If there’s one billionaire investor you don’t want to aggravate its Carl Icahn. What makes us say that? He’s aggravated. Really aggravated. Wait till you see what’s got him going.
The current crisis threatening Wall Street and all our futures has many investors up in arms. But few are as truly outraged as Carl Icahn. He is absolutely irate about the state of corporate management in America.
Icahn is particularly angry about the failure of Lehman Brothers. On his website IcahnReport.com he takes aim at Lehman's top brass suggesting their weakness was arguably the single biggest cause of the current crisis.
“Why, for instance, did the Lehman board allow Richard Fuld to occupy both the chairman and CEO role?" Icahn writes. "The CEO is the chief manager of the company but the chairman’s job is to look after shareholders interests. Clearly these two roles should have been separated a long time ago, as they should in most companies.”
He goes on to say, “And why did [Lehman's] chief operating officer for Europe, Benoit Savoret, get a $16.2 million bonus when he was also fired? Fuld testified in Congress that this money was owed to Savoret as part of a contractual obligation. But wasn't this contact rejectable in bankruptcy court, which would have made it simply an unsecured claim? Therefore was this simply an excuse to give a gift to a departing executive? In my opinion, this money should be returned to the Lehman bankruptcy estate.”
And that’s only the beginning. On Fast Money he tells the traders he's concerned about lack of confidence in the market at a time when we need to bring money into the private sector. "But how are we going to put private money into these banks when we’re stuck with these clowns?”
“The most important thing,” he says, “is change laws so that guys who run our companies are accountable. And that’s easy to do...”
> Click here to find out Icahn’s solution.
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Trader disclosure: On Oct.15, 2008, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s Fast Money were owned by the Fast Money traders; Adami Owns (AGU), (BTU), (C), (GS), (INTC), (MSFT), (NUE); Seymour Owns (AAPL), (MER), (MSFT); Seygem Asset Management Owns (RIO); Seygem Asset Management Is Short (PBR); Najarian Owns (AAPL) And (AAPL) Puts; Najarian Owns (C) Put Spread; Najarian Owns (GS), Is Short (GS) Calls, Owns (GS) Put Spread; Najarian Owns (MS) And (MS) Puts And Is Short (MS) Calls; Najarian Owns (NOK), Is Short (NOK) Calls, Owns (NOK) Puts; Najarian Owns (RIMM) Call Spread; Terranova Owns (AAPL), (EXM), (FCX), (FTO), (MA), (NOV), (POT), (X), (VLO); Terranova Owns December Dollar Index Futures;
Terranova Is Co-Portfolio Manager Of The Virtus Diversifier PHOLIO; Virtus Diversifier PHOLIO Owns (IGE), (DBC), (DBV)
Terranova Is Chief Alternatives Strategist Of Virtus Investment Partners, Ltd.; Virtus Investment Partners Owns More Than 1% Of (ABD), (ARE), (BIG), (CNW), (OFC), (DLM), (DRH), (DLR), (EPR), (EXR), (FL), (SLB), (LNET), (MAC), (DBC), (DBV), (SKT), (UA), (BLV), (VV), (CLB), (GWX), (IGE), (FSMXX); Virtus Investment Partners Owns Seagate Tax Refund Rights; Virtus Investment Partners Owns Seagate Technology Tax Refund Rights; Virtus Investment Partners Owns More Than 1% Of Shares Of Incitec Pivot Ltd.; Virtus Investment Partners Owns More Than 1% Of Shares Of Essex Property Trust Inc
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