Carl Icahn’s fund, Icahn Associates Corp., has officially said goodbye to the last of its share in eBay. The news of the divestiture was accompanied by reports that Icahn is reporting a 3.8 percent holding in PayPal, formerly the payments arm of the United States’ second best-known eCommerce firm.
While unloading eBay, Icahn’s firm also grabbed up about 1.36 million shares of insurer AIG, as well as continuing to hold about 8.8 percent of Freeport-McMoRan, according to a filing yesterday (Nov. 16) with the SEC. Those investments came as no shock to the marketplace as both had already been made public.
Icahn says goodbye to eBay after a long and pitched battle last year over the future of PayPal. Icahn had advocated for the payments company to be spun off from the eCommerce business, noting that such a move was the best guarantee of shareholder value given the wide earnings and revenue differentials between the two firms. EBay’s board initially balked at the plan, but shortly after the announcement of Apple Pay in the market, the PayPal spinoff was announced.
Icahn was once known as a corporate raider in the 1980s, though that reputation has since toned down to “activist investor” and outspoken shareholder advocate. His bigger and more notable stakes in recent years have been in Apple and Cheniere Energy Inc., and his MO includes agitating for share buybacks and spinoffs.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires, Icahn is worth $21 billion, and the majority of his investments are with his own money — not the funds of others.
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