Activist investor Starboard has sizable stake in Splunk

(Reuters) - Activist investor Starboard Value LP has a nearly 5% stake in Splunk Inc and plans to push the software maker to take steps that would boost its share price, a source familiar with the matter said.

Starboard's Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Smith plans to discuss the investment at Tuesday's 13D Monitor Active-Passive Investor Summit, the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the holding, wrote on Sunday.

Starboard and Splunk did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Last week, Splunk added two directors to its board, including a partner from Hellman & Friedman. The private-equity firm owns about 7.8% stake in the software maker.

San Francisco-based Splunk is searching for a new finance chief after Jason Child stepped down to join Britain's Arm Ltd.

Starboard is one of the industry's prominent activist investors and is known for its operational expertise. Last month, the activist hedge fund disclosed its stake in website development platform Wix, supporting Wix's bid to become profitable.

(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru and Svea Herbst-Bayliss in New York; editing by Diane Craft)

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