Bumble shares rallied more than 26% on Wednesday after the dating app company revealed in a securities filing that it intends to slash 30% of its workforce, or about 240 roles.

The layoffs will result in $13 million to $18 million in charges for the company hitting in the third and fourth quarters of this year. Management estimates that the reductions will help the company save $40 million annually.

A Bumble spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC that the layoffs were “not made lightly.”

“Our focus now is on moving forward in a way that strengthens our core business, continues to serve our members effectively, and positions us for future growth,” they wrote.

Bumble said the cuts are part of a reconfiguration of its “operating structure to optimize execution on its strategic priorities.” The company plans to invest savings into new product and technology development.

Shares of the dating app company have plunged since their debut on the public markets in 2021. Its market value has plummeted from $7.7 billion to about $538 million as of Tuesday’s close.

Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, who stepped down as CEO at the beginning of 2024, returned to the role earlier this year.

Along with the job cuts, Bumble updated its previously announced forecast for the current quarter.

The company now expects revenue to range between $244 million and $249 million, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization between $88 million and $93 million.

That’s up from the $235 million to $243 million in revenue and $79 million to $84 million in adjusted EBITDA forecast with Bumble’s first-quarter results last month.

The Tennis Channel is extending its deal with the Women’s Tennis Association that will see the cable TV network and streaming service continue to broadcast more than 2,000 matches each season.

While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, Tennis Channel CEO Jeff Blackburn told CNBC in an interview there was a “pretty big step up in our payments” to the WTA for the U.S. media rights, which includes international tournaments and the WTA Finals event. The new agreement lasts through 2032.

“Our goal and mission is to just cover pro tennis and the game of tennis like no one else, every day, every hour, all year round. There’s no offseason,” Blackburn said. “WTA plays a huge role in that and it was a big priority for me to make sure that we renewed our relationship and extend it as long term as we were able.”

The exclusive rights renewal comes as the Tennis Channel is in the midst of a transition on several fronts.

Last year, longtime Tennis Channel CEO Ken Solomon was ousted from the company. Blackburn stepped into the role in early May, following a 24-year career at Amazon, where he helped to build out Prime Video and expand the streaming service into sports, among other businesses.

Meanwhile, Sinclair, the owner of broadcast stations as well as the Tennis Channel, had recently considered offloading the network, CNBC previously reported. The parent company, however, is no longer exploring a sale of the Tennis Channel, particularly since Blackburn has taken the helm, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic details.

In the backdrop, the Tennis Channel, like its network peers, is contending with the continued loss of customers from the pay-TV bundle. While live sports garner the biggest audiences — and leagues have reaped huge rights payouts as a result — media companies are focused on growing the profitability of their streaming businesses.

In 2014 the 24/7 tennis network took its first step into streaming with Tennis Channel Plus, and later in 2022 introduced Tennis Channel 2, a free, ad-supported streaming channel. While Blackburn said Tennis Channel 2 has been successful and attracted a younger audience, he is focused on beefing up the Tennis Channel’s recently launched direct-to-consumer streaming app.

The app, which launched in November 2024, costs $9.99 a month or $109.99 annually and offers the same programming as the pay-TV network. Media companies are increasingly offering the same live sports featured on pay-TV networks on their counterpart streaming alternatives — most notably with the launch of Disney’s flagship ESPN app later this year.

“What’s important about the partnership is that they’re committing to doing more with us,” said Marina Storti, CEO of WTA Ventures, the commercial arm of the WTA. “They’re committed to that increased exposure across all of their platforms. They’re committed to ensuring this kind of equal exposure for women and men, where they have the rights. And they’re making a significant commitment. There is a substantial increase in the rights fees, which is a big milestone for us as part of our plan and commitment to growing.”

The Tennis Channel’s agreement with the WTA covers a large swath of the WTA’s tournaments outside of North America through the season-closing WTA Finals.

The audience for WTA events on the Tennis Channel has been growing, particularly among the younger demographic. Viewership among 18- to 34-year-olds on the Tennis Channel has grown annually for each of the past two years, according to a news release.

The deal comes as American female tennis players have shot to the top of global rankings and women’s sports in general have seen a rise in popularity and investment funding.

Already in 2025, two American women have won two of the top majors: Madison Keys took the Australian Open in January, and Coco Gauff was crowned the winner of the French Open in June. Gauff and Keys will be among the participants at Wimbledon, which kicks off on Monday.

