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Tag: Carl Icahn

  • Talisman Energy Stocks Climb with Icahn Tweet

    Talisman Energy Stocks Climb with Icahn Tweet

    The Canadian global oil and gas production company, Talisman Energy, has seen its value slide over the past several years due to poor business planning. However, stocks of Talisman Energy grew over 10% Tuesday morning following this Tweet by Carl Icahn Monday afternoon:

    Carl Icahn Tweet

    Through his 61 million share purchase, Icahn now owns 5.97% stake in Talisman Energy.

    Icahn is the head of Icahn Enterprises, which is a diversified holding company. Icahn is known for his corporate raiding and for being an activist investor. In August, Icahn, who holds some stock in Apple, tweeted about his meeting with CEO of Apple Tim Cook. In the meeting, Icahn suggested that Cook should invest in a larger stock buy-back program. After his tweet, stocks of Apple rose more than 5%. Thus, it’s apparent that Icahn, who has over 300k Twitter followers, holds much sway with the stock market.

    Icahn is hoping to use this influence and his vast experience as a businessman and stockholder to capitalize on the current restructuring of Talisman Energy. Icahn stated, in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, that he bought the stock because he believed the company was undervalued, and that he may seek a seat on the board of directors.

    CEO of Talisman Energy, Hal Kvisle, has spent the past year attempting to restructure the global-sprawl of Talisman Energy and focus their efforts in more beneficial areas. Instead of allowing the company to spread too far out of his control and succumbing to the same fate as Alexander the Great, Kvisle has decided to concentrate the efforts of the company into its 2 most profitable areas – North America and Southeast Asia.

    Kvisle first decided to downsize the scope of the company and decrease its debts by selling its stakes in companies in Canada and the North Sea for a profit of $3 billion. The next executive decision of Icahn was to use this money to invest in short-term projects that would give the company immediate returns, instead of focusing on long-term projects which could return larger amounts, but held no guarantee.

    While Icahn may have found enough promise in these business moves to jump on-board, the more enticing aspect may have been Talisman’s latest purchase into an oil company in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Recently, the company discovered an oil reserve which could give Talisman Energy 200 million net barrels of oil.

    If the Middle Eastern investment pays off, Talisman Energy could see itself reach the $27.2 billion top-end value as estimated by Berstein Research oil analyst Bob Brackett. A $9 billion increase from its low-end current evaluation of $18 billion could leave Icahn with a $500 million profit on his investment.

    Hell, with Icahn’s sway and economic success, perhaps he should be the one assisting US Congressmen in their battle to end the government shutdown?

    Image via Twitter

  • Carl Icahn Pens Letter Bowing Out of Dell Deal

    Carl Icahn Pens Letter Bowing Out of Dell Deal

    Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn penned an open letter on Monday to Dell Inc. shareholders announcing the end of his battle with the company’s Board of Directors. Some reports indicate Icahn will leave the deal about $11 million richer and will refocus efforts on Apple.

    In the letter, Icahn accused Michael Dell—who can now regain control of the company—and Silver Lake Management of undervaluing Dell Inc.: “because: 1. Dell is paying a price approximately 70% below its ten-year high of $42.38; and 2. The bid freezes stockholders out of any possibility of realizing Dell’s great potential.”

    Dell is so far silent on Icahn’s withdrawal but this frees up the anticipated Thursday vote on taking the company private. Michael Dell and Silver Lake’s offer is $24.9 billion. This is the fourth attempt at a vote, which has been repeatedly postponed. Michael Dell and Silver Lake raised their offer in August by $0.10 a share to $13.75 to entice investors. They further agreed to pay a special $0.13-per-share dividend by the deal’s closing date, assuming it succeeds. That is on top of the stock’s regular $0.08 dividend.

    Language in the letter compares the Dell board to a dictatorship, invokes Clark Gable’s infamous, “I don’t give a damn,” in reference to the Board and makes veiled accusations of stretching Delaware law.

