UPDATED 19:54 EDT / DECEMBER 27 2021

POLICY

Activist investor Starboard Value targets GoDaddy after buying 6.5% stake

The well-known activist investor firm Starboard Value LP is targeting the web services provider GoDaddy Inc. for a shakeup after acquiring a 6.5% stake in the company.

That’s according to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that was first spotted by the Wall Street Journal today, which revealed Starboard had paid more than $800 million to acquire the shares.

In the filing, Starboard indicated that it believes GoDaddy’s shares were undervalued and therefore an attractive investment opportunity, though that invariably indicates an intention to make changes in a target company.

Starboard is one of the highest-profile activist investors on Wall Street. Its modus operandi involves buying a sizable stake in companies it believes are underachieving and using that position to pressure it to change its policies or leadership, with an aim to lift the stock price. Such goals can often be accomplished with a relatively small stake, using much less capital than would be required for a full takeover.

Starboard actually failed in its most recent attempt to oust the leadership at the cloud content management company Box Inc. After building up an 8.4% stake in Box, Starboard nominated three candidates to the company’s board in order to try and unseat Box Chief Executive Aaron Levie and replace him with someone more amenable to its demands. Starboard was unable to convince the rest of Box’s shareholders of the merits of its plan, however, suffering its first defeat in a proxy vote in more than a decade.

Although it has retained its share in Box, Starboard is now seemingly turning its attention to GoDaddy, which had seen its stock lose 8% of its value this year. That happened even as GoDaddy enjoyed a surge in traffic and new signups over the last 20 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starboard reportedly said in the filing that it plans to push GoDaddy to “improve its performance.” GoDaddy’s stock jumped 8% on the news, wiping out most of last year’s losses.

Photo: Scott Beale/Flickr

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