- Activist investor Elliott Management has taken a multibillion-dollar stake in Salesforce, per the WSJ.
- It's the second time an activist investor has taken a stake in the software giant in the last three months.
Elliott Management has taken a multibillion-dollar stake in Salesforce, the Wall Street Journal has reported, putting more pressure on the cloud software leader that is already the target of another activist investor.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Elliott has snapped up the shares, citing people familiar with the matter. The high-profile activist investor, which has around $56 billion in assets under management, is jumping into Salesforce as the tech company deals with steep layoffs and a management shakeup.
Activist investors take an aggressive approach to the companies they invest in, with the aim of improving shareholder value by altering the way targeted companies operate.
While it's currently unclear what changes Elliott will push for, the group is known to ask for board seats and operational changes at the companies where it has an interest.
"Salesforce is one of the pre-eminent software companies in the world, and having followed the company for nearly two decades, we have developed a deep respect for Marc Benioff and what he has built," Jesse Cohn, managing partner at Elliott, told the Journal, referring to the company's co-CEO.
It's the second time in three months an activist investor has bought into Salesforce, after Starboard Value said it had taken an undisclosed stake in October as it urged the group to lift its margins.
Salesforce is in a period of upheaval, after it said earlier in January it would lay off 10% of its workforce and that co-CEO Bret Taylor would depart at the end of the month, leaving Benioff in charge.
The software maker's share price has dropped 50% since hitting a high of $307.25 in November 2021. The stock closed at $151.25 on Friday, and is trading around the same level in Monday's premarket.
The company acquired workplace messaging platform Slack for $27.7 billion in December 2020, after buying data analytics tools Tableau for $15.3 billion. Reports have emerged of cultural rifts between Salesforce and its acquired companies, adding to operational difficulties.
Shares in Salesforce are up more than 16% in the last month following the announcement of layoffs. The group was valued at more than $151 billion at market close last Friday.
Elliott and Salesforce didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside normal working hours.