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The event organizers must have presumed that the centerpiece of Icahn's presentation would be a discussion of his Yahoo! fight, as a larger-than-life image of him as a swashbuckling pirate from a May 14 New York Post article about the Yahoo! battle was projected on stage as he was greeted by an enthusiastic audience of over 1,000. He briefly touched on the highly publicized proxy fight with a fairly simplified explanation: "I think Microsoft and Yahoo! have to get together to fight Google sooner or later. ... Microsoft would be crazy to give up this opportunity." Icahn did not quite devote the same energy to the headline-grabbing proxy battle that he did to Obama. In somewhat non sequitur fashion, Icahn kicked off his political rant by saying that it would be "devastating" if this country elected a Democratic president with 60 Democratic senators in office, adding that the opportunity to filibuster legislation would be prevented. He said that "Obama doesn't understand the economy," adding that he and a Democratic-weighted Senate would boost spending significantly, sending inflation soaring. If this was not enough to illustrate his disdain for Obama, he closed by saying, "I personally think he would be a terrible president." While his attack was a surprising non sequitur, it isn't the first time he's discussed politics at an investor conference. While speaking at RiskMetrics Group Inc.'s 2008 Governance Conference in February, he made similar quips about Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and tacitly announced his support for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. It was not all politics and Yahoo! for the vocal activist. Icahn also used the stage to attack corporate governance issues at U.S. companies, pointing out the lack of shareholder democracy at deeply entrenched boards and management. Possibly inspired by the earlier nautical image, he said that management at faltering companies should be treated as ship captains, noting that "when the Titanic went down it was the captain's fault," but when companies collapse the management receives hundreds of millions as "a goodbye kiss." Icahn was not immune to attack himself at the conference. Michael Price of MFP Investors, who spoke about 40 minutes before Icahn graced the stage, said that Motorola Inc., which was a recent Icahn target, has suffered a nearly 50% stock decline over the past two years. While he did not mention Icahn by name, he said, "In my point of view, you just can't follow people like that." - Michael Rudnick
CategoriesComments
From: Brule Laker,
I can see why Ichan dislikes Obama so much: why should anybody stand in his way of making billions of dollars while contributing absolutely nothing to the welfare of the common people? His idea of wealth creation is pressuring companies to either fire people or move their jobs offshore (or both), which is fine for him and his hedge-fund friends but hardly helpful to anybody else. If the Republicans are the party for business, why is the economy at virtually no growth, gasoline is headed to $5/gallon and credit is drying up? As the jerk Kudlow would say, "This is the greatest story never told."
Posted on:
May 22, 2008 4:52 PM
From: Steve Raznick D.M.,
Dearest little carl: You are as small in physical stature as you are little of intelligence. Fact, the largest deficits have been accrued under republican administrations, ya dumb ass! The hoi polloi believe you to be intelligent due solely to the size of your wallet. Then again we are speaking of a set of people that have no concept of the green-mail that gave you your initial stake. Not to worry, next time I see you in person I will say as much to your face.
Posted on:
May 23, 2008 10:41 AM
From: Steve Raznick D.M.,
Dearest little carl: You are as small in physical stature as you are little of intelligence. Fact, the largest deficits have been accrued under republican administrations, ya dumb ass! The hoi polloi believe you to be intelligent due solely to the size of your wallet. Then again we are speaking of a set of people that have no concept of the green-mail that gave you your initial stake. Not to worry, next time I see you in person I will say as much to your face.
Posted on:
May 23, 2008 10:42 AM
From: Carl,
"If the Republicans are the party for business, why is the economy at virtually no growth, gasoline is headed to $5/gallon and credit is drying up? As the jerk Kudlow would say, "This is the greatest story never told."" Because Democrats have controlled Congress since 2007. The economy was humming before that.
Posted on:
October 9, 2008 11:04 PM
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During the Ira W. Sohn Investment Research Conference on Wednesday at the Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City, a packed house of Wall Street's finest with BlackBerries ready eagerly awaited Carl Icahn's next hot stock tip or a big update about his Yahoo! Inc. proxy fight. What they did not expect was for the billionaire investor to use his 15 minute speech to discuss politics, using the forum to vent his not-so-kind views on Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. 
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I wonder if Mr. Icahn had the same feelings when George W. Bush was elected. After all, the Repubicans had the same majority control, too.
Boy, that really worked out well for our country. And let me tell you, this administration didn't exactly exercise good spending judgement.
Whomever inherits this mess will have to increase spending.