Whitney Wolfe Herd, the millionaire founder of dating app Bumble, won the top prize for Bloomberg’s men’s March Madness charity challenge by impressively picking 43 of 63 games accurately.
Her bracket picks included correctly choosing the entire Midwest region, and betting that the University of Connecticut would beat Indiana’s Purdue University in Monday’s match-up.
UConn, the favorite to clinch a repeat NCAA championship title, did just that, meaning Herd predicted how the tournament would go with 68% precision, Fortune earlier reported.
The 34-year-old dating app tycoon — whose net worth is pegged by Forbes at $320 million — also scored more than $1 million for her charity of choice — Baby2Baby, which provides diapers, clothes and other necessities to children living in poverty in the Los Angeles area.
What’s even more stunning is that Herd said there’s “no basketball prodigies over here,” telling Fortune that it only “takes a little research and a lot of luck.”
“The best part is the impact this fun competition will have on the charity recipients,” Herd added.
Representatives for Herd at Bumble did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Per the rules for Bloomberg’s “Brackets for a Cause,” participants — titans from the world of business and finance — pick a charity and pledge $20,000 to fill out a bracket.
Half of the total pot goes to charities of the three participants with the most accurate brackets for the men’s tournament; the other half goes to the top three for the women’s side.
On the women’s side, the co-founder and chief of sports investment firm Dynasty Equity, K. Don Cornwell, topped the leadership board after accurately picking 86% of the bracket.
“I can’t reveal all of my secrets, but it has something to do with picking more winners than losers,” said Cornwell, who correctly anticipated that undefeated South Carolina would beat Iowa Hawkeyes and its star player Caitlin Clark in the finals, according to Fortune.
Cornwell attributed his championship predicted to South Carolina’s “fantastic leadership” and “balanced roster,” Fortune reported.
Billionaires Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management and Ken Griffin, Citadel’s founder and chief, finished in second and third, respectively, on the women’s side.
Also in the top 10 were Citadel chief Peng Zhao, at No. 6, Bill Ackman of Pershing Square, at No. 7, and Blackstone executive David Blitzer, at No. 9.
Herd also participated in the women’s championship bracket, finishing thirtheenth.
On the men’s side, investment titan Joe Reece, former Macy’s chair Terry Lundgren and Apollo Global Management’s billionaire co-founder and CEO Marc Rowan finished behind Herd in second, third and fourth place, respectively.
Credit: Source link
