Hedge fund Starboard has taken a 5.8% stake in struggling cyber security firm Symantec, signalling a possible boardroom battle after nominating five new directors to the board. Starboard said it would be seeking to “unlock value” from Symantec, which makes a large chunk of its sales through the channel.
Symantec has posted a raft of poor financial results recently and is currently the subject of an internal investigation into its accounts, after a whistleblower approached the company with information before the company posted its final quarter results.
Those results showed that consumer business now outweighed the traditionally more lucrative business segment, much of it sold through the channel.
The ongoing accounting probe was followed by the announcement that the firm would be axing 8% of its staff across its operations in an attempt to improve margins. While the share price had plunged approaching 40% in a year, news of the Starboard intervention sent the share price up.
In response, Symantec said: “Over the last several weeks, we have had a dialogue with Starboard and we plan to continue these discussions.”
The nominees that Starboard has put forward include Dale Fuller, who was previously the CEO of Symantec rival McAfee. Starboard’s current stake makes it the fourth biggest shareholder in the Norton security software seller.
