Billionaire and activist investor Carl Icahn has made some large changes to his portfolio holdings. He and Icahn Capital, L.P. have not been immune to the market sell-off as you have seen in his Icahn Enterprises, L.P. (NYSE: IEP) share performance. Here we have commented on some of his larger stakes and larger changes or exits in positions.
Stock Tickers noted as IEP, BIIB, AMLN, MOT, YHOO, WMB, APC, TWX, TWC, AMD, TELK, QRCP, LEA, TIN, and JCP.
His largest position in biotech is Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) where Icahn Capital owns 12.8 million shares worth about $612 million. With all the calls for mergers in biotechs and speculation rampant that this one could be bought, this is no surprise. But Icahn is betting on more than just the MS treatment TYSABRI here. Also worth noting is his almost-$124 million stake of 11.42+ million shares of Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN), which some have also hoped could get past its troubles and get acquired.
Icahn has two huge disappointments in technology. His 119+ million share stake in Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) was listed as being worth $530.672 million. At current market prices, that would be worth about $460 million. And he is in much much higher than the year-end price and today’s price. This appears lower because Motorola listed him as holding 144.1 million shares before this. The other thorn is the Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) stake listed as 60.45+ million shares worth some $737.5 million at the 12/31 filing. The good news is that would be worth around $777 million today. But Icahn has been buried by this. He is very long and very wrong so far, and he probably wished he never thought he could force Jerry Yang into a moment of intelligence.
In energy is where this also gets interesting. Icahn really juiced up his position in Williams Cos. Inc. (NYSE: WMB) where his 17.475 million shares were listed as being worth over $253 million. That was a large increase. His other big holding is Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), with over 7.6 million shares being listed as worth more than $293 million.
Icahn Capital is out of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and also holds no Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC). He had greatly pared down his stake there already, but that is now history. Jeff Bewkes has to answer one less unpleasant telephone call. Others he has dropped entirely are Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), Telik (NASDAQ: TELK), Quest Resources (NASDAQ: QRCP), Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA), Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN), and J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP).
Again, these are not the only position he listed. The list would be double the size if you included his positions worth a few million. But as you can tell, billionaires and activists can have deep pockets yet no immunity from the market. Icahn Enterprises, L.P. (NYSE: IEP) trades at $34.78, and its 52-week trading range is $19.95 to $111.53.
Jon C. Ogg
Febbruary 14, 2009
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