Personal:
Birth date: February 16, 1936
Birth date: February 16, 1936
Birth place: Brooklyn, New York
Birth name: Carl Celian Icahn
Father: Michael Icahn, cantor, teacher
Mother: Bella (Schnall) Icahn, teacher
Marriages: Gail Golden (1999-present); Liba Trejbal (1979-1999, divorced)
Children: with Liba Trejbal: Michelle, 1982; Brett, 1979
Education: Princeton University, Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, 1957; Attended New York University Medical School, 1957-1960
Military Service: U.S. Army
Other Facts:
Did a brief stint in the Army after dropping out of medical school.
Did a brief stint in the Army after dropping out of medical school.
Icahn was listed as No. 31 on Forbes' World's Billionaires list in 2015, with a net worth of $23.5 billion.
Was close to his uncle M. Elliot Schnall, who loaned him $400,000 to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
Has been sued and investigated numerous times for issues ranging from corporate debt payment to possible federal securities violations.
Considered an "activist investor."
Has been referred to as a "corporate raider" amid accusations of utilizing a strategy known as greenmail: forcing targeted companies to repurchase their own shares at higher (premium) prices.
Oliver Stone met with Icahn while working on the 1987 film "Wall Street." Icahn supplied character Gordon Gekko's line, "If you need a friend, get a dog."
Has held positions in numerous corporations, including: RJR Nabisco, Texaco, Phillips Petroleum, Western Union, Gulf & Western, Viacom, American Can, USX, Marvel, BEA Systems and Time Warner. (Time Warner owns CNN.)
Funds Foundation for a Greater Opportunity, which developed the Icahn Charter Schools in New York City.
Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island in New York is named after him.
Timeline:
1961 - Joins Dreyfus & Co. as a broker.
1961 - Joins Dreyfus & Co. as a broker.
1963 - Joins Tessel, Patrick & Co. as an options manager.
1964-1968 - Runs the options department at Gruntal & Co.
1968 - With help from his uncle, starts Icahn & Co., and is chairman and president.
1978 - As the largest shareholder of Tappan stock, Icahn precipitates a proxy fight. Tappan is later sold to Electrolux, and stock prices double.
1979 - Becomes chairman of the Bayswater Realty & Capital Corporation.
1984-present - Chairman and CEO of ACF Industries, after acquiring the company in 1983 for $400 million.
1985 - Attempts an unsuccessful $8 billion buyout of Phillips Petroleum. Icahn earns a reported $50 million selling his shares back to Phillips.
1985 - Purchases Trans World Airlines (TWA).
1988 - Icahn, the largest shareholder in Texaco Inc., threatens a proxy fight to fill five seats on the company's board. He loses, but continues to purchase more stock in the company.
1988 - Icahn takes TWA private and controls 90% of the stock. He earns $469 million for the deal. The airline remains $540 million in debt.
January 1989 - After negotiations with Texaco, Icahn signs a seven-year agreement to neither buy more stock nor make a takeover bid. His stake in shares is worth $2.2 billion.
1991 - In a deal with American Airlines, Icahn sells half of TWA's valuable London routes for $445 million.
1992 - TWA declares bankruptcy.
1993 - TWA emerges from bankruptcy. Creditors, including Icahn, own 55% of TWA. He resigns as chairman of TWA, with the airline owing him $190 million.
1995 - TWA and Icahn settle on the Karabu ticket agreement, which states that for eight years, Icahn can purchase any ticket through St. Louis for $.55 on the dollar and resell at a discount.
2000 - Makes multiple bids for Nabisco Group. Philip Morris Co., the parent company of Kraft Foods, wins, but Icahn still comes away with $600 million for himself and his investors.
2004 - Icahn begins raising $3 billion to start the hedge fund, Icahn Partners.
September 17, 2004 - Icahn discloses he holds an 8.9% stake in Mylan Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company which is in talks to buy rival King Pharmaceuticals.
October 2004 - Holds a 9.8% stake in Mylan Laboratories.
October 14, 2004 - Icahn files a proxy statement with the SEC, claiming Mylan's acquisition of King would be too expensive.
October 28, 2004 - King Pharmaceuticals announces it may have to restate its finances.
