Street Speculator

Carl Icahn is a well known corporate investor. One of his principles (As should be the case with any shareholder) is to create value, or rather unlock value.

He is very outspoken in his disagreement with CEO “golden parachute” pay packages when exiting a company left in bad financial shape. His M.O. is to target companies he thinks are being poorly run by management. Icahn then through his investment funds buys enough shares of a specific publicly traded company to get board sheets. Once successful in getting the corporate board sheets, Icahn then attempts to change management and in some cases have the current CEO removed (Ed Zander, former Motorola CEO).

Icahn’s approach is sometimes successful (Imclone, BEA Systems), and sometimes not (Yahoo, TWA). Many view him as a “corporate hitman.” Investors call on him to shake things up, especially those shareholders who desire changes but refuse to be publicly known. These are the people who have lost a great deal of money with stock share drops. This group may include other corporations, pension funds, and even hedge funds.

If you are a shareholder either through an employer plan or as a day trader, you could probably use his services today. He would be especially helpful in shaking-up management with some of the major U.S. financial institutions. The SPECs have learned about rumors on the street (Wall Street) that many banks have losses in the billions that are not yet reflected on their current balance sheets (Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, etc…). But rumors as they may be, it is still a possibility.

Icahn on 60 minutes:
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