What Is Carl Icahn Famous For?

Carl Icahn is an enormously influential investor with a business career that stretches back to the early 1960s. He is known as one of the first “activist investors.”

As an activist investor, he would purchase large stakes of a company he believed suffered from mismanagement. Then, he would use his influence to make significant changes within the business. In this way, he could grow an company’s revenues, profits, and ultimately valuation. 

Carl Icahn: From Princeton To Wall Street

Icahn earned a degree in philosophy from Princeton University. After graduating, he entered the New York School of Medicine, but he only attended classes for two years before dropping out to join the military.

When Icahn completed his military service, he started looking for job opportunities. In 1961, he joined the Dreyfus Corporation as a stockbroker. His career escalated quickly. Within two years, he left Dreyfus Corporation to become an options manager at Tessel, Patrick & Co. He also held a position at Gruntal & Co.

By the end of the 1960s, Icahn felt that he had enough insight and experience to start investing independently. In 1968, he formed Icahn & Co. and bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. He accomplished this move with $150,000 of his own money and a $400,000 investment from a family member.

Icahn’s First Activist Deal

Icahn spent most of the 1970s choosing smart investments and making money for himself and his clients. Before the end of the decade, though, he would take a surprisingly different tactic to generate income.

In 1978, he bought a controlling stake in the appliance company Tappan. Then, he forced the company to sell to Electrolux. It was his first corporate takeover, and it worked shockingly well. Icahn doubled his investment and made a quick $2.7 million.

The successful corporate takeover proved to Icahn that he could use similar strategies to make money from failing or mismanaged companies.

His next big deal started in 1983 when he bought a large number of shares in ACF Industries. Two years later, he made a $50 million profit selling his shares to Phillips Petroleum.

Other companies that Icahn invested in heavily include:

• TWA (he owned 50% of the airline at one point)
• S. Steel (he attempted a buyout but was defeated)
• RJR Nabisco
• Texaco (when he sold his shares, he made a $700 million profit)
• Marvel Comics
• Time Warner
• Blockbuster Video
• King Pharmaceuticals
• Take-Two Interactive (a video game company)
• Biogen
• Telik (a biotech company focused on cancer research)
• Lear Corporation
• Yahoo!
• Lawson Software
• Mentor Graphics
• Netflix
• Clorox
• Talisman Energy
• Hertz Global
• Apple Inc.

Obviously, Carl Icahn has diverse interests and knowledge. He has been able to earn money in everything from entertainment to cancer research.

From January 20, 2017 to August 18 of the same year, Carl Icahn served as Special Advisor to the President on Regulatory Reform.

Icahn supported Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign. About a month after joining the Trump Administration, Icahn avoided an approximate $6 million loss in stocks and assets connected to the steel trade. A few days after Icahn sold his assets, President Trump announced a 25% tariff on steel imports.

What Is Carl Icahn Famous For?

Carl Icahn is known for several things. He’s probably most famous, however, for his aggressive approach as a shareholder activist.

Icahn started his career by working with junk bonds. He would purchase and sell shares rapidly to generate quick profits on high-risk investments. After he earned enough money to start his own firm, he applied a similar approach to much larger corporations.

Icahn has been known to buy the bulk of a company’s shares and then use his power to sell assets to other businesses.

This strategy can quickly increase a company’s revenues, making it look like a strong investment. When the stock price reaches an amount that Icahn wants, he can sell his shares to reap the rewards. The approach doesn’t always work well for the company’s long-term performance, but it can make short-term investors a lot of money.

Not all of Icahn’s investment strategies are as potentially harmful as stripping companies of their assets. He also encourages companies to buy back shares. He took this approach with Apple, and it boosted share values considerably. 

From Icahn’s perspective, it makes sense to buy failing companies. In some cases, that means changing management to build a more successful business. In other cases, that means selling the company’s assets before it fails. 

Carl Icahn vs Bill Ackman

Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman feuded in 2013 over the nutrition supplement company Herbalife. The half-hour argument took place live on the television show Fast Money Halftime Report. During the fight, the two billionaires traded insults. 

Essentially, Icahn was mad that Ackman had bet against the company. Several years later, they would both admit that Herbalife was a bad bet. They even hugged to make up.

During the argument, though, Ackman said about Icahn: “This is not a guy who keeps his word. This is a guy who takes advantage of little people.”

