Good morning! PBS and NPR are testifying on public broadcasting’s federal funding, 23andMe customers want their data deleted, and Whitney Wolfe Herd is back as Bumble’s CEO—and she doesn’t care what you think.
– The love company. Last week, I caught up with Whitney Wolfe Herd. It was the Bumble founder’s second day back on the job as CEO, 14 months after she left the role behind.
While Wolfe Herd has always had a lot to say about her company and industry, she was especially candid this time around. Her company has seen better days, and she knows it. Wolfe Herd passed the CEO job to former Slack chief Lidiane Jones in late 2023, and it’s been a rough go of it in the year-plus since. Bumble’s stock is trading at $4.71, Gen Z has broken up with dating apps, and for users who haven’t been lucky enough to find love, few are happy with their experience using the app.
Wolfe Herd has started describing Bumble as a “house of love” that, though it was “built with so much love and intent,” “has started to crack over the years.” In a new interview for Fortune, she tells me about her plan to fix the app—which involves pivoting from relationships to “self-love.” She envisions a “Duolingo-esque” product that teaches users how to love themselves, before helping them find relationships. The CEO told me she was planning to rebrand Bumble’s parent company, Bumble Inc., as “the Love Company”—but Bumble later followed up to clarify that the name will stay as-is and “the Love Company” will be its motto and guiding principle.
Wolfe Herd’s ideas came from her own experience after leaving her CEO job. During her time away, she says she “broke up” with fear and the need for external validation. “I was so scared of what my employees thought of me that I wouldn’t make the right choices. I didn’t want them to not like me. I didn’t want them to hate me. I didn’t want the journalists to not like me. I didn’t want someone to judge me. I was so swept up in this external validation that I would not follow my instincts on things, and it degraded me. It took everything out of me,” she says. “Now I’m back with this fresh mindset—my ego was stripped away. It’s gone. I don’t care if people like me. I swear—a year ago, I cared. I do not care.”
Read her full interview here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- For federal funding. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will question PBS CEO Paula Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher in an “Anti-American Airwaves” hearing today over perceived liberal bias at their networks. “Everything is at stake,” said Kerger, given that Greene has expressed her support for defunding the organizations. New York Times
- Data dash, website crash. Following 23andMe’s bankruptcy filing and CEO Anne Wojcicki’s resignation, customers are trying to delete their data from the DNA-testing company—causing its website to go down. Over 15 million customers have given 23andMe saliva samples and their health histories. The company has said its privacy policy will remain in effect after it is sold. Wall Street Journal
- America the beautiful. Walmart heiress Christy Walton ran an ad in the New York Times, proclaiming, “The honor, dignity, and integrity of our country is not for sale.” In the nonpartisan ad, Walton describes Americans as people who “uphold and defend the Constitution” and “respect our neighbors and trading partners.” Fortune
- Search history. People search about male and female CEOs differently, according to a new report: The top four Google searches for male CEOs all had to do with money, while the second most-popular search term for female CEOs was “husband.” Plus, searches about a CEO’s family were 1,650% more common for women than men. Inc.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Linx Security, an identity security and governance solutions company, appointed Sarit Reiner Frumkes as CTO. Most recently, she was CTO of Payoneer.
Pinterest named Kate Hamill VP of enterprise sales in North America. Most recently, she was managing director, head of industry, retail and ecommerce at Meta.
Docusign appointed Bronwyn Hastings as group vice president of global partners and alliances. Hastings most recently served as SVP of global partners and ecosystems at UiPath.
Vox Media appointed Lillian Xu as VP of its podcast business and Sam Negrin as VP of advertising strategy and growth. Xu was most recently Vox’s executive director, podcast business and Negrin was VP and general manager of The Dodo.
Partnerize, which provides marketers with a partnerships platform, named Vanja Wilson VP and general manager for APAC. She was previously the company’s VP of sales for APAC.
ON MY RADAR
Salvaging Qantas just the start as new CEO pledges more to come Bloomberg
12 dozen lawmakers accused in 8 years. Women in the statehouse weigh #MeToo’s impact AP
Lucy Dacus might regret being this honest Them
PARTING WORDS
“I want every character I play to be complicated and deep and have layers to them, because that’s what it is to be human.”
— Actor Daisy Edgar-Jones on feeling lucky to play female characters with agency
