Match adds two directors in deal with activist investor Elliott Management

Tinder and Hinge operator Match Group said it added two new directors and signed an agreement with Elliott Management, months after the activist investor was reported to have taken a stake in the company.
Match Group added Instacart executive Laura Jones and Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff to its board.
The company has struggled with successive quarters of declines in the number of paying users and executive turnover.

Tinder and Hinge operator Match Group added two new directors and signed an agreement with Elliott Management, months after the activist investor was reported to have taken a stake in the company, Match announced Monday.

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Instacart Chief Marketing Officer Laura Jones and Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff will join the company's board, effective immediately. The appointments come after a "constructive" dialogue with Elliott that resulted in an information-sharing agreement, Match said in a release. Such agreements allow activist investors to have insight into the company's finances and operations, above and beyond what everyday investors have.

Elliott is one of the most prolific activist investors in the space. In recent months, the firm has secured board shakeups at telecommunications REIT Crown Castle and the e-commerce platform Etsy.

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Match shares are down 2% for the year and have fallen 79% from their 2021 high. The company has struggled to retain leadership, moving through a cast of CEOs and executives. The number of paying users, a key metric for investors, has declined for successive quarters.

"We are one of the largest investors of Match Group today because we believe in its opportunity for significant value creation as the global leader in online dating," Elliott partner Marc Steinberg said in the release.

Neither the exact size of Elliott's position nor its specific plans for a turnaround were immediately clear. The Wall Street Journal reported in January that the activist had an economic interest of around $1 billion.