Carl Icahn
Carl Icahn is a billionaire financier, ranking #18 on the 2007 Forbes 400 list with an estimated net worth of $14.5 billion.
Icahn built a name for himself in the 1980s as a corporate raider. After keeping quite for years, Icahn made a major comeback as a 'activist investor'. An activist investor agitates companies for changes, including buyouts, share buybacks, and dividend increases.
Icahn has successfully pushed for changes at Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN), among others. Icahn won board seats at Motorola (NYSE: MOT) after first failing.
In 2007, Icahn's activism successfully pushed biotech company MedImmune into a sales agreement with AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN). Icahn is also involved with biotech company Imclone Systems (Nasdaq: IMCL), where he is Chairman of the Board.
In early, 2008 Icahn activist target BEA Systems (Nasdaq: BEAS) was sold to Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL). Icahn held a 13% stake in BEA.
Icahn is also involved with developments at Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB) and WCI Communities (NYSE: WCI), which both unsuccessfully explored sales. WCI rejected a $22 per share takeover offer from Icahn in early 2007, only to see its stock plummet on the housing slowdown.
In 2008, Icahn targeted Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) after the Internet company failed to work out an acceptable merger agreement with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Microsoft walked away from its bid for Yahoo! after months of bickering.
Carl Icahn's Portfolio
| Company | Ticker | # of Shares | Change | Price | Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVR Energy | CVI | 71,198,718 | $67.90 | $4,834,392,953 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| Chesapeake Energy Corp. | CHK | 59,698,689 | $21.67 | $1,293,670,591 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| NetFlix, Inc. | NFLX | 5,541,066 | $228.74 | $1,267,463,437 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| Forest Laboratories, Inc. | FRX | 30,662,005 | $39.23 | $1,202,870,457 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| Transocean | RIG | 20,154,035 | +14,315,649 | $52.06 | $1,049,219,063 | History » | Related Stories » |
| Herbalife | HLF | 16,966,485 | +16,966,485 | $47.65 | $808,453,011 | History » | Related Stories » |
| Federal-Mogul Corporation | FDML | 76,697,804 | $9.42 | $722,493,314 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| Nuance Communications, Inc. | NUAN | 33,899,274 | +33,899,274 | $19.21 | $651,205,054 | History » | Related Stories » |
| Hain Celestial Group, Inc. | HAIN | 7,239,963 | $68.44 | $495,503,068 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| Navistar International | NAV | 11,845,167 | $35.88 | $425,004,592 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| ICAHN ENT DEP UTS | IEP | 5,329,130 | +959,068 | $76.25 | $406,346,163 | History » | Related Stories » |
| Mentor Graphics Corp | MENT | 16,120,289 | $18.46 | $297,580,535 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| FreightCar America, Inc. | RAIL | 11,871,268 | $17.64 | $209,409,168 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| Take-Two Interactive Softwar | TTWO | 12,020,744 | $16.02 | $192,572,319 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| WebMD Health Corp. | WBMD | 6,700,525 | $28.57 | $191,434,000 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| CVR Refining LP | CVRR | 4,000,000 | +4,000,000 | $30.36 | $121,440,000 | History » | Related Stories » |
| Dell, Inc. | DELL | 7,000,000 | +7,000,000 | $13.34 | $93,380,000 | History » | Related Stories » |
| Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | ENZN | 5,904,863 | $3.16 | $18,659,368 | History » | Related Stories » | |
| MOTRICITY, Inc. | MOTR | 6,782,039 | $0.36 | $2,441,535 | History » | Related Stories » | |
