual harassment, created the Bumble dating app, which became the fastest-growing dating app in the United States. Andreev invested $ 10 million in the service and received 79% of the shares. In the fall of 2018, Andreev spoke about plans to go from Bumble to an IPO.
Andreev in his Instagram account calls himself "the main global pimp." The total number of users of Badoo, Bumble, Chappy and Lumen services, according to MagicLab, exceeds 500 million people. If Badoo is a “classic” dating service, then in Bumble only a woman can start chatting first, Chappy is a dating service for gays, Lumen is for people over 50 years old.
In an interview with Forbes in May 2019, Andreev, on the question of why he changed his habit of selling businesses, replied that life in the company was in full swing, and indicated that both Mamba and Begun contextual advertising service, which he launched and sold, after the sale "by all indicators" grew several times. “I really want not to repeat the same mistake. I believe that the business looks quite stable, the eggs are slowly starting to be laid out in all baskets, there are already many baskets, ”Andreev said.
In July 2019, the American Forbes released material entitled “Sex, Drugs, Hatefulness, and Immorality at Badoo Headquarters” (Sex, Drugs, Misogyny And Sleaze At The HQ Of Bumble's Owner, its translation can be read here), which described about the peculiar corporate culture of the company - drug parties, toxic attitude to women. Andreev himself denied all the charges.
