Bulletins

Box is considering a sale amid pressure from Starboard Value

The hedge fund is frustrated over the company's lack of growth over the past year, according to Reuters, which cited anonymous sources.

Other enterprise software and cloud firms like Salesforce and DocuSign saw sales skyrocket as companies adjusted to remote work.

A Box spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

D.A. Davidson & Co. analysts speculated that a deal could fetch interest from industry giants like Salesforce, IBM, Citrix or Google. Box, for example, was featured on a leaked 2016 slide from Salesforce highlighting potential future M&A and IBM is rumored to have tried to buy Box when it was private, per the analysts.

Still, they're betting more heavily on a takeover by a private equity firm.

"Private equity appetite for buying software, specifically in the 'stalled growth' category, has returned," the analysts wrote. "We believe there is still low-hanging fruit at Box that private equity could capitalize on."

Joe Williams

Joe Williams is a writer-at-large at Protocol. He previously covered enterprise software for Protocol, Bloomberg and Business Insider. Joe can be reached at JoeWilliams@Protocol.com. To share information confidentially, he can also be contacted on a non-work device via Signal (+1-309-265-6120) or JPW53189@protonmail.com.

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