Activist investor Starboard Value has taken a 6.5% stake in GoDaddy, sparking a rally in inventory of the net companies firm.
The hedge fund purchased greater than 10,000 shares of GoDaddy, price about $800 million, in accordance with a regulatory submitting. The brand new stake grew to become the largest holding for Starboard.
Shares of GoDaddy jumped greater than 9% on the information Monday.
The inventory is flat on the 12 months at the same time as the corporate has skilled a surge in on-line site visitors amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Starboard’s stake.
Starboard Value and GoDaddy didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s requests for remark.
Starboard Value’s CEO, Jeff Smith, has been a prolific activist investor even in the course of the pandemic as he pushed for modifications in firms throughout the veterinary, chemical compounds and health-care industries.
Starboard Value manages about $6.2 billion in property, in accordance with filings by the primary quarter of 2020. Smith spun the New York-based hedge fund out of funding agency Ramius in 2011.
— CNBC’s Jesse Pound contributed reporting.