The hedge fund run by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, Donald Trump’s highest-profile supporter in the financial world, just posted its worst annual losses since the financial crisis. Everything is good.
Carl Icahn Changes His Mind, Says He'll Be Trump's Treasury Secretary
Shortly after Donald Trump, a wispy corn husk wrapped around several stacks of sequential hundreds, announced his run for president in June, he suggested his nominee for Secretary of the Treasury would be billionaire businessman Carl Icahn. Icahn initially said he wasn’t interested, but after seeing Trump at last…
Lionsgate to Corporate Raider: Stop Lowballing Us!
Legendary "activist investor" Carl Icahn's latest bid for the film studio was rejected again, but with his track record of hostile takeovers, and the studio's love of Ashton Kutcher, these execs may want to start job hunting soon.
The Trump Name Is Only Worth Something to Donald Trump
Donald Trump came down from Trump Tower yesterday to testify in court that Trump Entertainment Resorts needs the Trump name if the Trump casinos will be successful again. Everyone disagrees, but he's holding his name hostage. Trump!
Wasserstein Mourned
Hundreds of people gathered at Lincoln Center last night to attend a memorial service for Bruce Wasserstein, the legendary banker, CEO of Lazard, and owner of New York magazine who died in October at the age of 61. The guest list was a motley one. Billionaire raider Carl Icahn and actress Natalie Portman were among…
Amanda's Return Fails to Save Dying Melrose Place
It was too much to ask, but in the legends of television, Heather Locklear has been endowed with the powers of a superhero. And now we finally know, even even Amanda can't ride in to save us from ourselves.
Whoopi Finds a Buyer
• Whoopi Goldberg has gone into contract to sell her two-bedroom loft at 101 Wooster Street. The comedian, actress, and View co-host put the apartment on the market for $3.99 million back in June and closed on the purchase of a home in West Orange, NJ just last week. [Cityfile, Sotheby's]
• After going into…
Battleship the Board Game's March to Big Screen Now Unstoppable
• July 1, 2011. This will be the date when the world sees Peter Berg's Battleship film, inspired by the Hasbro plastic peg board game. [Variety]
Icahn Under Fire
Two women who once worked for Carl Icahn have filed suit against the billionaire investor and his wife, Gail, over harassment they say they endured while working at his firm. Sandra Silva and Valerie Romano claim they were singled them out for abuse because they were "tech-savvy," and this stirred up jealousy in the…
Come Back, Carl!
Billionaire financier Carl Icahn started blogging to great fanfare in February 2008. But while he got off to a very solid start, posting regularly about "shareholder empowerment" and corporate governance, the last few months have been a big disappointment for loyal readers of The Icahn Report. Icahn—who, as far as we…
Wall Street: Friday Morning
• Citigroup posted its first profit in 18 months today, which made Wall Street very happy and sent Citi shares up to a whopping $4. [WSJ, DB]
• GE's first-quarter profit fell less than expected, dropping 35% compared to a year earlier, results that gave shares a boost in early trading. [BN, WSJ]
• AIG chief Ed Liddy…
The First AIG Arrest?
• The markets were down big yesterday—the Dow shed 254 points—but stocks should do better today as the first quarter of '09 comes to a close. [CNN, WSJ]
• ABC News reports that the FBI and federal prosecutors are "closing in" on AIG's most notorious exec, Joseph Cassano, who made as much as $300 million running the…
Madoff Faces the Music, Stanford Takes the Fifth
• Bernie Madoff will appear in court this morning to plead guilty to 11 counts. Then it wil be up to the judge to decide if he gets locked up immediately or is allowed him to remain free on bail pending sentencing. [DB]
• Meanwhile, the investigation into Madoff's Ponzi scheme is now focusing on the accounting firms…
The New Republic Changes Hands, The NYT Raises Cash
• Marty Peretz, former owner of the New Republic, is buying back the mag with a group of investors led by former Lazard exec Laurence Grafstein. [Politico]
• The New York Times Co. has successfully raised $225 million by selling off 21 floors of its Eighth Avenue office building. [NYT]
• "Was last week the worst one…
Happy Birthday
Feel free to wish Agyness Deyn a happy birthday if you see her at Fashion Week: The model is turning 26. Carl Icahn turns 73 today. Ice-T is 51. Tennis legend John McEnroe is 50. Sean McManus, the president of CBC News and CBS Sports, is 54. Times science reporter Natalie Angier is 51. TV host Steve Kmetko is turning…
Disappointment at JPMorgan, BofA Asks for More
• JPMorgan Chase posted a 76% drop in profits in the fourth quarter, results that chief Jamie Dimon eloquently described as "very disappointing." [WSJ]
• Washington is close to finalizing a deal to give Bank of America billions in extra cash to help it "digest" the purchase of Merrill Lynch. [Reuters]
• What's Morgan…
Arianna Snags Carl
Arianna Huffington and Tina Brown are locked in a bitter battle to line up high-profile contributors for their respective websites/blog networks, but it looks like Arianna will emerge as this week's winner: She's convinced cranky billionaire Carl Icahn to not only blog on his own site, but also post the same pieces …
Big Three Bailout, Battered Bonuses
♦ Detroit's Big Three automakers presented new turnaround plans (and their request for $34 billion) to Congress yesterday. [WSJ, Bloomberg]
♦ Merrill Lynch plans to cut year-end bonuses in half. [Bloomberg]
♦ Now that it's turned itself into a commercial bank, Goldman Sachs is thinking about starting an online banking…

