Overview
New York-based Icahn Enterprises LP is a diversified holding company led by activist investor Carl Icahn. Its subsidiaries' businesses span investment management, automotive, metals, real estate and home fashion. The company had been known as American Real Estate Partners LP but changed its name in 2007.
Chairman Icahn got his start on Wall Street as a registered rep at Dreyfus & Co. and eventually became a trader and started New York brokerage firm Icahn & Co. Inc. The billionaire financier is best known from his days as a corporate raider. His one-time targets have included RJR Nabisco, TWA, Texaco, Phillips Petroleum, Western Union, Viacom and Time Warner. Icahn recently launched United Shareholders of America, which seeks to create a grassroots movement to change state and federal rules to make corporate boards and executives more accountable. His foundations include the Icahn Charitable Foundation, Foundation for a Greater Opportunity and Children’s Rescue Fund. He also founded three charter schools in the South Bronx.
In 2008, the company appointed Dominick Ragone, former assistant controller at Bear Stearns, as chief financial officer. Recently the company has been seeking control of the independent film studio Lion's Gate Entertainment Corp.