(L-R) Gary Swidler, chief financial officer of Match Group, Greg Blatt, chairman of Match Group, Sam Yagan, CEO of Match Group and co-founder and CEO of OkCupid and Nelson Griggs, vice president of Nasdaq, pose for a photo in Times Square after celebrating Match Group’s initial public offering (IPO) at the NASDAQ stock exchange on November 20, 2015 in New York City.
Andrew Burton | Getty Images
Tinder-owner Match shares jumped as much as 12% in Tuesday morning trading after the Wall Street Journal reported that Elliott Management, the activist investing firm behind campaigns at Salesforce and Pinterest, had built a roughly $1 billion stake in the online dating company.
The stock stabilized up around 6% shortly after the opening bell.
The company also owns the Match.com and a host of other online dating platforms. It has struggled in recent quarters after explosive growth in the earliest days of the pandemic. The company had a market cap of $10 billion at the close Monday, but that pales in comparison to its more than $45 billion market cap in 2021.
Elliott is expected to engage with Match management, the Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter, but it was not clear if that engagement would include nominating its own directors.
Some Wall Street analysts remain bullish on Match. In December, the stock was named a top pick at JPMorgan, which cited a return to double-digit percentage growth in Tinder among other things. But the company reported a continued tumble in so-called Tinder payers in November, when it reported third-quarter earnings. Its fourth quarter revenue outlook also missed expectations.
It has also seen tumult in the corner office. The company has had seven CEOs since 2012. That turnover rate is markedly higher than the average CEO tenure of seven years.
A Match spokesperson did not comment specifically on Elliott, saying only that the company “regularly engages with investors, and will continue to work to create great experiences for our users and value for our shareholders.”
Elliott has had great success in its campaigns. Aside from Salesforce and Pinterest, the investor has or is engaged with Crown Castle, where it successfully pushed out the wireless-infrastructure company’s CEO, and at Phillips 66, where it plans to seek two board seats, CNBC previously reported.
Jesse Cohn, the Elliott managing partner who has led many of its recent engagements, has held board seats at Citrix, eBay and Twitter.
Spokespeople for Match and Elliott Management were not immediately available for comment.
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