Carl Icahn: The Count Dooku of Wall Street

At my age, many ask me who my favorite investor is or who I aspire to be. It is easy to say Warren Buffet or Milton Freedman. Although Carl Icahn may or may not be someone to aspire to be but there is no doubt that Icahn has made a huge name for himself. Icahn is just that, an icon. No mean for the pun but he is easily up there with the best investors in the game. What makes Icahn so interesting is his style of investing and even more so; his story. The book King Icahn: The Biography of a Renegade Capitalist goes into the life of Carl Icahn and how he amassed his fortune.

Carl Icahn's story is intriguing, he wasn't raised in a family with financial prestige, his dad was a frustrated opera singer that ended up switching between the cantor for his local synagogue and a substitute teacher. His mother was also a school teacher. Carl Icahn focused on his studies and majored in philosophy at Princeton. He then decided that wasn't his thing, so he wen't to med school in New York. He then dropped out after 2 years to join the army. Still hasn't picked up investing. Finally, he started investing and started his own company that is now the empire Icahn Enterprises. He then amassed a huge amount of money to try and control numerous amounts of companies in his favor to turn enormous profits. He over the years has developed a ruthless reputation. He can be considered a corporate raider, by buying certain percentages of companies to control their agenda in the stock holders favor, then ditched the company to pursuit another. He is the Count Dooku of Wall Street. It seems with age, that he actually is resembling the Star Wars antagonist Count Dooku. Count Dooku in Star Wars is the well respected master Jedi. Just like Count Dooku, Carl Icahn is regarded as a legendary investor. Icahn's reputation as a corporate raider is because of his almost hostile take overs of companies just to turn a profit. Some just say Icahn's methods are aggressive and benefit each company he comes in contact with.

His style of trading and more in depth look at his story can be found in the book King Icahn by Mark Stevens. Mr. Icahn has also spent some change on some million dollar horses. He is a diversified investor that can certainly stir up feuds with other investors, like last years feud with billionaire investor Bill Ackman. Carl Icahn can certainly be admired for his story and respected for his success in investing. But is he someone to look up to? After you  read into his business holdings, and his raids on Phillips Petroleum and TWA, you can decide whether or not to admire the Count Dooku of Wall Street.