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Activist Investor Starboard Value Takes 9% Stake in Tripadvisor, Shares Jump

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Activist investment firm Starboard Value has acquired over a 9% stake in online travel company Tripadvisor, valued at approximately $160 million, sources said Wednesday. The news drove Tripadvisor’s stock price up 7% in after-hours trading.

Tripadvisor, known for its hotel and restaurant review and search tools, has seen its shares fall about 15% over the past year. Earlier this year, Tripadvisor’s board formed a special committee to explore strategic options, including a potential sale.

Starboard Value is known for pushing operational and strategic changes in its target companies but neither Tripadvisor nor Starboard immediately responded to Reuters’ requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal first reported the stake acquisition.

Starboard’s CEO Jeffrey Smith recently joined the board of consumer healthcare company Kenvue and has previously advocated for changes at Pfizer and Autodesk. The firm is expected to file a 13D regulatory disclosure soon, signaling intentions to influence Tripadvisor’s management and operations.

Starboard Revives Proxy Fight with CEO Smith’s Nomination to Autodesk Board

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Starboard Value has renewed its proxy fight with Autodesk by nominating three director candidates, including its founder and CEO Jeff Smith, to the engineering and design software company’s board. The hedge fund, which holds a $500 million stake in Autodesk, aims to address concerns about the company’s margin growth and overall performance.

Nominations and Proxy Battle

In addition to Jeff Smith, Starboard has nominated Geoff Ribar, former CFO of Cadence Design Systems, and Christie Simons, a senior partner at Deloitte & Touche, to Autodesk’s 13-member board. Ribar also serves on the board of Acacia Research, a Starboard-backed company, while Simons recently joined Micron’s board.

The move comes nearly a year after a failed attempt by Starboard to push its own slate of director candidates. The hedge fund has criticized Autodesk for overspending compared to its software peers and for underperforming the market, pointing out that Autodesk’s shares have fallen over 7% this year, compared to a modest 1.8% drop in the S&P 500.

Autodesk’s Response and Future Plans

Autodesk has stated that its strategy is working and pointed to the addition of two independent board members in December 2024. The company expressed openness to meeting with Starboard’s nominees but raised concerns about the selection of candidates, questioning their alignment with Starboard’s opportunistic interests.

Starboard’s push for change is seen by some investors as a potential catalyst for increased cost management, enhanced accountability, and a greater focus on AI and cloud technologies, which could create value and improve Autodesk’s financial outlook.

Autodesk has already offered the hedge fund a chance to participate in the process that led to the appointment of the two new directors, including former Kraft Foods CEO John Cahill and Emerson’s COO Ram Krishnan.

Starboard Builds 7.7% Stake in Chipmaker Qorvo, WSJ Reports

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Activist investment firm Starboard Value has accumulated a 7.7% stake in the semiconductor company Qorvo, valued at approximately $500 million, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. The details of the investment are expected to be disclosed in a securities filing scheduled for Friday morning.

While the specific intentions of Starboard regarding Qorvo remain unclear, the investment firm is reportedly seeking to push for changes at the company, which has been struggling with a lagging stock price. Both Starboard Value and Qorvo have not yet responded to requests for comment.

Starboard, led by Jeffrey Smith, is recognized as one of the world’s leading activist investors and has recently advocated for changes at companies like Pfizer, News Corp, and Salesforce.