Synopsis
Recounts the life of legendary financier Carl Icahn, including his raid on Phillips Petroleum, his takeover of TWA, and more. By the author of Sudden Death: The Rise and Fall of E.F. Hutton. 35,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo. Tour.
Reviews
"One of the greatest things I did for the human race," Carl Icahn has said, "was not to become a doctor." Instead, this Princeton graduate from Queens, N.Y., became a keen and stubborn corporate raider, who during the 1980s junk-bond delirium parlayed leveraged cash investments into partially controlling interests (and eventually very profitable sales of shares) in such companies as Phillips Petroleum, Dan River, Texaco and TWA. The other high-flyers--Ivan Boesky, T. Boone Pickens, Dennis Levine and Michael Milken--also appear here. In this unauthorized biography, based on research and on "virtually unlimited access" to the financier, Icahn emerges as a crafty but apparently straight player, to whom millions of dollars poured in yearly, until the U.S. Congress called a halt to junk-bond-financed leveraged buyouts in 1991. Like a taut novel, this page turner grips the reader as Stevens ( Sudden Death: E. F. Hutton ) dramatizes Icahn's financial gambles and acerbic treatment of top management figures, whom he often accuses of poor and despotic performance to the detriment of stockholders.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
As this savvy, tellingly detailed rundown on the top gun in the megabuck takeover battles of the 1980's makes clear, even Robert Ringer (Winning Through Intimidation, etc.) could have learned a thing or two from Carl Icahn. Drawing on apparently unrestricted access to the hitherto publicity-shy raider, as well as to his associates, adversaries, and family, Stevens (The Big Six, etc.) offers a sympathetic if unsparing portrait that's longer on professional than personal perspectives. The author gives short shrift to the Princeton- educated Icahn's working-class background, focusing instead on his epic face-offs against the likes of Hammermill Paper, Phillips Petroleum, Texaco, and USX. Stevens's behind-the-scenes accounts of his subject's ability to best fat cats in deal after deal is well worth the price of admission--and the author also takes the measure of a complex man. While giving Icahn full marks for brains and brass, he leaves little doubt that he was a merciless antagonist who gave no quarter. Nor did the arguable propriety of accepting so-called ``greenmail'' (invariably paid at the expense of fellow owners) appear to trouble this outspoken advocate of accountability, good governance, and shareholder rights. Icahn's comeuppance (such as it was) came in the wake of a fight to gain control of TWA. While the erstwhile nemesis of big business escaped with his skin, he found the experience of running a debt-burdened airline to be, if not humbling, at least chastening. Icahn's career as one of Wall Street's most aggressive investors has since taken a new turn, purportedly one in which he attempts to salvage value from failed enterprises. But that is another story--and one that many readers will hope that Stevens finds time to tell. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Carl Icahn was one of the most infamous American corporate raiders of the 1980s. Born in an obscure middle-class New York community, he quickly developed a scrappy, street-fighter attitude that helped him get into and through Princeton, land a job on Wall Street, and go on to become one of the most feared antagonists of corporate America. The book shows repeatedly how Icahn bought up stakes in undervalued companies and then threatened their management until they caved into his demands, eventually allowing him to cash out with enormous profits. Only later in his life did he falter with the buyout of TWA and its ensuing bankruptcy. While Icahn's days as financial engineer may be over, there is no denying his impact upon the American corporate landscape, especially in the areas of shareholder rights and more active boards of directors willing to challenge business executives. This book by business writer Stevens is suitable for large nonfiction/biography collections in public libraries.
- Richard Drezen, Merrill Lynch Lib., New York
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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