• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

3

Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

3

Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
TechDating apps

Bumble parent told to implement workplace reforms after sexism allegations

Jeremy Kahn
By
Jeremy Kahn
Jeremy Kahn
Editor, AI
Down Arrow Button Icon
Jeremy Kahn
By
Jeremy Kahn
Jeremy Kahn
Editor, AI
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 30, 2020, 5:18 AM ET
Portrait of Andrey Andreev
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 08: In this handout photo provided by MagicLab, (Badoo, Bumble, Chappy & Lumen), CEO & Founder, Andrey Andreev appears in his HQ on November 08, 2019 in London, England. Photo by Levon Biss/MagicLab via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

MagicLab, the parent company of well-known dating sites Bumble and Badoo, should reform its workplace policies following allegations of sexual harassment, a U.K. law firm has found.

MagicLab hired Doyle Clayton, a British firm specializing in employment law, to investigate allegations of a misogynistic and hostile work environment for women raised in a July Forbes story.

Following a six month investigation, Doyle Clayton said in statement released late Tuesday that Magic Lab should enforce “appropriate employee conduct at company parties and social events,” make it easier for whistleblowers to come forward, and report misconduct and improved diversity and inclusion training for employees.

Doyle Clayton said MagicLab’s board had unanimously accepted its eight recommendations. The firm released its statement less than 48 hours before Blackstone, the private equity group, completed its $3 billion purchase of MagicLab. The deal formally closed Thursday morning.

As part of that deal, MagicLab’s founder and CEO Andrey Andreev is selling his stake in the company and leaving the business. Whitney Wolfe Herd, the co-founder and CEO of Bumble, a dating app that markets itself as empowering women with its “women make the first move” policy, is taking over as CEO of the parent company.

Blackstone was not immediately available for comment on the Doyle Clayton report.

In its statement, Doyle Clayton said there was “a lack of credible evidence in relation to most” of 24 specific allegations Forbes raised in its story, including “the more serious ones.” It did, however, find there was evidence to support three allegations, which it described as “minor,” and to partially support three other “minor allegations.” It did not specify in the statement, however, which allegations it was referring to.

“The central allegation made by the Forbes article—that there is currently a misogynistic atmosphere at [MagicLab’s] London office is incorrect,” the Doyle Clayton’s statement says. “Nevertheless, the investigation did identify a small number of current and former employees who feel that there are elements of sexism at MagicLab.”

MagicLab founder Andreev tells Fortune he is not at liberty to reveal more about Doyle Clayton’s report. But he says he “feels relief” at the firm’s findings.

He added that he was “sad” female employees who were concerned about sexism never brought those concerns to his attention. “My duty as CEO was to fix the problem, any problem,” he says. “I am still sad that people have been hurt and they never told me.”

Andreev says that he considers Doyle Clayton’s recommendations for improvements to MagicLab’s employee procedures and training fair. “I think Whitney and management will have a lot of things to do to implement the recommendations,” he says.

The Forbes story alleged there was a boorish work culture at the London office of Badoo, which claims more than 460 million users globally and is one of the most popular dating apps in Latin America. The London office also serves as the headquarters for MagicLab and the main engineering office for its dating apps, which in addition to Bumble and Badoo, include Lumen, a dating app aimed at over-50-year-olds, and Chappy, a gay dating app. Bumble’s headquarters and marketing operations are based in Austin, Texas.

Among the most serious allegations in the Forbes story was a claim that a female employee was pressured to watch a video of a male colleague receiving oral sex from a prostitute, that the firm had been too lenient with male employees accused of sexual harassment and bullying, that sexual banter was often used in the office, that managers, including Andreev, made frequent comments about women’s appearance and used misogynistic language, and that the company’s female marketing officer was told to “act pretty” for investors and was once asked to give a job prospect a massage.

Andreev founded Badoo in 2006. It pioneered the freemium business model for dating apps that was later adopted by Tinder and others. Wolfe Herd had been an executive at Tinder, but left amid claims she was sexually harassed by Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen after she ended a relationship with him. She and Andreev launched Bumble as a kind of “anti-Tinder” in late 2014.

The Russian-born entrepreneur is circumspect about his next steps but says he is planning to launch “a big revolutionary project for the charity world.” Andreev says he “will bring digital to the charity world same as we brought digital to the dating world many years ago.” With Blackstone’s permission, he says, 20 MagicLab employees are leaving to join this new venture.

More must-read stories from Fortune:

—The long ocean voyage that helped find the flaws in GPS
—Atari-themed hotel deal punctuates the gaming pioneer’s turnaround
—Into the ‘crucible’: How the government responds when GPS goes down
—This tech giant says A.I. has already helped it save $1 billion
—What is tech doing to protect the whistleblower’s identity? Not much

Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.

About the Author
Jeremy Kahn
By Jeremy KahnEditor, AI
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jeremy Kahn is the AI editor at Fortune, spearheading the publication's coverage of artificial intelligence. He also co-authors Eye on AI, Fortune’s flagship AI newsletter.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

How foodservice giant Sodexo is embracing AI and robotics to reshape the kitchen
NewslettersCIO Intelligence
How foodservice giant Sodexo is embracing AI and robotics to reshape the kitchen
By John KellJuly 1, 2026
1 hour ago
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
AIAnthropic
Anthropic’s AI models are back online after a two-week government standoff—settling the company and administration into a fragile truce
By Tristan BoveJuly 1, 2026
2 hours ago
Nikesh Arora, chief executive officer at Palo Alto Networks
SuccessJobs
CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut
By Emma BurleighJuly 1, 2026
3 hours ago
Current price of Ethereum for July 1, 2026
Personal FinanceEthereum
Current price of Ethereum for July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
5 hours ago
In this photo illustration, a Cisco logo is displayed on a smartphone with Artificial Intellingence (AI) symbols in the background.
AICFO Daily
Cisco is rolling out AI agents to every single one of its 90,000 employees
By Sheryl EstradaJuly 1, 2026
5 hours ago
senate
CommentaryCongress
One rare bipartisan AI bill is moving through Congress. Here’s why it deserves to pass
By Neil Björkman and Betsy BrewerJuly 1, 2026
7 hours ago

Most Popular

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
6 days ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
4 days ago
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Success
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
2 days ago
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
11 hours ago
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
Commentary
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
By Marc AndersenJune 30, 2026
1 day ago
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
Newsletters
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
By Diane BradyJuly 1, 2026
9 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.