When Carl Icahn Ran a Company: The Story of TWA

Post by jkuria » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 5:50 PM UTC

jashmenn wrote: post #7

Can someone explain to me the significance of the animosity between Carl Icahn and pmarca? There are half a dozen posts on pmarca's blog discussing how Icahn is making claims against Andreessen. I understand these claims, but I don't understand their significance. I deeply respect pmarca but I can imagine that he, like any high visibility person, has many detractors. What power does Carl Icahn have that warrants such…

Post by adventured » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 5:54 PM UTC

Post by adventured » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 5:56 PM UTC

hnnewguy wrote: post #9

arbuge wrote: post #2

Financiers like Icahn are motivated by short term profits above all else. Building a company takes people with a long term vision. The two are often not compatible. Having a leech trying to bleed out every cent as soon as it's made is not generally a good thing unless your company throws off wads of unneeded cash like nobody's business.

> Financiers like Icahn are motivated by short term profits above all else. That's one way to look at it. Another is to note that Icahn built a thriving financial company that has survived for over 4 decades, and employs over 60,000 people globally. I'd say that requires long term thinking and demonstrates a bit of business acumen.

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 6:00 PM UTC

jcampbell1 wrote: post #10

For those that don't know what is going on, here is the backstory: Carl Icahn has recently bought a bunch of ebay stock. He has claimed the company is mismanaged. He has also personally attacked Marc Andreesen. Here is the accusation from Ichan: 1) Marc Andreesen was/is on ebay's board. 2) While on ebay's board, Marc bought most of Skype from eBay. 3) He flipped Skype to Microsoft in less than 2 years, earning himsel…

Post by hnnewguy » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 6:07 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #15

hnnewguy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Financiers like Icahn are motivated by short term profits above all else. That's one way to look at it. Another is to note that Icahn built a thriving financial company that has survived for over 4 decades, and employs over 60,000 people globally. I'd say that requires long term thinking and demonstrates a bit of business acumen.

Can you explain how his financial company employs 60,000 people? Or did you mean he has ownership stakes in industrial firms that employ 60,000 people? Because he most certainly has never created 60,000 jobs by starting a company.