Publications

September 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Icahn Enterprises: Ponzi Scheme or Sound Investment

By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and James Weber

Icahn Enterprises, a publicly traded limited partnership founded and operated by famed activist investor Carl Icahn, had earned above market returns for over a decade. Between 2018 and early 2023, it had a compound annual return of 31%. Icahn invested in undervalued... View Details

Keywords: Stock Shares; Investment Return; Business Model; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

June 2014 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Southeastern Asset Management Challenges Buyout at Dell

By: Paul Healy, Suraj Srinivasan and Aldo Sesia

In late 2012, Michael Dell wants to take Dell Inc., the company he founded, private. Mr. Dell believes that the successful company's transformation from a personal computer (PC) manufacturer to an enterprise solutions and services provider (ESS) is dependent on going... View Details

17 Nov 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

How Activist Investors Became Respectable

(Editor's Note. Carl Icahn is in the news again. On Monday, SEC filings revealed the militant investor has sold his entire stake in eBay, after successfully pushing the company to spin off its PayPal... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller; Financial Services; Banking

November 2006 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Kerr-McGee

By: Robin Greenwood and André Perold

Activist investors Carl Icahn and Barry Rosenstein acquire a stake in Oklahoma-based company Kerr-McGee. They demand two board seats and ask the company to make several operational and financial changes, including the repurchase of equity and divestiture of their... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Restructuring; Equity; Investment; Management; Governance Controls; Corporate Strategy; Chemical Industry; Energy Industry; United States

February 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

CityCenter (C): Turmoil and Choices

By: John D. Macomber

"CityCenter (C)" follows the (A) and (B) cases chronologically. The (C) case explores the decisions facing MGM MIRAGE following a lawsuit by partner Dubai World and suspension of Dubai World's cash contributions to the project in early 2009. Issues include the... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Private Equity; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Decisions; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict and Resolution; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Nevada

July 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Equity Restructuring at Dell Technologies: Buy Out, Buy Up, Buy In (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

In November 2018, Dell Technologies was poised to re-enter the public markets by means of a complex recapitalization that would replace an entire class of publicly-traded “tracking stock,” with new shares that would trade publicly without the need of a formal IPO. The... View Details

Keywords: Technology; M＆A; Recapitalization; MBO; Equity Issues; Private Equity Buyouts; Public Ownership; Stock Shares; Mergers and Acquisitions; Equity; Technology Industry; United States

August 2013 (Revised December 2014)
Case

Taking Dell Private

By: David J. Collis, David B. Yoffie and Matthew Shaffer

In July 2012, Michael Dell, CEO and founder of Dell, Inc., met with a representative of Silver Lake Partners to explore taking his company private. The company, which he had founded in his dorm room as a college freshman and which had made him the youngest Fortune 500... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Going Private; The PC Market; Market For Corporate Control; Corporate Strategy; Leveraged Buyouts; Change Management; Private Equity; Market Entry and Exit; Private Ownership; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Technology Industry; United States

September 1997 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Bankruptcy and Restructuring at Marvel Entertainment Group

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Jason Auerbach

Marvel Entertainment Group is the leading comic book publisher in the United States, with superheros like Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, and Captain America. It is also one of the leading manufacturers of sports and entertainment trading cards under the... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governance Controls; Courts and Trials; Planning; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

August 2015 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Shareholder Activists and Corporate Strategy

By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman

By 2015, there had been an upsurge in activist shareholders arguing for radical changes in companies' corporate strategies. Personalities like Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman, and Daniel Loeb were feared and loathed in some quarters, celebrated in others. With nearly $120... View Details

Keywords: Scope; Activist Investors; Spin-offs; Synergy; Diversification; Consolidation; Hedge Fund; Corporate Strategy