    Icahn ended the letter by promoting his Twitter feed, “If you are incensed by the actions of the Dell Board as much as I am, I hope you will choose to follow me on Twitter where from time to time I give my investment insights.”

    Icahn is apparently enamored of his Twitter account. His profile blurb lists him as: “Chairman of Icahn Enterprises L.P.; etc., etc. Some people get rich studying artificial intelligence. Me, I make money studying natural stupidity.”

    [Images via Carl Icahn Twitter and Dell Official Website.]

  • Carl Icahn Thinks Apple Is Undervalued, Meets With Tim Cook

    Carl Icahn Thinks Apple Is Undervalued, Meets With Tim Cook

    Billionaire Carl Icahn has taken a “large position in APPLE,” and has met with Tim Cook.

    Last night, he tweeted:

    All Things D managed to get a statement about the conversation from Apple:

    “We appreciate the interest and investment of all our shareholders. Tim had a very positive conversation with Mr. Icahn today.”

    Not much else is known about the conversation or just how “large” the aforementioned position is, but we’ll no doubt get a better idea in the future. Either way, the news has been good for Apple shares, which are currently at $499.55 (+9.98‎, 2.04%‎) as of the time of this writing.

    In other Apple news, the company has quietly acquired TV guide-like app Matcha, which was shut down a few months ago, signaling a potential component of its TV plans.

  • Carl Icahn Cuts Stake In Yahoo (Again)

    Carl Icahn Cuts Stake In Yahoo (Again)

    Once upon a time, Carl Icahn complained about the way Jerry Yang was running Yahoo and bought a massive number of shares to force him out.  Later, Icahn joined Yahoo’s board of directors and gave Carol Bartz his full support.  Now, Icahn’s involvement seems almost over, as he’s sold around 7.9 million shares.

    Carl Icahn

    This new development is a rather big deal.  Icahn owned 11,991,000 shares of Yahoo’s stock as of December 31st, 2009, and a new SEC document revealed that by the time March 31st rolled around, he’d reduced his holding to 4,041,363 shares.  That works out to a decrease of 66.3 percent.

    Icahn appears to be rather more confident in the ability of Lions Gate Entertainment (his latest takeover target) to make money than Yahoo, then.

    This sale isn’t without precedent, though.  In February, we reported that Icahn had distanced himself from Yahoo in an even more dramatic matter, unloading around 48.5 million shares of the company’s stock in the last few months of 2009.

    Also, it’s important to remember that Icahn is considered to be a corporate raider, not a long-term investor, so this sort of reversal is natural for him to make.

    Then here’s one more noteworthy point: while Yahoo’s stock is down 0.68 percent so far today, that puts it ahead of the Nasdaq, which is down 0.76 percent at the moment.

  • Carl Icahn Cuts Yahoo Stake By 80 Percent

    Carl Icahn Cuts Yahoo Stake By 80 Percent

    For better or for worse, it looks like Carl Icahn has cut some ties to Yahoo.  The activist investor, who once bought a great many shares as part of an effort to force out Jerry Yang and Yahoo’s board of directors, reduced his stake by about 80.2 percent during the last six months.

    SEC filings reveal that Icahn owned a whopping 60,452,099 shares of Yahoo’s stock as of August 14th, 2009.  By the time December 31st rolled around, the number of shares he owned had decreased to 11,991,000.

    Obviously, then, Icahn doesn’t intend to go on the attack against Carol Bartz and the current board, which might be good news for Yahoo.  Optimists could interpret Icahn’s move as a sign of contentment.  (Or perhaps he managed to reap some profits at one point.)

    Icahn’s move might be a sign of surrender, however.  As the graph below shows, Yahoo’s stock was at nearly the same level on Friday as it was six months ago.

    Anyway, perhaps as a result of this development, Yahoo’s stock is down a bit this morning.  Neither Icahn nor Yahoo has issued a statement on the matter.