, Columnist
Icahn the Hunter Has Become the Hunted
A short seller’s attack on the activist investor’s company could weaken him for future offensives.
Don’t expect him to back down.
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
I don’t know what Carl Icahn eats for breakfast. Shark blood? He’s supposed to be the most feared man on Wall Street, after all. Tuesday morning, he got something even less appealing: a short seller.
Hindenburg Research attacked Icahn Enterprises LP as an overvalued, dangerously levered confidence trick for retail investors who don’t know any better. It is unclear whether Icahn will care; he has been called worse — raider, devil, evil Captain Kirk, and so on — but this time he should.