Starboard acquires stake worth $800 million in GoDaddy - WSJ

[December 27, 2021]  (Reuters) - Activist investor Starboard Value LP has purchased a 6.5% stake in web services firm GoDaddy Inc worth about $800 million, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company logo and ticker for GoDaddy Inc. is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Shares of GoDaddy, which have dropped 8% so far this year, rose 2.6% in premarket market trading.

According to the report, Starboard plans to push the company to improve its performance.

Arizona-based GoDaddy has seen a surge in online traffic as several businesses increasingly shifted to digital operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starboard Value and GoDaddy did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.