Carl Icahn: The New Gordon Gekko

i thought a gekko was a lizard , in that case i suppose that Icahn is the next gekko

Icahn was around long before Gordon Gecko had been invented

that ending may make this my favorite tech ticker video yet!

CARL ICAHN IS A CHARACTER HE CAN NOT BE COMPARED TO ANYONE; FURTHERMORE HE IS A TRUE LEADER.

Gordon Gekko's charcter was based on a lot of the corporate raiders running around armed with junk bonds in the '80's. Anyone remember how Carl Icon wanted to buy TWA and that was to be the biggest LBO in history??

Ichan't run an airline, by act of congress... At least a fraternity knows how to get along. Cannot build teamwork while conducting internecine warfare, so of course all Icahn can do is break the piggybank and pick up the cash. Whether this is good or bad depends on what happens to cash. Since a lot of it goes to lawyers and expensive proxy fights, it is is probably worse than say, modernizing a plant or building a mine or giving work to people other than lawyers, bankers, and accountants (another 'fraternity').

He is about shaking up the status qou... and making money for himself and shareholders. He sees the fat in companies and about cutting thru it. Way to go!!!

lacy.sarah if watching the end of this video gets you fired up you need to rent "Wall Street" with Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Michael Douglas, Daryl Hannah. That movie will get you pumped up.

Wall Street is bs. Let's see these megalomaniacs run around when oil is 300 bucks a barrel or a pandemic wipes out a good chunk of the population. Short the world.

Wall Street is my all time favorite movie. Companies many times need a Carl Icahn or Gordon Geeko to enhance shareholder value.

Ichan was, for the most part, the reason for TWA's demise. He leveraged the buyout of that airline using other people's money and then, after gaining control, proceeded to sell off the crown jewels, the London routes. That money was kept by him and not infused back into the airline. Then, as a price for leaving that airline, he negotiated the Karabu deal which basically allowed him to sell TWA flights at a steep discount. That deal was the death of that once proud and respected airline. He certainly wasn't a white knight for TWA and was hated by all as the corporate raider that he is.

Icahn does OK as long as he stays away from Asia. His lack of understanding for the culture has led to more than one failure. The most recent was his hopless bid for KT&G in South Korea.

Yes you need to say more.

Why can't we get a Gekko type to overthrow the board of Citigroup? This company has been run like a private club for years, and the problem starts at the top with Rubin and the board. Where are the activists at Citigroup? That's what I want to know Aaron.

If Icahn does for Motorola what he did for TWA, it will be the end of Motorola just as it was for TWA after Icahn got his hands on it.

Since the Board of Directors are voted in by shareholders, those are the means to usurp their control. However, since most positions are non-contested, there is no competition, and the whole scenario repeats itself ad nauseum to the point of the "Good Ole Boys Club". I suggest a pay-for-performance directorship and none of these Golden Parachutes Who-Cares-I-Got-Mine clauses for some of these incompetent putzes. If they screw up, then they get booted out. Period. No kiss goodbye.

exyodelman69 sounds angry.....

Carl Icahn, the ficticious Gorden Gekko, and the majority of the idiotic posters responding to this story would each sell their mother's soul to the devil for $1,000 profit. It's AMAZING to me that anyone could watch the movie "Walstreet" and not understand that it's underlying theme is not "greed is good" and Gordon is so fond of saying in the movie, but that you could lose your very soul (humanity for you religiously impaired) on Walstreet through this supposed "greed is good" bulls$%^. How in the hell the author of this story can see Gordon or Carl as a hero is beyond my comprehension, requiring a type of hedonistic, impulsive selfishness that I cannot understand. If you actually watched the damn movie you know that it's implied that Gordon goes to jail, some hero for the conscience impaired of Walstreet. I am living through a Carl Icahn induced company break-up at the moment and I can tell you all from personal experience that the BOTTOM LINE to any Carl Icahn corporate raider action is the lawyers, big hedge-funds, international banking elites, accountants, bloodmoney rich Walstreet professional daytraders on Walstreet are the ONLY ones that make a profit, while the honest hardworking man and woman representing 90% + of the company being broken up for parts sales loses their jobs and thrift plan value. But that's an acceptable loss as long as Walstreet makes a quick buck. Listening to the shareholders too much is a double edged sword - todays major shareholder DEMANDING immediate excessive economic gratification will not be tomorrow's shareholder who then dumps the shares and runs to the bank, after the ruinous short-sighted short-term policies are implemented that ruins the long-term growth and economic well-being of the company.

How do you separate the Street suits? Pour money down the drain,aka war and politics, and see who follows.... They are all down in the Greed Pool. Just wait until their kids are thrown off the boards by Dollared Asian Investors who want their turn in the sun. Good bye Ivy L dynasties, hello New World

bamajors: You could argue that Chuck Prince being ousted was a 'victory' for activists, but there was no Icahn-like action because it would take a TON of money to amass enough shares of Citi and too many were held by Prince Alwalleed, Sandy Weil and passive institutional investors. It's a bit dated but you can find some detail here: http://tinyurl.com/2nuey9 One side-note: Eddie Lampert took a big stake in Citi last year but I guess he got 'distracted' by developments at Sears...