Who is Carl Icahn?
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, known for taking stakes in companies and pushing for changes, strikes fear into most public-company CEOs. Icahn built $10 billion in assets, in part as a corporate raider, by buying into companies he deemed undervalued and pressing for asset sales and stock buybacks. He has tried to force changes in companies such as Trans World Airlines, Nabisco and ImClone. Last year, Icahn pushed a plan to break Time Warner into four parts and threatened to take control of the world’s largest media company. He backed down after his proposal failed to win shareholder support. He also advocated breaking up Temple-Inland, which said Monday it will separate into three stand-alone public companies and sell its timberlands. Icahn’s activism has had a local effect, although an indirect one. Mylan Laboratories shuttered its Durham subsidiary in 2005 as a cost-cutting move after Icahn made a $5.39 billion takeover offer in 2004.
” then you and I are on the same page. The eternal disrupter, Carl Icahn’s rear end is barely warming his seat on Yahoo’s board, and we’re already seeing reports that the company is once again interested in negotiating with AOL. The green light for the talks came as Yahoo’s directors met for the first time since activist investor Carl Icahn was granted access to the boardroom. Mr Icahn and two allies, former Viacom (NYSE:VIA.B) boss Frank Biondi and former Nextel head Frank Chapple, were given seats at the board table as part of a settlement to head off a revolt at the internet company’s last shareholder meeting. According to one person familiar with the company’s thinking, the Yahoo board approved a new round of discussions with AOL, though active deal negotiations are not underway at this stage. OK, seriously. Did anyone NOT see that coming? PS. And in case that doesn’t work out, Yahoo is apparently exploring the sell-off of some of its more valuable assets. Hmm, smells like Icahn’s
