Things like that, that are really helpful for the adviser. The last point I would make is around the research business. And the research business for analysts and investors to realize is we use our data in a anonymized — de-identified way that helps create insights for asset management firms to make investment decisions. And that business has been a headwind for us. It’s been a significant headwind for Envestnet and for the data business, because there’s been increased competition in that space. And really, over the last three years, we haven’t had a substantial upgrade in the data product itself. And so what we found is that we’ve got pretty good retention from a client standpoint, but those contracts have been renewed at reduced rates. We’ve made a lot of progress there.
And so as we look at the second half of ’23, we fully anticipate that, that research business is going to begin to post growth versus some of the pull that we felt from that business. And it’s because we have improved the data set. We are offering new features and functions that are differentiated to the data that is existing in the market. And the response so far has been pretty important for our clients. In Q1, again, year-to-date, I think it’s February 23rd. So between the beginning of the year and February 23rd, our pipeline and our interest from clients is 2 times what it was as we ended ’22. So it is — the interest in our data set and the research product is growing materially. And I think it bodes very well for the back half of the year when we think about the research data business.
Operator: And our next question is from Patrick O’Shaughnessy with Raymond James.
Patrick O’Shaughnessy: Can you speak to the thought process behind the share repurchases that you executed in the fourth quarter and then your capacity and willingness to continue repurchases as we move into 2023?
Pete D’Arrigo: So we were kind of tracking throughout — really, we got the authorization a couple of years ago and have been tracking opportunistically as the price dipped. Obviously, in 2022, there were periods throughout that we took advantage and bought in some shares. And in the fourth quarter, in conjunction with the debt issuance, the convertible note issuance, we wanted to do as much as we could to both return capital to shareholders as well as mitigate some of the share dilution that comes along with convertible note issuance. So we were a little more aggressive in the fourth quarter to do that. I think going forward, again, we will continue to be opportunistic. We have run up toward the end, although we do still have some capacity with the authorization from the Board. And as we see opportunities, we’re certainly — we’d consider going back and asking for a greater authorization from our Board.
Patrick O’Shaughnessy: And then obviously, this past quarter, there was some public filings by an activist shareholder. Can you characterize your interactions with Impactive Capital, and where do you see this heading?
Bill Crager: Yes, of course, we’re aware of the filings and publication that Impactive has published. And I think I’d take it a step back and just kind of talk about — two years ago, we were investing so that we could bring the parts of Envestnet together. We can leverage the power of data to drive growth. We could solve the opportunities and issues that our clients have and deepen our competitive advantage. We’ve done those things. And it took investment dollars to do it. We said we’d also, two years ago, create sustained operating leverage for the company. I talked about it in the prepared remarks that we want to lift the ceiling for margin expansion for the company. And I think we’re really creating the environment to do that.