November 11-26, 2004 - After Blockbuster, Movie Gallery and a buyout firm all make unsolicited bids to buy Hollywood Entertainment Corp., Icahn spends two weeks buying an 8.4% stake in Hollywood Entertainment.
November 19, 2004 - Icahn makes a public bid for full ownership of Mylan Laboratories for $4.9 billion (for a total of $5.4 billion), to keep it separate from King Pharmaceuticals.
December 2004 - Icahn says he supports a merger between Blockbuster and rival Hollywood Entertainment.
February 27, 2005 - The deal between Mylan and King is officially off.
2005 - Buys 10 million shares of Blockbuster, becomes the largest shareholder with a 9.7% stake, and launches a proxy fight.
July 2005 - Icahn drops his bid to buy Mylan Laboratories and is expected to sell back 94% of his shares, making about a 14% profit.
October 2005 - Icahn sends a letter to Time Warner shareholders, pushing for new directors and stressing that the stock is undervalued.
February 7, 2006 - Icahn announces his desired plan for Time Warner: split up into four different companies and a $20 billion share buyback.
February 17, 2006 - After a six-month proxy fight, Time Warner and Icahn reach an agreement. Time Warner increases its share buyback amount to $20 billion, agrees to appoint two independent directors to the board and the company remains intact.
2007 - Becomes CEO of Icahn Capital LP, a wholly owned subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P.
March 2010 - Icahn sells a majority of his shares in Blockbuster for a loss of $180 million.
March 2011 - Announces he will return outside investors' money from his hedge funds.
July-September 2011 - Icahn, who owns about 9% stake in Clorox, makes multiple offers to take the company private, the highest being $10.7 billion. Clorox rejects the bids.
Fall 2011 - Icahn begins selling off his stake in Clorox.
October 2012 - Icahn's funds have acquired about a 10% stake in Netflix.
August 13, 2013 - Icahn announces he has "large" stake in Apple, and that the company is "extremely undervalued."
October 2013 - Icahn sells more than half his stake in Netflix, gaining more than $800 million while still holding a 4.5% stake.
October 23, 2013 - Icahn sends a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, proposing Apple conduct a $150 billion share buyback.
February 10, 2014 - In an open letter to Apple shareholders, Icahn drops his campaign for pushing the company toward a higher buyback plan.
April 2014 - Listed in Time magazine's list of 100 Most Influential People.
May 2014 - Law enforcement sources reveal an ongoing probe into stock trades from 2011, concerning golfer Phil Mickelson, Billy Walters, and Icahn's Clorox takeover bid.
June 2014 - Icahn holds a 9.4% stake in Family Dollar.
July 2014 - Icahn sells off shares in Family Dollar, owning a 3.6% stake by the end of the month.
Summer 2014 - Dollar Tree and Dollar General bid for ownership of Family Dollar.
August 2014 - Icahn criticizes Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine and pushes for a Dollar General buyout.
September 2014 - Icahn sells off his remaining stake in Family Dollar, earning, according to Reuters quoting sources familiar with the matter, a $200 million profit.
September 30, 2014 - EBay announces it will spin off PayPal, a decision Icahn has campaigned for this year. Icahn owns more than 30 million shares of eBay.
October 9, 2014 - Icahn, in an open letter to Tim Cook, states that Apple stock is undervalued andonce again pushes the CEO to increase its stock buybacks. Icahn owns about 53 million shares.
May 18, 2015 - Although Apple has already announced plans to increase its share repurchase plan from $90 billion to $140 billion, Icahn releases an open letter to Tim Cook, calling for a much larger buyback.
August 7, 2015 - Icahn tweets that he's ready to be part of President [Donald] Trump's cabinet. "After last night's debate I decided to accept @realDonaldTrump offer for Secretary of Treasury."
(via CNN)
(via CNN)
A real life Gordon Gekko. He even "busted out", to use the mafia terminology, an airline like in the movie. This guy's career of stock jobbery and fortunes track almost exactly the post '71 fiat based, finacialized, central bank manipulated US economy. He and Trump could finish off the job of busting out the country and economy via gov't for their personal profit and the profits of their cronies.
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