# Activist Investor

*Corporate Finance & M&A — Finicade finance glossary*

An activist investor takes a stake and publicly pressures management to change — sell a division, return cash, replace the board. The playbook usually starts from a sum-of-the-parts gap. Evidence on the results is genuinely mixed: activists tend to lift share prices in the short run, and the debate over whether the changes help or hollow out a business long-term remains unresolved.

**Also known as:** shareholder activism, activist campaign

**Related terms:** [Corporate Governance](https://finicade.com/glossary/corporate-governance), [Spin-Off](https://finicade.com/glossary/spin-off), [Sum-of-the-Parts Valuation](https://finicade.com/glossary/sum-of-the-parts-valuation), [Poison Pill](https://finicade.com/glossary/poison-pill), [Share Buyback](https://finicade.com/glossary/share-buyback)

Source: https://finicade.com/glossary/activist-investor