Jeff Smith's Top 10 Activist Targets and Their Returns Compared to the S&P 500
Jeff Smith is arguably the “most feared man” in corporate America, having waged some of Wall Street's most aggressive and successful activist campaigns.
Starboard Value LP is an investment adviser specializing in a focused, fundamental approach to investing in publicly traded companies. Starboard invests in deeply undervalued companies and actively engages with management teams and boards to unlock shareholder value. Starboard’s principals have managed investments since 2002.
Jeff Smith is the Managing Member, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer of Starboard Value LP. Mr. Smith has extensive experience on public company boards through his role at Starboard Value. Before founding Starboard Value LP in 2011, he was the Chief Investment Officer for the Value and Opportunity funds at Ramius LLC. In this Cowen Group subsidiary, he was a Partner Managing Director. Prior to that, he served as Vice President of Strategic Development and Board Member at The Fresh Juice Company, Inc. He began his career in the Mergers and Acquisitions department at Société Générale. Mr. Smith serves on the Board of Advisors for First Generation Investors, a non-profit focused on wealth generation education for first-generation investors, and on the Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, which supports underserved youth. He graduated from The Wharton School of Business at The University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics.
As of March 2024, Starboard Value manages discretionary assets totaling $8,276,157,268 across 15 clients. Their Q1 2024 13F filing reported $4,840,291,174 in managed 13F securities with a top 10 holdings concentration of 79.32%. The largest holding is GoDaddy Inc., with 6,421,462 shares.