“Tennis is really the only major sport where the men’s and women’s game is on equal footing, and that’s really important,” said Blackburn. “I think for tennis it makes it unique. The growth of women’s sports overall? Maybe basketball and soccer will get there, but I think tennis is way ahead in terms of providing that for the fan.”

The Tennis Channel 2 free streaming option has earmarked every Tuesday as “Women’s Day” — showing only women’s match coverage — and Blackburn highlighted the network’s roster of heavy-hitting female talent, including former players and Hall of Famers Martina Navratilova and Lindsay Davenport, among others.

The deal extension also builds on WTA Ventures’ recent efforts to grow its commercial revenue and build the profiles of its athletes.

In 2023 the WTA formed a strategic partnership with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, which invested $150 million for a 20% stake in the newly created WTA Ventures. The entity was formed to focus on growing commercial revenue through sponsorships and media rights deals, with the goal of tripling its revenue by 2029.

In 2024 WTA Ventures said it expected to increase revenue by 24% in its first full year.

The media rights extension marks the first renegotiation with the Tennis Channel under the WTA Ventures framework. The WTA’s long-standing media rights deal with streaming service DAZN expires at the end of next year, and talks have begun for new deals that would begin in 2027, said Storti.

WTA Ventures said its global audience surpassed 1 billion viewers on broadcast and streaming last season, and Storti said the U.S. is among one of the WTA’s biggest growth markets, along with China and Poland.

“We are a completely mass-market product that attracts hundreds of millions of fans across the world, and I would say we deliver a product that stands kind of shoulder to shoulder with the men counterpart,” Storti said.

The WTA has also recently emphasized improvements for players.

This year it’s has announced a paid maternity leave funded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, as well as a new policy allowing players to protect their rankings during fertility treatments

Still, tennis is not without its issues of disparity. While the U.S. Open awarded equal prize money to men and women beginning in 1973, it was decades ahead of Wimbledon and other majors. And while equal prize money is given at the majors level, there’s still a considerable pay gap at lower-level tournaments.

The sport also drew criticism around the 2025 French Open when the majority of prime-time slots went to men’s matches.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday proposed easing a key capital rule that banks say has limited their ability to operate, drawing dissent from at least two officials who say the move could undermine important safeguards.

Known as the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio, the measure regulates the quantity and quality of capital banks should be keeping on their balance sheets. The rule emanated from a post-financial crisis effort to ensure the stability of the nation’s largest banks.

However, in recent years as bank reserves have built and concerns have grown over Treasury market liquidity, Wall Street executives and Fed officials have pushed to roll back the requirements. The regulations targeted treat all capital the same.

“This stark increase in the amount of relatively safe and low-risk assets on bank balance sheets over the past decade or so has resulted in the leverage ratio becoming more binding,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a statement. “Based on this experience, it is prudent for us to reconsider our original approach.”

The Fed board put the proposal open for a 60-day public comment window.

In its draft form, the measure would call for reducing the top-tier capital big banks must hold by 1.4%, or some $13 billion, for holding companies. Subsidiaries would see a larger drop, of $210 billion, which would still be held by the parent bank. The standard applies the same rules to so-called globally systemic important banks as well as their subsidiaries.

The rule would lower capital requirements to range of 3.5% to 4.5% from the current 5%, with subsidiaries put in the same range from a previous level of 6%.

Current Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman and Governor Christopher Waller released statements supporting the changes.

“The proposal will help to build resilience in U.S. Treasury markets, reducing the likelihood of market dysfunction and the need for the Federal Reserve to intervene in a future stress event,” Bowman stated. “We should be proactive in addressing the unintended consequences of bank regulation, including the bindingness of the eSLR, while ensuring the framework continues to promote safety, soundness, and financial stability.”

On the whole, the plan seeks to loosen up banks to take on more lower-risk inventory such as Treasurys, which are now treated essentially the same as high-yield bonds for capital purposes. Fed regulators essentially are looking for the capital requirements to serve as a safety net rather than a bind on activity.

However, Governors Adriana Kugler and Michael Barr, the former vice chair of supervision, said they would oppose the move.

“Even if some further Treasury market intermediation were to occur in normal times, this proposal is unlikely to help in times of stress,” Barr said in a separate statement. “In short, firms will likely use the proposal to distribute capital to shareholders and engage in the highest return activities available to them, rather than to meaningfully increase Treasury intermediation.”

