An American investor named Carl Celian Icahn was born on February 16, 1936. Icahn Enterprises, a public firm and multinational conglomerate holding company with offices in Sunny Isles Beach, is a company he founded and controls. Icahn invests heavily in businesses that he thinks will benefit from changes in company policy and then exerts pressure on management to implement such changes.
He is credited with popularizing that investment technique for hedge funds as one of the first activist shareholders.
Icahn gained notoriety as a “corporate raider” in the 1980s after making money off the aggressive takeover and asset looting of Trans World Airlines.
Icahn, who was then the company’s chairman and a sizable stakeholder, was informed of XO Communications’ intention to sell the wired portion of its business to him for $700 million. The proceeds would be used to settle debts and purchase the preferred stock back from Icahn for around $600 million. In that case, Icahn would still have had a 60% ownership position in XO and would have fully owned the wired company.
Despite R2 and other minority shareholders blocking the transaction through the legal system in 2008, which charged Icahn with penalties for his conflict of interest, and despite Icahn’s majority ownership and the board of directors declaring the deal to be in the best interest of shareholders, R2 and other shareholders.
What companies is Carl Icahn investing in?
He has stakes in Icahn Enterprises LP (67.52%), Energy Inc. (9.72%), FirstEnergy Corp. (3.31%), and Occidental Petroleum Corp. (3.01%).
