ValueAct takes $1-billion stake in Meta, source says

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

(Reuters) -ValueAct Capital has built a $1-billion stake in Meta Platforms but is not currently pushing for big changes at the Facebook and Instagram parent, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The stake, which ValueAct has been building in recent weeks, now ranks among the firm's two largest alongside its bet on cloud-based software company Salesforce.

The investment firm and technology company have held discussions but it was not clear at what level and what suggestions were made.

Meta is worth $1.5 trillion and the company's stock price barely moved on the news, which was first reported by CNBC.

The new stake is not considered an activist position in which ValueAct would press management and the board to make dramatic changes, the source said.

Later this week, investment managers will release their 13F filings that show their positions in U.S. stocks at the end of the third quarter and the Meta stake will show up on ValueAct's filing. However, its size has grown dramatically over recent weeks.

ValueAct, based in San Francisco, previously invested in Microsoft, where it wanted the company to improve performance and was then handed a board seat in 2013. Compared with other activist investors, ValueAct prides itself on working with managements and boards outside the limelight and reaching solutions without threatening noisy boardroom challenges.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment and ValueAct declined to comment.

(Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru and Svea Herbst-Bayliss in New York; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Rod Nickel)