By Breakingviews
Blackstone ([[BX]]) and Bumble make an odd couple. But not an illogical one. By taking a majority stake in the company that owns the dating app at a valuation of $3 billion, the buyout firm founded by Steve Schwarzman is fashioning itself as the opposite of Japanese tech mega-investor SoftBank ([[SFTBY]]).
While buying a slice of MagicLab is not Blackstone's first tech deal, it's a useful gauge of what the buyout shop is trying to do with its recently launched Growth division. Or more importantly, what makes it different from SoftBank, which has