Match Group(MTCH.US) shares rose nearly 10% before the market opened as activist investors pressured the company to either reform or sell.

Investors who are seeking to improve Match Group's (MTCH.US) performance or sell the company are pushing for change, activist investor Starboard Value said in a filing, revealing it holds about 6.6% of the company's shares. Match Group's shares rose nearly 10% before the market opened, and were up 9.31% at $35 at the time of publication. "Despite Match's dominant market position and attractive business profile, the stock has underperformed the market by a wide margin," Starboard said in a letter. Since the company split off from IAC, its shares have fallen about 70 percent.

Match's revenue growth has been hampered by a decline in the number of users and paying subscribers to its biggest app, Tinder, Starboard said. "We believe that Tinder's problems are due to a lack of product innovation after years of viral growth," the activist investor said, adding that solving those problems would improve performance.

Starboard also called for Match to raise its adjusted operating margin to above 40 percent and use 75 percent or more of its free cash flow to buy back stock.

"If performance does not improve, we believe that a change must be considered, which should include a thoughtful review of whether the best path forward for Match is as a private company," Starboard added.

A spokesman for the company said it was "looking forward to continuing to have open dialogue with all investors, including Starboard."

The hedge fund is the third activist investor to push for changes at Match, following Elliott Investment and Anson Funds. Talks with Elliott led to the addition of two members to Match's board.