# Elliott Management takes stake in F5 Networks

The exact size of Elliott’s stake couldn’t be learned, though it falls below the 5% threshold that would require regulatory disclosure, the people said. Elliott is one of the biggest investors in F5 Networks, a Seattle company with a market value of about $8.8 billion, they added.

Founded in the mid-1990s, F5 Networks
FFIV,
+2.49%
is a so-called applications-services company, working behind the scenes to make sure apps like Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
+0.18%
are secure and perform smoothly.

The company’s stock has risen 3.4% since the start of the year, clawing back all the steep losses it suffered in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, after a strong quarterly earnings report showed accelerating software growth. Still, it is far behind a 33% climb in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
+0.03%
as growth has slowed and margins have declined. The stock closed Friday at $144.37, down from a high of roughly $200 in late 2018.

Among other things, Elliott managers question the company’s recent acquisitions of Shape Security Inc. and Nginx Software Inc., suggesting it may have overpaid without a clear integration strategy, the people said.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

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