DealLawyers.com Blog

August 26, 2015

How Carl Icahn Works

Here’s an excerpt from this interesting blog from a while back by “The Activist Investor”:

For one of the most-discussed investors these days, we know surprisingly little about Carl Icahn’s activist investing. Numerous magazine and journal articles profile or mention him. But, unlike Warren Buffett or Peter Lynch, we could find only one book, from over twenty years ago, that covers his investment thinking.

Fortunately, we have abundant data about his activist projects. We studied these projects a bit, to see what lessons other activist investors could learn. We found some surprises.

Carl Icahn has a distinct approach. With a couple of notable exceptions, he avoids mega-cap companies, even though he has the assets and profile to tackle just about any company. He achieves his goals, and superior returns, though publicity, his outsized reputation, and financial clout. He follows-through on his threats less frequently, with few proxy contests. That threat alone means he usually settles with a company, accepting some BoD seats or the promise of a restructuring.

And then there’s this more recent blog entitled “Corporate Governance, The Icahn Way” by The Activist Investor…