Top 38 Quotes & Sayings by Carl Icahn

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American businessman Carl Icahn.

Last updated on September 19, 2024.

Carl Celian Icahn is an American financier. He is the founder and controlling shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a public company and diversified conglomerate holding company based in Sunny Isles Beach. Icahn takes large stakes in companies that he believes will appreciate via changes to corporate policy and he then pressures management to make changes that he believes will benefit shareholders. He was one of the first activist shareholders and is credited with making that investment strategy mainstream for hedge funds.

American - Businessman | Born: February 16, 1936

Source: Wikipedia

I enjoy the hunt much more than the 'good life' after the victory.

Carl Icahn

When you have no one to answer to, vendetta as investment strategy is as legitimate as anything.

Carl Icahn

I'm a cynic about corporate democracy and boards.

Carl Icahn

My wife watches me like a hawk.

Carl Icahn

Anyone that makes me a quarter of a billion dollars, I like.

Carl Icahn

I like winning. There's also a certain joy in it. I feel fulfilled by it.

Carl Icahn

Don't go in and tell somebody else how to run their business.

Carl Icahn

You learn in this business: It you want a friend, get a dog.

Carl Icahn

In 2008, people who invested in hedge funds needed capital badly, but many of the funds would not return their money. However, I gave money back to any investor who requested it. It was the bottom of the market and a pretty tough time.

Carl Icahn

In life and business, there are two cardinal sins. The first is to act precipitously without thought and the second is to not act at all.

Carl Icahn

Now the guy that got to the top, the CEO, would obviously be stupid to have a number two guy who was a lot smarter than he is. So by definition, since he's a survivor and he got to the top and he isn't that brilliant, his number two guy is going to always be a little worse than he is. So, as time goes on, it's anti-Darwinism, the survival of the un- fittest.

Carl Icahn

A lot of people died fighting tyranny. The least I can do is vote against it.

Carl Icahn

Yellen’s comments suggest, and I agree, that we are in an asset bubble.

Carl Icahn

Reuters was completely accurate that I am concerned about the level of the market. But I also made it clear on the conference call (and I believe as Reuters reported it), that it is almost impossible to predict what a market will do in the short term. There are too many variables.

Carl Icahn

CEOs are paid for doing a terrible job. If the system wasn't so messed up, guys like me wouldn't make this kind of money.

Carl Icahn

I enjoy the hunt much more than the “good life” after the victory.

Carl Icahn

Don't confuse luck with skill when judging others, and especially when judging yourself.

Carl Icahn

I believe there are and will be major opportunities to enhance Time Warner's value in future combinations.

Carl Icahn

When friends and acquaintances are telling you [that] you are a genius, before you accept their opinion, take a moment to remember what you always thought of their opinions in the past.

Carl Icahn

We want these assets to be productive. We buy them. We own them. To say we care only about the short term is wrong. What I care about is seeing these assets in the best hands

Carl Icahn

A great company in the media business needs visionary leaders, not a conglomerate structure headquartered in Columbus Circle that second guesses.

Carl Icahn

Too often it's not the most creative guys or the smartest. Instead, it's the ones who are best at playing politics and soft-soaping their bosses. Boards don't like tough, abrasive guys.

Carl Icahn

In life and business, there are two cardinal sins, the first is to act precipitously without thought, and the second is to not act at all. Unfortunately the board of directors and top management of Times Warner already committed the first sin by merging with AOL, and we believe they are currently in the process of committing the second; now is not a time to move slowly and suffer the paralysis of inaction.

Carl Icahn

Everything I have is for sale, except for my kids and possibly my wife.

Carl Icahn

We have bloated bureaucracies in Corporate America. The root of the problem is the absence of real corporate democracy.

Carl Icahn

When nobody wants something, that creates an opportunity.

Carl Icahn

You learn in this business.. If you want a friend, get a dog.

Carl Icahn

And I'm convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you can work with the unions because the unions want to survive. If they are confronted simply with the question: "Do you want this company to survive or do you want it to be broken up?" they will listen. It's their livelihood.

Carl Icahn

I have to look out for the shareholder’s interests, and I’m the largest shareholder.

Carl Icahn

With some exceptions, the wrong people are running U.S. companies. It's been that way for years, and it hasn't gotten much better.

Carl Icahn

Had a nice conversation with Tim Cook today. Discussed my opinion that a larger buyback should be done now. We plan to speak again shortly.

Carl Icahn

I can tell you how bad our boards are... I don't have to watch Saturday Night Live anymore; I just go to the board meetings.

Carl Icahn

Some people get rich studying artificial intelligence. Me, I make money studying natural stupidity.

Carl Icahn

We're not about liquidating companies, but if you do that, why is that terrible? We're not blowing up the factories. The person who buys it should be able to make the asset more productive.

Carl Icahn

When most investors, including the pros, all agree on something, they're usually wrong.

Carl Icahn

The CEO is, by far, the most important decision for a company... The company is going to rise and fall with the CEO.

Carl Icahn