Famed Wall Street raider Icahn seeks bigger stake in Motorola
By Colleen Taylor -- EDN, March 1, 2007
In a move to gain even more control over Motorola Inc., storied Wall Street corporate raider Carl Icahn has filed to acquire as much as $2 billion in additional shares of Motorola common stock.
Motorola said in a statement late Wednesday that it has received notice that Icahn and Icahn Partners LP are each filing to acquire from $119.7 million to $500 million of Motorola common stock, while two related entities, Icahn Partners Master Fund LP and Icahn Partners Master Fund II L.P., are each filing to acquire in excess of $500 million of Motorola's common stock.
This is not the first time Icahn has showed interest in the Schaumburg, Ill.-based communications giant. In January Icahn, whose wide-ranging investments include Blockbuster Inc., Imclone, Time Warner Inc., and several Las Vegas casinos, launched a campaign for a position in Motorola's board of directors. Motorola is continuing to review the nomination.
Icahn gained his reputation as a major shareholder activist in 1985 with his hostile takeover of airline TWA, and has showed little sign of slowing down since. Recently, he has turned his attention Time Warner, calling for the breakup of the media giant into four companies. Last month, Motorola disclosed Icahn and his entities already own some 1.39 percent of the company's stock.
In January, Motorola announced plans to cut 3,500 jobs, or 5 percent of its workforce, after reporting dismal Q4 net profits of only $624 million, down a whopping 48 percent from the $1.2 billion it took in during Q4 2005.
Motorola's shares were trading at $19.11 this morning, up 3.1 percent from Wednesday's close.
