Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) is a Dallas-based company that provides dating products to a worldwide client base. Some of its most recognizable products include popular dating applications like Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, match.com, and many others. The company’s leadership has recently come under fire from Elliot Investment Management, an activist investor that has built a $1 billion stake in Match Group.
This company released its third quarter (Q3) fiscal 2023 earnings back in November 2023. Shares of Match Group took a hit after its Q3 earnings release. Match reported a 6% year-over-year decline in users who were paying for its Tinder application. That spurred the company to lower its revenue projections for its fourth and final quarter of fiscal 2023.
Elliott Investment Management plans to take steps to push Match to take steps to improve its performance going forward. However, recent reports have been unable to reveal the specific demands of the activist investor.
Rising costs due to inflation and interest rate hikes have put pressure on consumers in the United States and Canada through 2022 and 2023. Predictably, this has led to consumers shrinking their spending on discretionary items. Dating apps certainly fall into that category. Match applications like Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and OkCupid were also negatively impacted by consumer spending in the third quarter.
Shares of Match have dropped 13% year-over-year as of close on Tuesday, January 9. However, the stock has surged 8.4% to kick off the year. This demonstrates some enthusiasm after Elliott Investment Management’s more aggressive posture. Match’s business still holds promise in the current dating climate, which makes this a stock well worth monitoring in the months ahead.