The leverage ratio has come under criticism for essentially penalizing banks for holding Treasurys. Official documents released Wednesday say the new regulations align with so-called Basel standards, which set standards for banks globally.

Apple Thursday made changes to its App Store European policies, saying it believes the new rules will help the company avoid a fine of 500 million euro ($585 million) from the EU for violating the Digital Markets Act.

The new policies are a complicated system of fees and programs for app makers, with some developers now paying three separate fees for one download. Apple also is going to introduce a new set of rules for all app developers in Europe, which includes a fee called the “core technology commission” of 5% on all digital purchases made outside the App Store.

The changes Apple announced are not a complete departure from the company’s previous policy that drew the European Commission’s attention in the first place.

Apple said it did not want to make the changes but was forced to by the European Commission’s regulations, which threatened fines of up to 50 million euros per day. Apple said it believed its plan is in compliance with the DMA and that it will avoid fines.

“The European Commission is requiring Apple to make a series of additional changes to the App Store,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement. “We disagree with this outcome and plan to appeal.”

A spokesperson for the European Commission did not say that Apple was no longer subject to the fine. He said in a statement that the EC is looking at Apple’s new terms to see if the company is in compliance.

“As part of this assessment the Commission considers it particularly important to obtain the views of market operators and interested third parties before deciding on next steps,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The saga in Brussels is the latest example of Apple fiercely defending its App Store policies, a key source of profit for the iPhone maker through fees of between 15% and 30% on downloads through its App Store.

It also shows that Apple is continuing to claim it is owed a commission when iPhone apps link to websites for digital purchases overseas despite a recent court ruling that barred the practice in the U.S.

Under the Digital Markets Act, Apple was required to allow app developers more choices for how they distribute and promote their apps. In particular, developers are no longer prohibited from telling their users about cheaper alternatives to Apple’s App Store, a practice called “steering” by regulators.

In early 2024, Apple announced its changes, including a 50 cent fee on off-platform app downloads.

Critics, including Sweden’s Spotify, pushed back on Apple’s proposed changes, saying that the tech firm chose an approach that violated the spirit of the rules, and that its fees and commissions challenge the viability of the alternative billing system. The European Commission investigated for a year, and it said on Thursday that it would again seek feedback from Apple’s critics.

“From the beginning, Apple has been clear that they didn’t like the idea of abiding by the DMA,” Spotify said last year.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, whose company successfully changed Apple’s steering rules in the U.S. earlier this year, accused Apple of “malicious compliance” in its approach to the DMA.

“Apple’s new Digital Markets Act malicious compliance scheme is blatantly unlawful in both Europe and the United States and makes a mockery of fair competition in digital markets,” Sweeney posted on social media on Thursday. “Apps with competing payments are not only taxed but commercially crippled in the App Store.”

The European Commission announced the 500 million euro fine in April. The commission at the time said that the tech company might still be able to make changes to avoid the fine.

Apple’s restrictions on steering in the United States were tossed earlier this year, following a court order in the long-running Epic Games case. A judge in California found that Apple had purposely misled the court about its steering concessions in the United States and instructed it to immediately stop asking charging a fee or commission on for external downloads.

The order is currently in effect in the United States as it is being appealed and has already shifted the economics of app development. As a result, companies like Amazon and Spotify in the U.S. can direct customers to their own websites and avoid Apple’s 15% to 30% commission.

In the U.S., Amazon’s iPhone Kindle app now shows an orange “Get Book” button that links to Amazon.com.

It’s a bittersweet day for Windows users.

Microsoft is scrapping its iconic “blue screen of death,” known for appearing during unexpected restarts on Windows computers. The company revealed a new black iteration in a blog post on Thursday, saying that it is “streamlining the unexpected restart experience.”

The new black unexpected restart screen is slated to launch this summer on Windows 11 24H2 devices, the company said. Microsoft touted the updates as an “easier” and “faster” way to recover from restarts.

The software giant’s blue screen of death dates back to the early 1990s, according to longtime Microsoft developer Raymond Chen.

Microsoft also said it plans to update the user interface to match the Windows 11 design and cut downtime during restarts to two seconds for the majority of users.

“This change is part of a larger continued effort to reduce disruption in the event of an unexpected restart,” Microsoft wrote.

The iconic blue screen was seemingly everywhere in July 2024 after a faulty update from CrowdStrike crashed computer systems around the world.