Icahn: Wrestling-a-Ghost Negotiation Until the Last Penny

"Negotiating is probably the thing Icahn does best in life. He brings to it his considerable talents as a poker player, bluffing masterfully, so his opponents never know whether he is going to play or fold. He sketches so many options, and so many variations—or hedgings—on those options, that his adversaries often feel they are lost in a maze. The positions he takes are in such flux that for his adversary to try to challenge or attack them is, as one recalls, like “wrestling with a ghost.” And he keeps constant vigil over his own vulnerability. As one individual who has dealt with Icahn says, he is “so paranoid, always looking over his shoulder and behind every door, constantly thinking everyone is screwing him. As a result, Carl gets few surprises.”"

"“In the end he gave in because the Phillips people dug in their heels,” said Anthony James, of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette. “The Phillips board had authorized a maximum of $25 million, and they weren’t going to meet again. So it was take it or leave it. That’s the only way to deal with Carl. You have to cut off your avenues of retreat. Otherwise, he’ll just keep nibbling away at you. Carl will fight endlessly for the last million, the last half million. He will fight for the last penny.”"

"The point was, once an activity was so popularized that it was front-page news, what was Carl Icahn doing in it? He had made his fortune by entering a relatively undeveloped field, taking it farther than anyone else, and then—when it got too crowded and visible—moving a small step forward, in a natural progression. He had first gone into puts and calls. As that became more popular, he had mixed it with classic arbitrage. When options exploded, he had gone into risk arbitrage. Then he had decided to better control the arbitrage, by becoming the principal himself. Now it was time to become—at least often enough to give him the credibility he would need to continue his progression—the acquirer."