Book Review: King Icahn: The Biography of a Renegade Capitalist

Given all the really horrible books for investors that are in print, it's amazing that Mark Stevens's King Icahn is out of print. It'll set you back about $80 used on Amazon, but you may be able to get it from the library, as I did. Written in 1993, Mark Stevens provides a look at Icahn's childhood right up through his involvement with TWA and USX. But rather than getting bogged down in the details of the different "raids" that Icahn embarked on, Stevens provides a compelling psychological portrait of Icahn. He is a man full of contradictions. He is probably one of the greediest men on the planet, but also one of greatest champions of shareholder democracy in history. He is a self-styled champion of shareholder rights and battles for strong corporate governance, but has rarely hesitated in accepting greenmail, which involves a company buying back the raider's shares at premium to the market value in exchange for his agreeing to go away.

King Icahn is also a portrait of one of the most exciting eras in Wall Street history, when junk bonds ruled the world and raiders armed with nothing but debt and chutzpah battled for, and often won, control of some of America's most-respected companies. While Icahn is generally regarded as an "enemy" of the working man, he actually allied with unions at various times, and it becomes clear that most management teams turned their employees against Icahn, although they too were primarily motivated by greed.

While the debate will rage on about the pros and cons of Carl Icahn, to me he will always be one of the best symbols we have of the invisible hand in action: A greedy misanthrope who streamlined American business for the long-term benefit of the entire country, without even meaning to.

If you can possibly find a copy of this book, I would strongly encourage you to read it. It's amazing to me that there is no biography of Carl Icahn in print, and someone needs to get on that.