Starboard 13-F

• Cut: Riot (RIOT), News (NWSA).

A 13-F is a backward-looking snapshot, disclosing positions as of quarter end with a lag that can run to several weeks, so any reduction shown may predate recent price action in the names. Starboard's track record is that of an activist that builds stakes to press for operational or strategic change, which makes cuts worth reading two ways: routine trimming of a passive position carries little signal, while an exit from a name where the fund had been agitating marks the end of a campaign and removes a buyer with a stated agenda. Riot and News Corp are very different situations, the former a volatile, operationally geared name where activist involvement has historically centred on capital allocation and strategy, the latter a controlled company where outside investors have limited leverage given the dual-class structure. The tells are whether the cuts are partial or full exits, whether an amended 13-D or 13-G follows with commentary, and whether the fund's remaining book shows capital rotating into a new target. Filing season tends to produce a cluster of such disclosures, and the pattern in past cycles is that single cuts draw little lasting reaction unless they signal abandonment of an active thesis.