Carl Icahn The Activist Investor Legend

Carl Icahn is an US activist, investor and entrepreneur who purchases large stakes of companies to develop their management and routines. Buying and selling enterprises has earned him billions, with an estimated net worth to $14 billion. Born in a middle-class family on February 16, 1936, Icahn graduated in 1957 with a bachelor in philosophy from Princeton University. Later, he studied medicine in New York School of Medicine from where he dropped out. After two years, he was enrolled in the army but reverted back to his birth place in New York to explore the Wall Street world. Dreyfus & Company listed him as an agent in 1961, where he really worked hard to develop an insight on arbitrage and equities. By 1968, he secured a seat at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and developed his own enterprise by the name of Icahn & Co. American Entertainment Properties is also a subordinate of Icahn Enterprises. Throughout the 1980’s he ingeniously profited through major corporations like TWA (Trans World Airlines), USX (United States Steel Corporation), and Texaco oil. Besides, he fortified several prominent positions in well-known corporations like, TWA, Texaco, RJR Nabisco, Phillips Petroleum, Viacom, Western Union, Uniroyal, Marshall Fields, Gulf & Western, Dan River, E-II (Culligan and Samsonite), USX, Revlon, American Can, Imclone, Marvel Comics, Fairmont Hotels, Federal-Mogul, Blockbuster, Time Warner, Kerr-McGee, and Motorola. Moreover, he was a chairman of ACF Industries, Inc. and also served as the head of Bayswater Realty & Capital Corp.

An additional gain of $2 billion in trading profits attained him a third position on the list of ‘America’s most dreaded personalities’ alongside Bill Gates, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and George Soros. Chiefly, because such personalities carry abundant finance along with political and mental power which runs chills down the spines of bankers, investors, and financial figures. Fortune magazine states: “If the shareholders love him, business leaders hate him.” Since 1990, his hedge funds have annualized 48% to 53% return.

All his casinos, including Arizona Charlie’s Boulder, Stratosphere, Aquarius Casino Resort and Arizona Charlie’s Decatur were controlled by American Entertainment Properties. These were sold for $1.4 billion netting him approximately $1 billion. His prominent involvement in Icahn Enterprises, ImClone, blockbuster, XO Communications, Cadus, WestPoint Home and American Railcar Industries, brought an inordinate contract of success. He mostly buys shares when it is undervalued or when a company is going in a downward trend from management point of view.

Carl Icahn Personal Info

Carl Icahn’s Age – 78 Years
Career Duration and Experience – 53 Years
Source of Wealth: Icanhn & Co., Self-made, Leveraged buyouts and Activist work
Residence: New York, NY
Occupation: President of Icahn & Co,
Net worth (March 2012): $14 billion
Other Achievements: #50 Forbes Billionaires, #25 Forbes 400, ranked #21 on the wealthiest person in United States and the 46th richest person in the world (2008).

Notable Achievements:

– A seat for the Motorola’s board of directors was offered when the company found out that Icahn holds 33.5 million of their shares.
– A life on Carl Icahn was aired March 9th, 2008 in an American news program “60 minutes”
– His appearance on Nightly Business Report was highly appreciated by the audience when he conferred his opinions on proxy fights.
– On June 18, 2008, Icahn published a report on shareholder rights by the name of The Icahn Report. Interested candidates can sign up and be a part of it as it is in affiliation with The United Shareholders of America.
– He took over ImClone and later sold it for a $418 million profit. In 2011 his stakes in Motorola raised up to $600 million.
– Affirmed as the 46th richest man in the world by Forbes magazine

Additional Information

Icahn has been labeled as a “corporate raider” and “imperial shareholder.” In 1993, Mark Stevens a well-known author wrote a biography on him titled King Icahn. Carl has received numerous awards from Starlight Foundation’s Founders Award to Man of the Year Award in 1990 and was also termed Guardian Angel 2001 Man of the Year. Many establishments and schools are named after him, like the Icahn Stadium in New York, Carl C. Icahn Center for Science and Icahn Scholar Program in New England.
Donations were made to more than a few organizations and institutions for the sake of revival and educational purpose. Princeton University and Carl C. Icahn Laboratory were notable receivers. He is a trustee of Mount Sinai Hospital, New York where he made huge contributions. His foundation, the Children’s Rescue Fund allocates homeless individuals and families, comprising widows, pregnant ladies or helpless single ladies.
In 1985, a horse breeding operation was also established by the name of Foxfield Thoroughbreds. A two-year old pony Meadow Star won the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. From 1992, Foxfiled became a commercial breeder and stopped all racing operations. Since then it bred more than 140 horses but in 2004 Foxfield was auctioned along with all its mares.

Icahn Enterprises mainly invests in real estate, metals, rail cars and automotive companies.

Icahn Associates

Since January 23, 2012, Icahn Associates has been named one of the top 100 hedge funds. Carl Icahn’s hedge fund company is also known as the Icahn Group. It was founded in 1985, and is privately owned. The Icahn Group is located in New York City and deals in types of investments that range from hedging markets on the U.S. and public equity.