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Match lays ground for all directors to stand for annual

election

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Latest company to settle dispute with activist investor

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Anson has also pressed for cost cut and other changes

(Adds details of agreement, background about dispute, stock

price)

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

April 29 (Reuters) - Online dating company Match Group ( MTCH )

will add a consumer-technology executive to its board

and lay the groundwork for all directors to stand for election

annually, ending a dispute with shareholder Anson Funds.

The company, valued at $7.6 billion, said on Tuesday that

Kelly Campbell, the former president of NBCUniversal's Peacock,

will become a director.

Anson, which owned roughly 0.6% of Match at the end of

December, according to a regulatory filing, was pushing to elect

three directors to shake up what it called an outdated and

insular board.

The two sides have now settled on an information sharing

agreement that will end a potentially disruptive fight for the

company and possibly move closer to Anson's goals for management

to rethink capital allocation, cut costs and consider a

strategic review of its MG Asia business.

Match is the parent company of dating sites Tinder, Hinge

and OkCupid and has seen its stock price tumble nearly 70% over

the last five years.

As part of the agreement, the company said in a regulatory

filing that board member Alan Spoon, whose term expires at the

annual meeting, will not stand for re-election.

Anson and other investors had also criticized Match's

practice of having only a certain number of directors stand for

election annually, a practice that has become a flash point in

governance circles because shareholders generally want all board

members to stand for election annually.

"The Board is committed to strong corporate governance

practices," Match said in a statement, laying the groundwork for

a shift to annual elections.

Match joins a growing list of companies that have found

common ground with critical investors at a time when volatile

markets and uncertain policy directives from the White House are

forcing them to pay even closer attention to their business,

clients and shareholders.

Earlier this week, restaurant chain Portillo's

settled a dispute with Engaged Capital, which had nominated two

directors to the company's board.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss in New York Deborah Sophia in

Bengaluru. Editing by Anil D'Silva and Mark Potter)