Activist investor Carl Icahn has bought more shares of
speech-recognition technology maker Nuance Communications Inc.
(NUAN), lifting his stake to 16%.
Affiliates of Mr. Icahn initially disclosed a 9.3% stake in
Nuance in April, without announcing any intentions for the company.
Nuance has sought advice from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), The
Wall Street Journal reported in April.
Nuance makes software that converts speech into text and is
known best for its Dragon line of dictation products. The company
sells its products to corporate customers, individuals and
healthcare providers.
Costs, tied in part to acquisitions, have weighed on the
company's bottom line in recent quarters, masking strong revenue
growth. The company earlier this week reported it swung to a loss
for its fiscal third quarter.
Activist shareholders have become major agitators at American
companies in recent years. Mr. Icahn is known for amassing big
stakes and pushing for change at underperforming companies.
He is Nuance's biggest shareholder.
Shares closed Thursday at $19.33 and were unchanged after hours.
Through the close, the stock was down 13% since the start of the
year.
Write to Kristin Jones at kristin.jones@wsj.com
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