Activist Third Point said to own stake in Salesforce – reports

Activist hedge fund Third Point is said to have a stake in Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) after several other high profile investors have also taken stakes in the enterprise software.

The size of Third Point stake in Salesforce (CRM) wasn’t known, according to a media reports from the WSJ and Reuters on Wednesday.

The news comes after Salesforce Inc. late last month announced it was adding three new independent directors to its board as it faces pressure from several different activist investors. Salesforce said it was adding Mason Morfit, CEO of and chief investment officer of activist investor ValueAct, to its board.

Well known activist investor Elliott Management is also preparing to nominate a slate of directors for the Salesforce (CRM) board, according to a WSJ report Elliott accumulated a multibillion dollar investment in Salesforce.

Activist Jeff Ubben’s Inclusive Capital also owns more than 1.5 million Salesforce (CRM) shares, a stake valued about about $250 million, the WSJ also reported.

The Third Point stake news also comes after fellow activist investor Starboard Value disclosed a position in Salesforce (CRM) in October. Starboard, which is run by Jeff Smith, is said to argue that Salesforce could achieve much higher margins than it’s currently generating.

Earlier Wednesday it was disclosed that Third Point, run by Dan Loeb, took a stake in insure AIG (AIG) in Q4, according to the fund’s Q4 investor letter.