Every time I hear of a new man billionaire, I roll my eyes and yawn. Another one? I ask.
The list goes on an on:
- Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla)
- Jeff Bezos (Amazon)
- Bill Gates (Microsoft)
- Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)
- Warren Buffet (Investments)
- Larry Page (Google)
All of them were self-made billionaires. None of them inherited their wealth. It proves that the American dream is alive and that there is social mobility.
But, where are the women?
If we look at the women billionaires we get:
- Francoise Bettencourt Meyers (Her grandfather, Eugène Schueller, founded L’Oréal)
- Alice Walton (Her father Sam Walton, was the founder of Walt-Mart)
- Mackenzie Scott (Got a divorce settlement from Jeff Bezos)
- Julia Koch (Inherited her money from her husband David Koch)
Their billions where not created by them, it was created by their fathers or husbands.
The only self-made female billionaires I can think of are Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, and media celebrity Oprah Winfrey. I am sure there are more self-made women billionaires, they are just not top of mind.
Sure, there are all kinds of gender biases, social impediments, and cultural indoctrination, but com’on. In a world where women are breaking every social norm imposed by men, there are women in the military, women in government, women astronauts, women in every other aspect of our society, why aren’t there more women billionaires?
Well, one woman is breaking the stereotype. That woman is Whitney Wolfe Herd who just yesterday became a newly minted female billionaire at the age of 31 when she took the company Bumble public.
Who is Whitney Wolfe Herd
- Whitney was born in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- She majored in international studies
- While in college and at the age of 20, she started a business selling bamboo tote bags to benefit areas affected by the BP oil spill.
- Soon after, she introduced a second business called “Tender Heart,” a clothing line dedicated to raising awareness around human trafficking and fair trade.
- After graduating, Whitney Wolfe Herd traveled to Southeast Asia where she worked with orphanages.
Tinder
At age 22, Whitney Wolfe Herd joined the development team for the dating app Tinder.
Whitney Wolfe Herd became vice president of marketing for Tinder. She was reportedly behind the name of the app, taking inspiration from the flame logo and the idea of tinder, which is easily combustible material used to start a fire. She has also been credited with fueling its popularity on college campuses and growing its user base.
Whitney Wolfe Herd left the company in 2014 due to growing tensions with other company executives. After leaving the company, Whitney filed a lawsuit against Tinder for sexual harassment. She reportedly received more than $1 million, plus stock as part of a settlement.
Bumble
In December 2014, Whitney founded Bumble, a female-focused dating app. By December 2015, the app had reached over 15 million conversations and 80 million matches.
As of November 2017, Bumble had over 22 million registered users.
As of September 2019, Tinder and Bumble were the first and second most popular dating apps in the U.S., with monthly user bases of 7.9 million and 5 million, respectively.
In November 2019, Whitney Wolfe Herd became CEO of the newly acquired MagicLab, valued at $3 billion with an estimated 75 million users, and received an ownership stake of approximately 19% of the company.
As of 2020, Bumble has over 100 million subscribers worldwide.
In February 2021, Bumble topped $13 billion in valuation after listing shares on the Nasdaq exchange. 31-year-old CEO and founder Whitney Wolfe Herd became the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire. Her nearly 12% stake in the company was worth $1.6 billion.
In addition to being the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire, she is also the youngest female CEO ever to take a company public.
Should you invest in Bumble?
It’s too early to tell. I will post my opinion on the week of April 26. We will see how investors and the market are behaving at that time, it will be a better moment to make a decision.
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