CoStar Stockholders Reelect Board and Approve Pay After Activist Push

CoStar Group's board has come through its activist test intact. The Arlington-based data and portals giant said stockholders reelected all eight director nominees and backed its executive pay plan at the annual meeting on 23 June.

Each nominee drew more than 93% support. The advisory say-on-pay vote passed with 71.38% in favour, a clear majority though hardly a landslide, after a 2025 vote that had stung management.

The result draws a line under months of public pressure. In January, hedge fund Third Point called for a board overhaul and the sale of residential portal Homes.com, with D.E. Shaw piling in days later. Both accused directors of being too deferential to founder and chief executive Andy Florance. Third Point has since exited its position, though the campaign at one point floated removing Florance himself.

Florance was in no mood to dwell on that. "The overwhelming stockholder support for our directors reflects their confidence in our strategy and the considerable opportunities ahead for CoStar Group," he wrote on LinkedIn, noting that the board, including three new directors, had "unanimously approved our plan to deliver revenue growth and prioritize EBITDA margin expansion" and that management had met more than 500 stockholders face to face.

That engagement came with a redesigned 2026 compensation programme built around tougher, more quantitative goals. The board chair and compensation committee chair also worked the top 50 stockholders, who hold roughly 77% of shares. With Q1 revenue of $897 million and adjusted EBITDA doubled to $132 million, CoStar now has the numbers, and the votes, to argue the activists picked the wrong fight.