Bumble CEO’s Russian biz partner oversaw ‘sleazy’ office culture: report

Bumble — the No. 2 dating app in the US behind Tinder — has a complicated relationship status when it comes to its corporate parent.

Bumble’s chief executive, Whitney Wolfe Herd — a Tinder co-founder who left the hookup app after accusing a male colleague of sex harassment — founded Bumble with a mission to empower women and keep them safe.

But what’s lesser known is that Wolfe Herd teamed up to launch Bumble with Andrey Andreev — a Russian billionaire who reportedly oversaw a sleazy office culture where the objectification of women was routine, more than a dozen ex-employees told Forbes.

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Rampant hedonism at Bumble’s London-based parent, Badoo, included a party where “everyone was naked and doing lines of coke,” according to the Monday report. The party was reportedly photographed and sent over the internal email system.

Another employee claimed that a video circulated around the company of a male employee receiving oral sex from a prostitute, with one female employee saying she was pressured by male colleagues into watching it. Badoo denies such a video exists.

The parties reportedly took place in 2011 and 2012 during a period of rapid growth for Badoo. But Jessica Powell, the company’s former marketing chief, said that the bro culture extended into the workplace, where “female employees were routinely discussed in terms of their appearance.”

Wolfe Herd, who has a 20% stake in Bumble compared with Andreev’s 59 to 79% cut, defended her business partner, saying in a statement that he has become her family and one of her best friends.

“What I’ve seen firsthand from Andrey is creative and motivating behavior,” Wolfe Herd said. “Andrey has never been anything but kind and respectful to me.”

In a statement, Badoo holding company MagicLab said it was “extremely disappointed” by the “reckless reporting” from Forbes.

“Not a single current employee is quoted, our fact-check corrections were largely ignored, and the journalist refused to talk to dozens of former and current employees who came forward to counter the sensationalist narrative of only a few former disgruntled employees,” the statement reads.