41 Facts About Carl Icahn

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

Carl Icahn is on the Forbes 400 and has a net worth of approximately $17 billion to $24 billion.

Carl Icahn was born in Brooklyn to an Ashkenazi Jewish family.

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

Carl Icahn's father, Michael Icahn, a "sworn atheist", was a cantor, and later a substitute teacher.

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

Carl 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".

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

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

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

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

Carl Icahn took ownership stakes in Blockbuster Video and Time Warner.

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

In 2005, XO Communications announced its intention to sell the wired part of its business for $700 million to Carl 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 Carl Icahn.

Carl Icahn acquired 6.1 million shares of WCI Communities, later acquired by Lennar.

In March 2008, Carl Icahn sued Motorola as part of his effort to gain four seats on Motorola's board and force a sale of its mobile business.

In June 2008, Carl Icahn launched a blog, The Carl Icahn Report.

Carl Icahn later raised his offer to $0.80, which ultimately expired.

In January 2011, Carl Icahn offered to buy Clorox for $10.2 billion.

In October 2013, Carl Icahn held 4.7 million shares of Apple Inc The same month, Carl Icahn acquired around 61 million shares in Talisman Energy, leading to a surge in the share price.

In January 2014, Carl Icahn invested another half billion dollars in Apple Inc.

Also in January 2014, Carl Icahn pushed eBay to complete the corporate spin-off of PayPal.

On May 15,2015, Carl Icahn made a $100 million investment in Lyft.

In November 2015, Carl Icahn hired CBRE Group to market the unfinished Fontainebleau Las Vegas to potential buyers.

Carl Icahn sold his Apple shares in April 2016, citing concerns about Apple's relationship with China.

Also in October 2016, Carl Icahn closed the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, citing a $350 million loss over several years as well as failure to reach a deal with striking union workers.

In February 2022 Carl Icahn, who held 200 shares of the company, nominated two people for election to McDonald's board of directors in what may be the first step toward a proxy fight.

Carl Icahn aims to pressure McDonald's to improve conditions of pigs raised by its suppliers.

Carl Icahn endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election.

Carl Icahn announced the formation of a super PAC pledging $150 million to push for corporate tax reform, in particular of tax inversions, which occur when corporations move their headquarters from the US to take advantage of lower tax rates elsewhere.

On December 21,2016, it was announced that Carl Icahn would serve as special advisor to the president on regulatory reform under President Donald Trump and that Carl Icahn would aid Trump in an "individual capacity" rather than as a federal employee, and that he would not have "specific duties" and therefore would not have to relinquish his business interests while serving as an advisor to Trump.

Carl Icahn stepped down from this role on August 18,2017, citing a desire not to interfere with the work of Neomi Rao as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Carl Icahn spoke directly to President Trump and to Gary Cohn about his proposed changes to the ethanol rule.

Carl Icahn became pregnant 8 months later and Icahn offered to marry her if she signed a prenuptial agreement.

In 1999, Carl Icahn married his longtime assistant and former broker, Gail Golden.

Carl Icahn made large contributions to Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, of which he is a trustee, which in return named a building the Icahn Medical Institute designed by Davis Brody Bond, and, in 2013, renamed the Mount Sinai School of Medicine as the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

In 2010, Carl Icahn joined the Giving Pledge list, pledging to give away more than half his fortune.

Carl Icahn is an activist investor, and has worked with the Humane Society of the United States in pushing McDonald's to achieve its pledge to end the sourcing of pork produced with gestation crates.

Carl Icahn is featured in the 2022 HBO documentary Icahn: The Restless Billionaire directed by Bruce David Klein and Produced by Atlas Media Corp.

In 1985, Carl Icahn established Foxfield Thoroughbreds, a horse breeding operation.

In 2004, Carl Icahn shut down Foxfield, selling all his mares and weanlings without reserve at the Keeneland Sales November breeding stock auction.