Icahn

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, pressing Yahoo Inc. to rekindle takeover talks with Microsoft Corp., won more support from shareholders as the Internet company weighed new proposals from its former suitor. T. Boone Pickens, chairman of BP Capital, told CNBC on Tuesday that he bought 10 million shares, or less than 1% of Yahoo, after Icahn said he would seek to oust its directors if they failed to combine with the software maker. Microsoft scrapped its planned takeover May 3.

Those who follow the events at Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. -- including the movie and television studio's own management -- might have expected "activist shareholder" Carl Icahn to wage a proxy war by now given his growling threats earlier this year. But, with Lions Gate's annual shareholders meeting set to take place today in Toronto, where the Santa Monica-based studio is incorporated, Icahn never followed through on threats to nominate his own slate of directors. Although Icahn has never articulated a game plan regarding his interest in the company behind the Tyler Perry and "Saw" movies and "Mad Men" TV series, media analysts attribute his relative silence recently to the possibility that the company's second-largest shareholder may have less to complain about these days.

Setting the stage for a nasty proxy fight, activist shareholder Carl Icahn halted talks with Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. over his request for board seats. The breakdown occurred Wednesday after the investor refused to stop accumulating stock in the film and television studio. For the last three weeks, Icahn, Lions Gate's third-biggest shareholder, has been negotiating with the company's management to get several seats on its 12-member board.

WCI Communities Inc., the condominium developer that put itself up for sale, reached agreement on a new board with billionaire investor Carl Icahn, its biggest shareholder. Icahn will nominate three candidates including himself, the Bonita Springs, Fla.-based company said. WCI and Icahn also will nominate candidates from Sandell Asset Management and S.A.C. Capital Advisors. The settlement ends Icahn's effort to oust the board and Chairman Don Ackerman.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn nominated himself and two other people to the board of Dallas-based Blockbuster Inc., where he is the largest shareholder. Icahn had said he would nominate directors because management needed to curb spending. Icahn nominated music executive Strauss Zelnick and former Warner Bros. executive Edward Bleier. Shareholders will vote on the three at Blockbuster's annual meeting in May.

Carl C. Icahn, who has been feuding with the management of Blockbuster Inc. for several weeks, said the big movie-rental chain should be sold. Icahn, Blockbuster's largest single shareholder, made the comment in a one-sentence filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A Blockbuster spokesman said the Dallas-based company would be open to offers.

USX Corp.'s annual meeting Monday, where 600 shareholders packed a junior high school here, was the scene of a polite confrontation between USX management and Carl C. Icahn, the corporate raider who is the company's largest shareholder. Icahn has been pushing a proxy proposal calling for management to split the company into two firms, one oil and one steel, in order to increase the value of the firm's stock.

TWA Chairman Carl C. Icahn has made his first formal offer to settle a $1.2-billion shortfall in the airline's pension fund, the federal agency that insures workers pensions said Monday. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which said Icahn made his offer last week, said the proposal was unacceptable, but made a counteroffer Friday, a spokeswoman said. Icahn made the offer in a meeting with PBGC Executive Director James B. Lockhart, said the spokeswoman, who did not elaborate.

Billionaire financier Carl Icahn withdrew a bid to buy bankrupt National Airlines Inc. after the struggling carrier's board rejected the offer last week, Icahn's lawyer said. Icahn, the former chairman of Trans World Airlines Inc., offered $22.5 million in cash, $43 million owed passengers for unused tickets and $100 million in operating funds as part of his bid for the Las Vegas-based carrier, said Edward Weisfelner, a New York bankruptcy attorney representing Icahn.

Business software maker BEA Systems Inc. signaled its intent to let Oracle Corp.'s $6.7-billion takeover bid expire Sunday, setting the stage for a showdown with its largest shareholder, billionaire investor Carl Icahn. After BEA's latest dismissal of Oracle's bid, Icahn accused the San Jose-based company's board of trying to derail a possible sale and threatened to lead a shareholder rebellion.