Activist Investor Starboard Is Pushing for Changes at GoDaddy
Activist Starboard Discloses GoDaddy Stake, Pushes for Changes
(Bloomberg) -- Activist investor Starboard Value disclosed a stake in website services company GoDaddy Inc. and said it may push for changes to improve the stock’s performance.
The New York-based hedge fund said in a regulatory filing that it held a 6.5% stake in the technology company, which it believes is undervalued.
Starboard said in the filing that it may meet with management and the board as part of the investment to discuss ways to improve shareholder value, including potential board and operational changes, as well as business combinations.
A representative for GoDaddy didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shares in GoDaddy have fallen about 8.2% year to date, giving the company a market valuation of roughly $12.7 billion. Its shares rose about 7% to $81 at 9:32 a.m. in New York on Monday.
Starboard has a history of pushing for changes at companies in the technology sector, including recently at ACI Worldwide Inc., ON Semiconductor Corp., and Cerner Corp., which agreed to sell itself last week to Oracle Corp.
Earlier this year, Starboard ran an unsuccessful fight for board representation at Box Inc.
KKR & Co. and Silver Lake Partners acquired GoDaddy in 2011 in a take-private deal and took it public in 2015.
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