Icahn quipped about Ackman was the “quintessential example that on Wall Street, if you want a friend, get a dog.”

Carl Icahn vs Warren Buffett

Carl Icahn has said that he thinks Warren Buffett is too easy on companies. Oddly enough, they share a fundamental investment strategy that involves gaining a significant stake in a company. Although they use similar strategies, they often make different decisions.

In 2016, Icahn removed himself from Apple’s board. Around the same time, Buffett’s investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway, began investing much more heavily in the consumer tech company.

Icahn left a lot of money on the table with that deal since Apple’s stock value continued to climb after he left. Still, he earned about $2 billion from the deal. Much of that money came from Icahn insisting that Apple CEO Tim Cook commit to buying back shares at an aggressive rate.

More recently, Icahn and Buffett disagreed on Occidental Petroleum. Icahn started selling shares that he acquired in 2019. Buffett began buying those shares. Buffett currently has a $5 billion stake in Occidental Petroleum. Berkshire Hathaway already owned about 8% of the energy company before the recent purchase. 

Taking a closer look at the strategies Icahn and Buffett use shows a considerable difference. Buffett believes in long-term investing. He will buy a significant stake in a company and hold onto it for decades, sometimes using his resources to increase profits. Icahn, however, tends to buy shares, make changes, and sell for a quick profit. 

If you only use money as the measurement of success, Buffett has done much better than Icahn. Buffett’s fortune has a value of about $123.5 billion. Icahn’s is closer to $15.9 billion. Both are astronomical sums, and it’s mindboggling to imagine that Buffett has $107 billion more than Icahn.

Carl Icahn vs Michael Dell

Carl Icahn and Michael Dell came to (metaphorical) blows in 2018 when Icahn accused Dell of withholding financial information about a proposed stock swap valued at about $21.7 billion.

The proposal would have given Dell (DVMT) an opportunity to buy shares before they were listed publicly on the New York Stock Exchange.  

According to Icahn, Dell was using scare tactics at the time.

Carl Icahn vs McDonald’s

Icahn is known for his brusk personality and focus on the bottom line, but his problem with McDonald’s comes from how much he cares about animal well-being.

For more than a decade, he has been pushing McDonald’s to stop using “gestation crates” for pregnant pigs. The crates sometimes hold pigs in the same position for months at a time. The Humane Society worked with Icahn to make positive changes.

Icahn purchased a small stake in McDonald’s in early 2022 so he could put more internal pressure on McDonald’s.

Carl Icahn vs George Soros

Icahn and Soros have very different political ideals, but they have a lot of common ground when it comes to investing.

In fact, Icahn sold his 2.7% stake in rideshare company Lyft to Soros shortly before the company’s IPO.

While they might differ in some ways, they understand the importance of working together to generate wealth.  

Carl Icahn vs John Antioco

Icahn and John Antioco butted heads when Antioco served as Blockbuster’s CEO. Icahn believed that Antioco had mishandled an acquisition of Hollywood Rental.

He also thought that Blockbuster spent too much money to acquire its online services (a belief that probably hurt the company significantly). 

Antioco has said that having a contentious board made it difficult for him to fill his role as CEO. Eventually, Atioco left the company.

How Much Did Carl Icahn Lose on Blockbuster?

Carl Icahn seemed to think that he could improve Blockbuster and turn it into a profitable business. Unfortunately, the company was already on a path to ruin because it had failed to keep up with technology.

As Netflix continued to convert Blockbuster customers who preferred a subscription model that let them order DVDs through the mail, the in-store rental company could not compete. When streaming platforms came onto the scene, Blockbuster was too far behind to recover.

It’s estimated that Icahn lost about $200 million. He also owned stock in Netflix, though, so it probably worked out for him in the end. 

Can You Invest With Carl Icahn?

Carl Icahn retired from directly managing client portfolios in 2011. You can, however, buy stock in Icahn Enterprises LP.

Between 2017 and 2022, a share of IEP has fluctuated between about $40 and $75. Carl Icahn owns about 95% of the company’s stock, so it’s reasonable to assume he still plays a role in managing its investments.

How Much Is Carl Icahn Worth?

As of 2022, it seems reasonable that Carl Icahn has a net worth of about $15.9 billion, making him almost twice as wealthy as Soros.

This net worth includes all of his assets, including stocks. 

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The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Financhill has a disclosure policy. This post may contain affiliate links or links from our sponsors.