Factbox: Activist investors crowd into tech companies as runaway growth ebbs
23/01/2023 17:07
Jan 23 (Reuters) - Activist investors have in recent months zeroed in on technology firms,
pouncing on a slowdown that has squeezed earnings and share prices.
A pandemic-fueled boom has been replaced by sputtering demand as rising interest rates and
still-high inflation weigh on spending by corporates and consumers.
Activists usually build up stakes in companies and lobby for restructuring including asset sales
and management changes that they hope will boost the share price.
Here are the some of the recent actions by activist investors in tech firms:
Company Activist Date/Month Present Stake Investor Action
Invetsor
Salesforce Elliott Jan. 22, Not disclosed Elliott has made a multi-billion
Inc CRM.N Management 2023 dollar investment in Salesforce,
Corp, Reuters reported. It is unclear what
Inclusive the activist is pushing for.
Capital CNBC reported Jeff Ubben's
Partners, Inclusive Capital Partners also took
Starboard a stake in Salesforce, without
Value revealing the size of the holding.
Starboard Value announced an
undisclosed stake in Salesforce in
October and said the company was
suffering from a valuation discount
due to a "subpar mix of growth and
profitability."
Alibaba Ryan Cohen Jan. 16, Not disclosed Ryan Cohen has built a
9988.HK 2023 stake in China's Alibaba worth
hundreds of millions of dollars and
is pushing it to increase and speed
up share buybacks, people familiar
with the matter said.
Walt Disney Nelson Peltz Jan. 11, 0.5% Peltz formally launched a battle for
Co DIS.N 2023 board seat at Disney. Following this,
Disney in a letter to shareholders
defended its board for denying Peltz
a seat.
Pinterest Elliott Dec. 6, 2022 2.6% Elliott's Marc Steinberg joined
Inc PINS.N Management Pinterest's board after the two
reached a deal following talks for
several months.
Alphabet Inc TCI Fund Nov. 15, 0.27% TCI Fund Management, an
GOOGL.O Management 2022 investor in Alphabet since 2017,
called on the company to cut costs by
lowering headcount and reduce losses
in its self-driving unit Waymo.
Splunk Inc Starboard Oct. 16, 5% Starboard Value LP announced a nearly
SPLK.O Value LP 2022 5% stake in Splunk and planned to
push the software maker to take steps
that would boost its share price.
Wix.com Ltd Starboard Sept. 16, 4% Starboard has spoken to the web
WIX.O Value LP 2022 development platform about how it can
improve its operations.
New York ValueAct Aug. 11, 7.8% ValueAct Capital
Times Co Capital 2022 Management said the company could
NYT.N grow more quickly by aggressively
offering its all-access digital
bundle that gives readers more than
basic news.
NYT has tapped Bank of America
Corp BAC.N and law firm Sidley
Austin LLP for advice on how to
handle a potential board challenge
from ValueAct, Reuters reported in
August.
Western Elliott June 7, 2022 0.4% Western Digital announced review of
Digital Corp Management strategic alternatives, a month after
WDC.O Elliott disclosed a stake of nearly
$1 billion and pushed the company to
separate its flash and hard-drive
business.
(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta, Vansh Agarwal and Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj
Kalluvila)
((tiyashi.datta@thomsonreuters.com;))