Carl C Icahn

Yahoo Inc.'s board of directors landed its first endorsement from a major institutional shareholder Friday, giving it momentum in the fight with investor-agitator Carl Icahn over control of the Internet company. Bill Miller, who as Legg Mason Capital Management's chief investment officer controls 4.4% of the stock in Yahoo, said he would vote to keep the current board in place instead of backing a dissident slate nominated by Icahn. Icahn has allied with Microsoft Corp.

The barbarian is at the Gate. Activist shareholder Carl Icahn has more than doubled his stake in Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., the independent film and TV studio behind the "Saw" horror movies and the cable shows "Weeds" and "Mad Men." Icahn said in a regulatory filing that he spent $86.3 million acquiring Lions Gate shares, boosting his 3-year-old stake in the firm to 9.2%.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn spurred a rally in Yahoo Inc. shares Friday after he disclosed that he had increased his stake in the struggling Internet company. The company's stock surged 93 cents, or nearly 9%, to $11.51 in the shortened trading session after Icahn, a Yahoo board member who has been pushing a strategy shift or a sale to Microsoft Corp., said he had bought about 6.8 million shares. A Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed that Icahn had paid an average of $9.

Activist investor Carl Icahn has made a $2.43-billion offer for auto parts supplier Lear Corp., the two parties said Monday. Icahn affiliate American Real Estate Partners said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it offered to buy Southfield, Mich.-based Lear for $36 a share in cash. Lear shares surged $3.97, or 11.5%, to $38.64.

Auto parts supplier Lear Corp. said Friday that it had agreed to a buyout offer by a group affiliated with billionaire investor activist Carl Icahn for about $2.8 billion, but it left the door open for a better offer. At least one major shareholder said he would try to get others who own stock to oppose the deal. Under the agreement, Icahn-controlled American Real Estate Partners would pay $36 a share; a Lear spokesman said that amounted to about $2.8 billion.

Motorola Inc. may be preparing for a fight to keep billionaire activist Carl Icahn off its board. "Mr. Icahn's nomination has not been endorsed by your board of directors," the company said March 2 in its notice for the 2007 shareholder meeting. "We urge stockholders not to sign any proxy card that you may receive from the Icahn entities." The comments suggest that Motorola may stand up against Icahn as he presses Chief Executive Ed Zander to use all of the company's $11.

Billionaire shareholder activist Carl Icahn increased his stake in Motorola Inc. and started a proxy fight for a board seat after demanding that the mobile phone maker return more of its cash to investors. Icahn, who owns 2.5% of the stock, submitted proxy materials for the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company's May 7 shareholder meeting in a regulatory filing. Motorola is reviewing the statement, a spokesman said.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn bid $955.9 million for WCI Communities Inc. after saying he wanted to oust the board of the Florida condominium and single-family home builder because the stock was undervalued. The shares jumped $2.83, or 15%, to $21.80, the biggest gain since July 2002 and about 1% below Icahn's bid of $22 a share.

Billionaire investor activist Carl Icahn stepped up his battle to win a seat on Motorola Inc.'s board, telling shareholders in a letter released Friday that the "passive and reactive" current directors were partly to blame for the cellphone maker's problems. Icahn and his affiliates have recently bought up more than 68 million shares of Motorola stock, a 2.9% stake worth about $1.2 billion.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is selling the Stratosphere and three other southern Nevada casinos to an affiliate of investment firm Goldman Sachs for $1.3 billion. Along with the tallest structure on the Las Vegas Strip, the sale announced Monday included two off-Strip Arizona Charlie's casinos and the Aquarius Casino Resort in the Colorado River town of Laughlin. The deal between American Real Estate Properties Corp.