Carl Icahn

Carl Icahn
Born Carl Celian Icahn
(1936-02-16) February 16, 1936
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater Princeton University
New York University (attended)
Occupation Founder and majority shareholder of Icahn Enterprises
Chairman of Federal-Mogul
Net worth Decrease $18 billion (March 2016)[1]
Spouse(s) Liba Trejbal (m. 1979–99)
Gail Golden (m. 1999)
Children Brett (with Trejbal)
Michelle (with Trejbal)
Website Business website
Personal website

Carl Celian Icahn (born February 16, 1936) is an American business magnate, investor, activist shareholder, and philanthropist. He is the founder and majority shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a diversified conglomerate holding company based in New York City. He is also Chairman of Federal-Mogul, an American developer, manufacturer and supplier of powertrain components and vehicle safety products.

Early life

Icahn was raised in the Far Rockaway, Queens section of New York City, where he attended Far Rockaway High School.[2] His family was Jewish.[3][4] His father was a "dogmatic atheist"[5] and a frustrated opera singer who settled on being a cantor, before becoming a substitute teacher. His mother also worked as a schoolteacher.[6] Carl graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy in 1957 and then joined New York University School of Medicine, but he dropped out after two years to join the army.[7][8][9]

Business career and interests

Icahn began his career on Wall Street as a stockbroker in 1961 and in 1968, he formed Icahn & Co., a securities firm that focused on risk arbitrage and options trading.[10][11] In 1978, he began taking controlling positions in individual companies.[2] He has taken substantial or controlling positions in various corporations including RJR Nabisco, TWA, Texaco, Phillips Petroleum, Western Union, Gulf & Western, Viacom, Uniroyal, Dan River, Marshall Field's, E-II (Culligan and Samsonite), American Can, USX, Marvel Comics, Revlon, Imclone, Federal-Mogul, Fairmont Hotels, Blockbuster, Kerr-McGee, Time Warner, Netflix, Motorola, and Herbalife.

Icahn developed a reputation as a ruthless "corporate raider" after his hostile takeover of TWA in 1985.[12] The result of that takeover was Icahn systematically selling TWA's assets to repay the debt he used to purchase the company, which was described as asset stripping. In 1988, Icahn took TWA private, gaining a personal profit of $469 million, and leaving TWA with a debt of $540 million. In 1991, Icahn sold TWA's prized London routes to American Airlines for $445 million.[13] Carl Icahn formed lowestfares.com to sell TWA tickets and acquired portions of Global Leisure Travel from Ramy El-Batrawi to merge into it.[14]

Icahn also attempted the grand prize of U.S. Steel, launching a hostile takeover for 89% of the industrial giant for $7 billion ($15.1 billion in 2015) in late 1986. He was finally rebuffed by CEO David Roderick on January 8, 1987.[15] On July 2001 Ramy El-Batrawi sourced acquisitions for Genesisintermedia and arranged $100 million in acquisition loan commitment from Carl Icahn’s Riverdale, LLC for GenesisIntermedia, Inc. and got an option to purchase 2 million shares of the company.[16][17]

In 2004, Icahn purchased a large block of stock of Mylan Laboratories, after Mylan had announced a deal to acquire King Pharmaceuticals. Icahn threatened a proxy fight over the acquisition, on the ground that the deal required Mylan to overpay. In early 2005, Mylan gave up its efforts to acquire King, but according to the management, the decision was made after it had monitored relevant facts, not due to pressure from Icahn.

In 2007, Icahn and his affiliates owned majority positions in firms including ACF Industries, American Railcar Industries, XO Communications, Philip Services, and NYSE-listed Icahn Enterprises, formerly known as American Real Estate Partners.

Icahn made an attempted run as a major shareholder of Time Warner, owning about 3.3% of the company valued at billions of dollars. He has been actively seeking to influence the direction of Time Warner, often in conflict with its former chief executive, Richard Parsons. Although Time Warner recently sold 5% of its AOL division, Icahn has been pressing for additional action to increase shareholder value. On February 7, 2006, a group led by Icahn and Lazard Frères CEO Bruce Wasserstein unveiled a 343-page proposal calling for the breakup of Time Warner into four companies and stock buybacks totaling approximately $20 billion. On February 17, 2006, the Icahn-led group agreed with Time Warner to not contest the re-election of Time Warner's slate of board members at the 2006 shareholders meeting. In exchange for the Icahn group's cooperation, Time Warner would buy back up $20 billion of stock, nominate more independent members to the board of directors, cut $1 billion of costs by 2007, and continue discussions with the Icahn group over their proposal, particularly on the future of Time Warner Cable.

In 2008, Icahn showed interest in the takeover of Yahoo! and the ousting of Jerry Yang from his position as CEO to allow Microsoft to purchase the web company.[18]

Icahn sold his casino interests in Nevada on February 21, 2008. They included the Stratosphere, Arizona Charlie's Boulder, Arizona Charlie's Decatur, and Aquarius Casino Resort which are operated through American Entertainment Properties, a subsidiary of Icahn's major company, Icahn Enterprises. The sale price of $1.3 billion was roughly $1 billion more than he paid for the properties.

In June 2008, Icahn launched The Icahn Report which campaigns for shareholder rights. It hosts United Shareholders of America where individual investors can sign up and take part.

