Starboard Value takes 7.5% stake in Box

Starboard Value, LP revealed in an SEC Form 13D filing last week that it owns a 7.5% stake in Box, the cloud content management company.

It is probably not a coincidence that Starboard Value looks for undervalued stocks. Box stock has been on a price roller coaster ride, since it went public in 2015 at a price of $14.00 per share before surging to $23.23 per share. It had high share price of $28.12 in May 2018, but the price dipped into the teens in March and was at $14.85 as we went to press. It has a 52-week low price of $12.46 per share.

As for Box, it wasn't saying much. "While we do not comment on interactions with our investors, Box is committed to maintaining an active and engaged dialogue with stockholders. The Board of Directors and management team are focused on delivering growth and profitability to drive long-term stockholder value as we continue to pioneer the Cloud Content Management market," a Box spokesperson told TechCrunch.

The company, which began life as a consumer storage company, made the transition to enterprise software several years after it launched in 2005. It raised more than $500 million along the way, and was a Silicon Valley SaaS darling until it filed its S-1 in 2014.

The S-1 revealed massive sales and marketing spending, and critics came down hard on the company. That led to one of the longest IPO delays in memory, taking 9 month from the time the company filed until it finally had its IPO in January 2015.

In its most recent earnings report last week, Box announced $172.5M in revenue for for the quarter, putting it on a run rate close to $700M.

Levie will be appearing at TechCrunch Sessions: Enterprise on Thursday.

We emailed Starboard Value for comment on this article. Should it respond, we will update the article.