ValueAct Capital Management said that it had invested $2 billion in software giant Microsoft and that boosted its share price by 3.6 percent yesterday.
The founder of the hedge fund, Jeffrey Ubben, revealed the fact at an investor conference in the US yesterday.
Although $2 billion isn’t a trivial sum, that investment only represents less than one percent of Microsoft’s total shares, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Ubben said his company invested in Microsoft because the company wasn’t appreciated by other investors. Stock prices in Microsoft have been in the doldrums since 2002, unlike the stock price of, say, Google or for that matter Apple.
Two years ago, another investor, David Einhorn, also talked up Microsoft but at the same time he suggested it was time Steve Ballmer stepped down from the CEO position. Microsoft’s share price (MSFT: NASDAQ) closed at $30.79 last night.
