Big-name investors and hedge funds made moves in Club holdings Disney (DIS), Nvidia (NVDA) and TJX Companies (TJX) in the fourth quarter. This latest batch of regulatory disclosures also provides more clarity on the unusual levels of activist pressure facing Salesforce (CRM), also one of our long-term Club positions. At this point, it’s established that five activist-focused hedge funds are targeting Salesforce. But the securities filings — known as 13Fs and submitted to regulators on a quarterly basis — offer fresh insight into the timing and size of the positions. Those specific details hadn’t been known because the firm’s holdings initially became public through media reports. What’s new? Disclosures at three activist firms confirmed they were among Salesforce’s shareholder ranks by the end of 2022, more than known at the time. In mid-October, Jeffrey Smith’s Starboard Value was the first activist firm to go public with its stake in Salesforce — a development the Club cheered at the time . It wasn’t until late January that the extent of the activist activity at Salesforce started to become clear. That’s when media outlets, including CNBC, confirmed Paul Singer’s Elliott Management amassed a multibillion-dollar position in the company. However, by Dec. 31, according to the filings, not only Starboard but Jeffrey Ubben’s Inclusive Capital and ValueAct Capital, run by CEO Mason Morfit, had stakes in Salesforce. Starboard’s position stood at 3.03 million shares — valued at $401.22 million — at the end of the fourth quarter, according to the firm’s 13F. Inclusive’s 1.63 million shares were worth $216.77 million and ValueAct’s 560,221 shares carried a market value of $74.28 million. After building its stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter, ValueAct has seen Morfit added to Salesforce’s board of directors, a boardroom shake-up earlier this month that may not be the last. Elliott Management and Third Point — whose position was the latest to surface in…
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