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☆ Icahn proposes three candidates for Illumina’s board — Here’s what could be next in the battle
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

However, Icahn has had extensive activist experience at health-care companies. Since the acquisition closed in August 2021, Illumina's stock price fell by 57% from $522.89 to $225.88, eliminating $47 billion of shareholder value. Icahn's nominees have significant restructuring, corporate governance, M&A, capital markets and legal experience — five things the company desperately needs. Moreover, even after this battle started, they did not add anyone with legal experience to the board. Now, when Icahn suggests they add to the board Jesse Lynn, general counsel to Icahn Enterprises with 27 years of legal experience, the board responds that he lacks the relevant skills and experience.

☆ Illumina Should Heed Carl Icahn, Give Up on Grail
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( David Wainer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Activist investor Carl Icahn said that he favors Illumina’s divestiture of Grail. Many of Illumina’s shareholders have grown increasingly frustrated with Chief Executive Francis deSouza’s pursuit of Grail. Grail lost about $600 million last year, cutting into Illumina’s profit. On top of that, the company has set aside $453 million for fines it might incur from European regulators for closing the deal before obtaining regulatory clearance. Illumina has taken a $3.9 billion write-down to reflect that possibility.

☆ Illumina Should Heed Carl Icahn, Give Up on ‘Holy’ Grail
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( David Wainer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ This week's best performers include two chip stocks along with Microsoft
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft shares are within shouting distance of analysts' average price target for the next 12 months, with upside of about 1%. However, shares are already more than 5% higher than their average price target. Nvidia shares have also run ahead of their average price target. The firm raised its price target on shares to $304 from $255, implying 19% upside from Thursday's close. Illumina shares jumped 15.3% week to date as billionaire activist Carl Icahn prepared for a proxy fight at Illumina .

☆ Silicon Valley Bank's collapse has made the Fed's job way harder, top economist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Federal Reserve will struggle to achieve a "no landing" scenario now that Silicon Valley Bank has collapsed, according to Apollo Global Management's chief economist. Torsten Sløk said he's expecting the regional banking crisis to lead to a fall in lending levels. "The slowdown that was already underway because of the Fed raising rates might come faster," he told Bloomberg. Its stock then cratered 87% in two days before it was taken over by regulators – and the share prices of other regional banks like First Republic and Western Alliance have also plunged since its collapse. The banking crisis has led to some of Wall Street's top names raising alarm bells about the Fed – which is still upping borrowing costs in a bid to tame inflation.

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with billionaire investor Carl Icahn
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch CNBC's full interview with billionaire investor Carl IcahnLegendary investor Carl Icahn joins CNBC's Scott Wapner and 'Closing Bell' to discuss the current banking situation, the state of the economy and the markets, and his latest activist target, biotech firm Illumina.

☆ Inflation is the worst thing an economy can have, says billionaire investor Carl Icahn
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailInflation is the worst thing an economy can have, says billionaire investor Carl IcahnLegendary investor Carl Icahn joins CNBC's Scott Wapner and 'Closing Bell' to discuss the current banking situation, the state of the economy and the markets.

☆ Carl Icahn says our economy is breaking because of inflation and poor corporate leadership
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Famed investor Carl Icahn believes the U.S. economy is in trouble because of poor corporate leadership and stubbornly high inflation. "The system is breaking down, and we absolutely have a major problem in our economy today," Icahn said on CNBC's "Closing Bell" Tuesday. Icahn has been a longtime activist investor and corporate raider, making profit from forcing changes to corporate policy. Meanwhile, Icahn said another major issue in the economy right now is surging inflation and the Federal Reserve has no choice but keep raising rates to squash it. The annual inflation rate is now at 6%, which will likely keeping the Fed on track for another interest rate hike next week, despite recent banking industry turmoil.

☆ Activist investor Icahn launches proxy fight at Illumina
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mike BlakeMarch 13 (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn on Monday launched a proxy fight at Illumina Inc (ILMN.O), saying the life sciences company's takeover of Grail Inc (GRAL.O) had cost shareholders about $50 billion since the closing of the deal. Shares of Illumina jumped more than 20% to $233.50 in morning trade, and have declined 7.2% since the deal closed in August 2021. Icahn plans to nominate three people to Illumina's board at the company's upcoming shareholder meeting, he said in a letter sent to shareholders. "We have therefore determined to launch a proxy contest to attempt to gain board representation," Icahn said, adding he feared the company's board will continue to pursue the Grail transaction. Icahn said his nominees - Vincent Intrieri, Jesse Lynn and Andrew Teno - would help keep Illumina from "sinking further".

