Starboard Value Is to Take Stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb

Starboard Value has taken a stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical giant that agreed to acquire Celgene Corp. in a record $74 billion deal last month, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The size of the stake and any plans that Jeff Smith’s activist hedge fund might have for its investment in the $81 billion drugmaker couldn’t immediately be learned.