Earlier this year, three prolific activists separately disclosed a stake in Salesforce, Inc., each with a seemingly different agenda and investment horizon. In January, it was reported that Elliott Management was preparing to nominate a slate of directors at the software company after taking a multi-billion-dollar position earlier in the year. Elliott publicly called for a sustainable leadership plan and increased management accountability by way of enhanced Board oversight. Just a few months earlier, Starboard Value had criticized the company's subpar growth and profitability relative to its peers. At the same time, ValueAct Capital worked with the company behind the scenes, ultimately extracting a Board seat for the fund's CIO Mason Morfit as a part of a settlement agreement (perhaps in an attempt to "inoculate" the Board). Elliott ultimately declined to run dissident director candidates at Salesforce's annual meeting this year.