(Bloomberg) -- Elliott Investment Management has built a 13% stake in Etsy Inc., the online marketplace for artisans, people with knowledge of the matter said.

It makes the activist investor the largest shareholder in Etsy, Bloomberg-compiled data show. A representative for Etsy declined to comment. 

Marc Steinberg, a partner at Elliott, will join the Etsy board on Feb. 5 and become a member of the company’s audit committee, according to a statement on Thursday. Steinberg was invited to join Etsy’s board following friendly conversations with the company’s leadership, a person familiar with the matter said. 

Shares in Etsy rose as much as 14% on Thursday for their biggest intraday gain in more than a year. The stock was up 8.1% at 11:14 a.m. in New York, giving the company a market value of $8.6 billion.

Elliott is jumping into the stock as broader headwinds challenge the finances of the online retail business. Etsy is among the digital retailers that have struggled for growth since the world emerged from Covid-19 lockdowns and stopped shopping as much online.

The company’s shares remain down almost 50% over the last 12 months. In December, Etsy announced a restructuring plan aimed at improving operational efficiencies that included cutting about 225, or 11%, of its marketplace employees. 

Investors have seen Etsy as a bit of an industry outlier in the past. It serves as a platform for artisans to sell their wares, meaning it doesn’t have to spend big on warehouses or inventory as a traditional retailer does. That has previously benefitted the company as it’s been seen as largely bypassing growing inflationary pressures.

Read more: Elliott Management Names Bhanji, Steinberg, Genrich as Partners

--With assistance from Lynn Doan.

(Adds detail on Steinberg in third paragraph.)

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