Match Group (MTCH) – Elliott Management – March 30, 2024
While I think Disney leadership has earned the right to carry out its plan without activists, I don’t believe the same to be true for Match. Marketing blunders, top-of-funnel weakness, a vague turnaround plan and consistent financial disappointment all have me close to cutting this holding. It’s a dominant market share leader in a sector growing at a steady clip, yet that would be hard to notice in its performance since 2020. This is why I’m glad that they’re following Elliott Management’s guidance. Elliott has a 10%+ stake in the firm and just got two of its preferred candidates added to Match Group’s board: Laura Jones and Spencer Rascoff. Jones is Instacart’s CMO. Rascoff co-founded Zillow. This is a strong sign that Match is open to the likely value accretive changes. Their presence here makes me more comfortable with continuing to own it. Its track record is strong.
