&quot;Activist&quot; typically refers to investors who try to either obtain enough shares, or sway the votes of enough shares, to get seats on a company&#x27;s board and enact a specific agenda they want. It&#x27;s often used pejoratively to refer to investors who want to gain influence just long enough to reap a profit from gutting the company, leaving other investors with now-worthless shares in the husk they leave behind.