☆ Carl Icahn Prepares for Proxy Fight at Illumina
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Lauren Thomas | Cara Lombardo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Illumina was revered for its DNA-sequencing capabilities and was valued at more than $70 billion in summer 2021. Carl Icahn is preparing a proxy fight at Illumina Inc., arguing the biotechnology company cost its shareholders roughly $50 billion by plowing ahead with a risky acquisition despite opposition from regulators. The billionaire activist plans to nominate three people to the San Diego, Calif., company’s board, according to a letter Mr. Icahn plans to send to Illumina’s shareholders Monday that was viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Illumina, First Republic, Seagen and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Pia Singh | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

First Republic — Shares of First Republic cratered more than 64% before the bell, building on last week's losses. Shares led a decline in bank stocks despite plans from the government to backstop depositors of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. PNC — Shares lost nearly 5.2% early Monday morning after the bank decided against bidding on Silicon Valley Bank as regulators struggle to find buyers for the failed bank. The streaming and media company said in a Friday SEC filing that around $487 million, or 26%, of its cash reserves are stuck at Silicon Valley Bank. Petco Health and Wellness — Shares slipped less than 1% after the company was downgraded by Citi to neutral from buy.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: First Republic Bank, Moderna, Newmont, Illumina and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Mike SegarCheck out the companies making the biggest moves midday:Regional banks —Shares of regional banks plummeted following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Citi , Bank of America , Goldman Sachs — Shares of major banks also saw losses after the closure of the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Moderna — The biotechnology company's shares gained nearly 6% after TD Cowen upgraded the stock to outperform from market perform. Spot gold passed the key level of $1,900 as investors bet the Federal Reserve may tone down rate hikes on the heels of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse. Over the weekend, NBC News reported that the e-commerce company warned sellers that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is causing delays in processing payments.

☆ Carl Icahn warned against trading stocks, railed against bad bosses, and revealed what drives him in a recent documentary. Here are his 12 best quotes.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Here are his 12 best quotes from a recent documentary titled "Icahn: The Restless Billionaire." The billionaire investor and Icahn Enterprises chairman also defended activist investing, and railed against bad bosses and overpaid executives, in "Icahn: The Restless Billionaire." Moreover, he revealed that he cares more about spotting golden opportunities than making money, and bemoaned America's enormous wealth gap. You're going against the trend. He just kept going and going until they killed him.

☆ Keith Meister's Corvex Management bets on media companies, cuts big tech and biotech holdings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Pia Singh | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Corvex Management increased its stakes in media-related companies while slashing technology and biotech investments, according to its latest quarterly 13F filing with the SEC. Crown Holdings was Meister's second-largest acquisition in the fourth quarter, when Corvex bought $74 million of shares. In November, billionaire Carl Icahn disclosed an 8.5% stake in the packaging company once known as Crown Cork & Seal. Corvex in the fourth quarter increased its position in Fomento Economico Mexicano , a Mexican multi-national retail and beverage company, by 9.5%, bringing the holding to almost $200 million. Corvex exited its positions in Amazon , JP Morgan Chase & Co . and Uber in the fourth quarter.

☆ Premarket stocks: Share buybacks could beat last year's record $1.2 trillion
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Companies have announced about $175 billion worth of planned stock buybacks so far this year. This year will likely be the first with at least $1 trillion in completed S&P 500 company buybacks, said Howard Silverblatt at S&P Dow Jones Indices. ▸ GM (GM) just inked an exclusive deal for the hottest product in automaking: Semiconductors. The strong dollar is hurting multinationalsThe rip-roaring dollar cut deeply into the earnings of multinational companies selling their wares overseas last quarter. “We got hit with that.”McDonald’s (MCD) and 3M (MMM) also said in earnings reports that they were worried that the strong dollar would affect future sales.

☆ The billionaire brawl, 10 years later: Carl Icahn versus Bill Ackman over Herbalife
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe billionaire brawl, 10 years later: Carl Icahn versus Bill Ackman over HerbalifeKen Squire, 13-D Monitor founder and CNBC contributor, joins 'Closing Bell: Overtime' to discuss the billionaire brawl between Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman about 10 years later

☆ Jeff Smith makes for a substitute Warren Buffett
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

With markets sagging and deals drawing opposition, such imprimaturs have a value - and at Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (RBA.TO), it’s the turn of Starboard Value’s Jeffrey Smith to play rescuer. Heavy equipment auctioneer Ritchie Bros ran into both problems in its $7 billion bid to buy salvage-car portal IAA (IAA.N). Announced in November, it quickly drew opposition from IAA shareholder Ancora and Ritchie investor Luxor Capital. Shareholder opposition is expected in market turmoil. As part of the deal, Starboard Value agreed to invest $500 million in Ritchie Bros, with fund boss Jeffrey Smith taking a seat on Ritchie’s board if the IAA deal succeeds.

