Icahn, Carl C(elian) (1936– )

US billionaire financier and entrepreneur. One of the most notorious corporate ‘raiders’ of the 1980s, he enriched himself and his partners by his takeovers, while, so his defenders claimed, making money for ordinary stockholders. In 1985 he bought Transworld Airlines (TWA), and as its chief executive officer, brought it back from near bankruptcy; but in 1992, despite investing US$100 million of his own money, he was forced to relinquish control of TWA to its employees. More recently, having taken a 5% stake in the struggling Internet company Yahoo!, Icahn tried to force its sale to software giant Microsoft before backing down in the face of crumbling support among Yahoo! investors and instead accepted seats for himself and his nominees on the board of directors.

Born in Queens, New York, the son of a lawyer who wanted to be an opera singer, he took a philosophy degree from Princeton in 1957, left medical school after three years, and learned the broker's trade on Wall Street before establishing his own brokerage firm, Icahn & Co. in 1968. His company has since focused on risk arbitrage and options trading and taking controlling positions in individual companies. His many corporate targets having included such prominent names as Texaco, Time Warner, Nabisco, and Motorola.