By Colin Kellaher

Shares of Salesforce Inc. jumped more than 5% in premarket trading after CNBC reported that activist investor Starboard Value LP has taken a stake in the enterprise software maker.

Jeff Smith, Starboard's founder and chief executive, told CNBC that the hedge fund's stake in Salesforce is significant, but he didn't disclose the dollar amount.

The Wall Street Journal earlier this week reported that Starboard had taken a sizable stake in Splunk Inc. with plans to push the software maker to take action to boost its stock price.

Mr. Smith is appearing at an activist-investing conference on Tuesday, where he is expected to detail the fund's thesis, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Salesforce shares, which closed Monday at $147.18, were recently up 5.4%, to $155.15, in premarket trading.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2022 09:29 ET (13:29 GMT)

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