Carl Icahn

Carl Celian Icahn (born February 16, 1936) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.

He is the founder and controlling shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a public company and diversified conglomerate holding company based in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.

Icahn's business model is to take large stakes in companies that he believes will appreciate from changes to corporate policy.

Subsequently, Icahn then pressures management to make the changes that he believes will benefit shareholders, and himself.

Widely regarded as one of the most successful hedge fund managers of all time and one of the greatest investors on Wall Street, he was one of the first activist shareholders and is credited with making that investment strategy mainstream for hedge funds.

Icahn graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in philosophy in 1957 after completing a senior thesis titled "The Problem of Formulating an Adequate Explication of the Empiricist Criterion of Meaning."

He then entered New York University School of Medicine, but he dropped out after two years to join the military reserve force.

In 1961, Icahn began his career as a stockbroker for Dreyfus Corporation.

In 1963, he became an options manager for Tessel, Patrick & Co. and then he moved to Gruntal & Co.

In 1968, with $150,000 of his own money and a $400,000 investment from his uncle, M. Elliot Schnall, Icahn bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and formed Icahn & Co., which focused on risk arbitrage and options trading.

In 1978, in his first takeover attempt, he took a controlling stake in Tappan and forced the sale of the company to Electrolux, making a profit of $2.7 million, or doubling his investment.

In 1979, he acquired Bayswater Realty & Capital Corporation.

In the 1980s, Icahn developed a reputation as a "corporate raider" after profiting from the hostile takeover and asset stripping of Trans World Airlines.

Icahn is on the Forbes 400 and has a net worth of approximately $6.7 billion to $7 billion.

In 1983, he acquired ACF Industries and in 1985 he sold those shares to Phillips Petroleum, making a $50 million profit.

In 1985, by pooling his funds with investor funds and funds borrowed from banks, Icahn acquired 50% of Trans World Airlines, and he completely acquired the company in a leveraged buyout in 1988.

Icahn systematically sold TWA's assets to repay money he owed, which was described as "asset stripping" and made him known as a "corporate raider".

In October 1986, Icahn launched an unsuccessful $8 billion hostile takeover for 89% of U.S. Steel; the bid was dropped in January 1987.

In June 1989, in the largest share sale to date on the New York Stock Exchange, Icahn sold his stake in Texaco for $2 billion, making a profit of $700 million.

In 1990, he offered to acquire Pan Am for $375 million.

In 1991, he sold TWA's London routes to American Airlines for $445 million.

Icahn made a $469 million profit, and left TWA with $540 million in debt.

He formed lowestfare.com to sell TWA tickets and acquired portions of Global Leisure Travel from Ramy El-Batrawi.

In 1991, he sold his stake in the company for $1 billion, making a $200 million profit.

In 1994, he took a 6.6% interest in Western Company of North America as it was in the process of being acquired by BJ Services.

In February 1997, Icahn sold his 7.3% interest in RJR Nabisco for a $125 million profit.

In June 1997, Icahn took control of Marvel Comics in a rivalry with Ronald Perelman.

In March 1998, he again bid for Pan Am, offering $43 million.

In December 1998, Icahn led an investor group that acquired a 5% stake in RJR Nabisco and pressured the company's management to separate its tobacco and food units.

In July 2001, Icahn's Riverdale, LLC lent Genesisintermedia $100 million and received options to purchase 5.5 million shares of the company at an average price of $5.09.

In 2004, Icahn began raising $3 billion to form Icahn Partners, a hedge fund.

He took ownership stakes in Blockbuster Video and Time Warner.

In 2004, after Mylan announced a $4 billion stock deal to acquire King Pharmaceuticals, Icahn purchased a large block of stock and threatened a proxy fight, urging shareholders to vote against the acquisition.

In February 2005, Mylan gave up its efforts to acquire King.

In 2005, XO Communications announced its intention to sell the wired part of its business for $700 million to Icahn, who was then chairman and a large shareholder; the money would be used to pay back its debts and to buy back its preferred stock for about $600 million from Icahn.

Since 2011, Icahn no longer manages money for outside clients, although investors can invest in Icahn Enterprises.

Icahn was born in Brooklyn to an Ashkenazi Jewish family.

He was raised in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens in New York City, where he attended Far Rockaway High School.

His father, Michael Icahn, a "sworn atheist", was a cantor, and later a substitute teacher.

His mother, Bella (née Schnall) also worked as a schoolteacher.