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Starboard Value added to its bet on Salesforce by some 40% in the second quarter, while reducing a stake in web services company GoDaddy by more than 25%, according to a new regulatory filing. The Jeff Smith-run hedge fund upped its stake in the maker of customer relations management software by about $126 million, according to InsiderScore.com. Salesforce shares have slumped 3% this year, falling nearly 15% in the second quarter alone. Starboard previously trimmed its stake in Salesforce by 21% in the first quarter of the year. The New York-based hedge fund also increased existing positions in News Corp Class A shares and Fortrea , the contract research organization spinoff from Labcorp . Smith trimmed significant holdings during the period. That included axing his GoDaddy stake by more than 28% to $644 million. GoDaddy shares are up more than 51% year to date. Starboard sent a letter to the company earlier this year, pushing management to continue moving “in the right direction” by creating specific and realistic growth goals and offering investors more details on plans to profit improve margins. Smith first began accumulating a stake in GoDaddy in 2021. GDDY YTD mountain Shares this year Smith also chopped Starboard’s positions in Humana and Wix.com by 25% and 23%, respectively. According to a 13D filing published last month, the hedge fund revealed a new position totaling nearly $533 million in Tinder parent Match Group early in the third quarter. In July, CNBC reported that the activist hedge fund had acquired a roughly 6.5% stake in the online dating company. Smith sent a letter to Match Group’s CEO in July, urging management to improve margins by cutting costs and innovating its products to turn around its business, or consider going private.
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