You can get the latest on that and much more from our finance newsletter, 10 Things on Wall Street. It's a snappy weekday read with the biggest stories on the Street, plus the latest on hot-spot restaurants, industry parties, and so much more. On the agenda today:Up first: Senior real-estate correspondent Daniel Geiger is giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the recent turmoil at Compass. With home sales dipping amid rising interest rates, Compass has cut workers and bled cash. In June, it laid off about 450 corporate staff, and in October, it let go of about half its 1,500-person tech team.

☆ These 20 execs are powering the $1.2 trillion private-credit market
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

So who's behind this mysterious market that has now swelled to $1.2 trillion and accounts for more than 20% of the aggregate capital leverage companies borrowed? Insider's Rebecca Ungarino mapped out 20 of the most powerful people in the space from firms like Sixth Street, Golub Capital, Ares, and Blackstone. When PE firms start hunting for deals, these are the tech companies they'll target. Some tech companies are instructing managers to label low performers on their teams, potentially signally more cuts at some point in 2023. Turns out, having one room dedicated to booze isn't enough for the ultra-wealthy, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Carl Icahn had a textbook strategy for the Nevada-based energy utility Southwest Gas Holdings. In August, Southwest Gas' board decided against a divestiture, and the sale of subsidiaries that Icahn had urged remains uncertain. "Shareholders don't want to hear it, but you really have great difficulty selling a company at a good price today," the widely followed activist investor Icahn told Insider. via CNBCBut, like Icahn in the case of Southwest Gas, participants in this new onslaught may find themselves confounded by an increasingly complex and fraught business environment. According to Lazard, 37% of activist campaigns this year were launched by first-timers, the highest proportion since the company started tracking these figures in 2015.

☆ A market downturn hasn't made activist investing any easier. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But even with a market downturn, activist investors' campaigns haven't been the cakewalk some might expect. Insider's Daniel Geiger, Rebecca Ungarino, and Casey Sullivan spoke to industry insiders — including famed activist investor Carl Icahn — about why the current landscape isn't as accepting as some might think to activist campaigns. But when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and a difficult market environment doesn't mean we'll see the number of campaigns decrease. Click here to read more about why top activist investors like Carl Icahn say this line of work is riskier than ever. Here's a five-step plan to help you decide when that side gig you have should be the only gig you have.

Carl Icahn had a textbook strategy for the Nevada-based energy utility Southwest Gas Holdings. In August, Southwest Gas' board decided against a divestiture, and the sale of subsidiaries that Icahn had urged remains uncertain. That means that the sale of companies like Southwest Gas is off the table for the time being — or will get done at prices far lower than before. via CNBCBut, like Icahn in the case of Southwest Gas, participants in this new onslaught may find themselves confounded by an increasingly complex and fraught business environment. According to Lazard, 37% of activist campaigns this year were launched by first-timers, the highest proportion since the company started tracking these figures in 2015.

☆ Billionaire Ken Griffin sues the IRS after his tax records were disclosed
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Robert Frank | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

ProPublica used IRS tax data provided by an anonymous source, and it's unclear how the data was obtained. Griffin reported an average income of $1.7 billion from 2013 to 2018, ProPublica said, citing his tax returns. Griffin was not listed as one of the billionaires who paid zero or low tax rates in any one year, and, in fact, the ProPublica tax information showed Griffin pays a higher effective tax rate than many top earners. The leaked tax returns sparked an uproar in Washington, which continues to escalate. "IRS employees deliberately stole the confidential tax returns of several hundred successful American business leaders," Griffin said in a statement.

☆ Hedge funds are adding to these 'rising star' stocks with conviction, according to Goldman
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The hedge fund community has bought several stocks with conviction during this year's market turmoil, and those same names could outperform going forward, according to Goldman Sachs. Goldman then identified a number of Russell 1000 stocks with the largest increase in number of hedge fund owners during the third quarter — so-called "rising stars." During the last 20 years, these rising hedge fund stars have typically gone on to outperform sector peers during the quarters following their rise in popularity, Goldman said. UnitedHealth stands on top of the list, with 31 hedge funds adding the stock last quarter. Other top picks among hedge funds included Signify Health , Edwards Lifesciences and TransUnion .

☆ Corporate America is bracing for a rise in activist investing. Meet the 13 lawyers on speed-dial when companies and investors fight for boardroom control.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Law firms including Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP and Schulte Roth & Zabel are go-tos for activist investors looking to change how companies do business. Kai Liekefett, who co-chairs Sidley's shareholder activism practice, last year successfully defended cloud company Box Inc. in a proxy fight by Starboard. Liekefett has also defended clients against major activist investors including Carl Icahn and Trian Partners. He has advised clients against major activist investors including Trian, Carl Icahn, Starboard Value and the billionaire Paul Singer. Lawrence Elbaum and Patrick Gadson, Vinson & ElkinsPatrick Gadson (L) and Lawrence Elbaum (R), co-heads of Vinson & Elkins' shareholder activism group.

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