Icahn was a director of Blockbuster until January 2010 and the chairman of Imclone, Icahn Enterprises, XO Communications, WestPoint Home, Cadus, and American Railcar Industries. He is a beneficial owner of Adventrx Pharmaceuticals, Vector Group and has had significant holdings in Time Warner. Icahn tried to take over Marvel Comics, coming into conflict with Avi Arad, Ron Perelman, and Ike Perlmutter.[19] Marvel was instead acquired by The Walt Disney Company in late 2009.

Icahn's hedge funds currently own 5.6% of biotechnology company Biogen Idec. Beginning in 2007, Icahn has steadily increased his stake in Biogen, seeking to possibly acquire, break up, and/or sell off various parts of the company.[20] As of June 2009, Icahn has managed to seat two of his allies on Biogen's board with the apparent goal of splitting the company into two entities and possibly replacing CEO James C. Mullen, of whom he has been highly critical.[21]

In July 2010, Icahn acquired a 14 percent stake in Mentor Graphics. Based on this acquisition, Mentor Graphics signed a poison-pill provision. As of September 2010, Icahn owns just less than 15 percent of Mentor Graphics. On February 22, 2011 he made an offer to buy Mentor Graphics for about $1.86 billion in cash in a move to push other suitors to declare themselves. On October 31, 2012 Icahn bought 5.5 million shares of the internet video service provider Netflix taking a 10% stake in the company.[22]

In February 2013, Forbes listed Icahn as one of the 40 Highest-Earning hedge fund managers.[23]

In July 2013, Icahn started an attempt to acquire Dell Inc.

On August 13, 2013, Icahn announced that his new stock pick is Apple, and for the next few years was an outspoken proponent of the company. He sold all his shares in April 2016, citing concerns about Apple's relationship with China.[24]

In October 2013, Icahn acquired around 61 million shares in Talisman Energy prompting shares in the ailing Canadian oil producer to surge. He also announced he would seek a seat on the board of the company.[25]

In November 2013, Icahn disclosed he had acquired a 12.5% interest in Hologic, a medical device and diagnostics manufacturer. He subsequently influenced the board to increase its membership by two, which were filled by directors supported by Icahn (each newly appointed director is a managing director of one of Icahn's holding companies).

Business acquisition and investment timeline

Politics

Icahn endorsed Donald Trump for the 2016 US presidential election. He also announced the formation of a super PAC pledging $150 million to push for corporate tax reform. Icahn will target inversions, which occur when corporations leave the U.S. to take advantage of lower tax rates elsewhere.[67]

Personal life

Icahn has been married twice.

In 1979, he married Liba Trejbal, a ballerina from the former Czechoslovakia.[68][69][70] They separated in 1993 and divorced in 1999 after years of litigation. Liba had sought to invalidate a prenuptial agreement she had signed prior to their marriage claiming duress as she was pregnant at the time.[71] Liba originally fought Icahn's offer of roughly $1.5 million a year because he was worth billions at the time and eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.[70][72] They have two children, one of whom is Brett Icahn.[68]

In 1999, he married his longtime assistant and former broker, Gail Golden.[70] She has two children from a prior marriage.[68]

Philanthropy

Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island in New York City is named after him, as is the Carl C. Icahn Center for Science and Icahn Scholar Program at Choate Rosemary Hall, a prep school in Connecticut. This organization pays for tuition, room and board, books, and supplies for 10 students every year for four years (freshman-senior), an expense that adds up to about $160,000 per student.

Icahn made a substantial contribution to his alma mater, Princeton University, to fund a genomics laboratory which bears his name, the Carl C. Icahn Laboratory at the University's Institute for Integrated Genomics. He also made large contributions to Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, of which he is a trustee, which in return not only named a building the Icahn Medical Institute designed by Davis Brody Bond, but also, in 2013, renamed the Mount Sinai School of Medicine as the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The genomics institute led by Eric Schadt was also renamed and is now the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology.

His foundation, the Children's Rescue Fund, built Icahn House in The Bronx, a 65-unit complex for homeless families consisting of single pregnant women and single women with children, and operates Icahn House East and Icahn House West, both of which are homeless shelters located in New York City.

Icahn has received numerous awards, including the Starlight Foundation's Founders Award and its 1990 Man of the Year Award. He was also named Guardian Angel 2001 Man of the Year. In 2004, he was honored by the Center for Educational Innovation  Public Education Association for his work with charter schools. In 2006, he was honored with the 100 Women in Hedge Funds Effecting Change Award for his outstanding contributions to improving education.

In 2010, Icahn joined the Giving Pledge list, pledging to give away more than half his fortune, yet has not decided on the specific beneficiaries.[73][74]

On January 30, 2016, Icahn donated $1,000,000 dollars at a Des Moines, Iowa, fundraiser for US Veterans on behalf of Donald Trump [75]

Thoroughbred horse racing

In 1985 Icahn established Foxfield Thoroughbreds, a horse breeding operation. At that year's Newstead Farm Trust sale run by Fasig-Tipton, he paid $4 million for Larida, a 6-year-old mare and a record $7 million for the 4-year-old bay mare Miss Oceana who was in foal to champion sire, Northern Dancer.

Icahn's Meadow Star won the 1990 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Two-Year-Old Filly. In 1992, Foxfield ended its racing operation and became a commercial breeder. Having bred more than 140 stakes horses, in 2004 Icahn shut down Foxfield, selling all his mares and weanlings without reserve at the Keeneland Sales November breeding stock auction.

References

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Further reading

External links

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