King Icahn: Mark Stevens - 2014

Aug 23, 2016·Roy Sebag

First published in 1993, the new 2014 edition of King Icahn was written by CEO and popular business media commentator Mark Stevens. The new edition includes an entirely new foreword of a story never told before, describing the battles to have the original book published, as Icahn tried to stop the publication of the book.

The biography describes the life of Carl Celian Icahn, a renegade capitalist who rose from a fairly ordinary lower-middle-class life, to become one of the most commanding forces on Wall Street. Icahn is one the greatest man in activist investing, who pioneered a type of investing that can be extremely useful to the economy, despite being disapproved of in the media.

Explaining his stock market philosophy, Icahn said: “If the price is right, we are going to sell. I think that’s true of everything you have, except maybe your kids and possibly your wife.” When a shocked judge responded by asking “Possibly?” Icahn confirmed that he had heard right. “Possibly,” Icahn repeated, adding the caveat, “Don’t tell my wife.”

Icahn is a master negotiator and incredible financier, and the book describes details of his early deals all the way to much more complex investments that followed. The book presents that his hard-nosed personality is part of why he is so successful.

Mark Stevens, being Carl’s neighbor and tennis partner, had unique access to Icahn’s life in order to collect information for this uncensored and unauthorized book.

This thrilling biography captures the wildly successful career of Icahn as well as his bizarre, brilliant and sometimes aggressive personality. It is a revealing look into the makings of one of the largest American fortunes and many of the inner workings of Wall Street.

A fantastic read, highly recommended to any fan of biographies and all those with an interest in how to succeed in choosing investments.