Jana Partners, one of the leading activist hedge fund firms run by Barry Rosenstein, has taken a liking to two of the most beaten-up technology stocks, giving a fillip to the share prices of both companies Wednesday.
Groupon climbed 5.5 percent to $7.28 in midday trading, a nine-month high. Zynga Inc. shares jumped 7 percent to $3.57.
Jana, which oversees more than $4 billion in U.S. stock holdings, disclosed stakes of 24.6 million Zynga Inc class A shares and 21.9 million Groupon Inc class A shares in regulatory filings on Wednesday.
The positions represent just over 3 percent of the companies’ outstanding shares. The Groupon stake was worth $134 million as of the end of March, while the Zynga holding was worth $86 million, according to the filings.
Groupon, the world’s largest daily deal company, and Zynga, a leading social game developer, went public in 2011 at lofty valuations, but the share prices have slumped since then amid concern about slowing growth at both companies.
Zynga’s initial public offering priced at $10, while Groupon’s priced at $20.
Jana Partners, which often pressures the companies it invests in to change their business strategies or sell themselves, released its so-called 13-F filing Wednesday, which describes which U.S. stocks it owned at the end of the first quarter of 2013.
During the first quarter, the Jana Partners fund was up 6.1 percent. A spokesman for Jana did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zynga’s stock price has been under pressure as investors react to its slow transformation into a gaming company that’s focused on mobile devices such as smartphones, rather than desktop computers.
Groupon is undergoing a transformation too. The company is selling a lot more deals through smartphones and is listing longer-term deals in a searchable, online marketplace, a move away from its email roots.
Source : Reuters
