Elliott and fellow activist investors take on big tech

FOR BOSSES and boards, dealing with the odd activist shareholder is par for the course. Contending with a swarm of such gadflies is unusual. Last October Starboard Value, an activist hedge fund, took a “significant” stake in Salesforce, a maker of customer-management software, arguing that the firm had failed to convert its leading market position into juicy margins and needed to cut costs. On January 4th Salesforce duly announced it would lay off 8,000 staff, or 10% of its workforce. That was not enough to swat off the attacks. On January 22nd it emerged that Elliott Management, a fearsome member of the gadfly genus, had also taken a multibillion-dollar stake in the company. The next day another, Inclusive Capital, was reported to have been buying Salesforce shares.