King Icahn: The Biography of a Renegade Capitalist Paperback – May 14, 2014

Fascinating insight into one of Wall Street's titans. The back story is more interesting as any deal he is mentioned in today. Perhaps the last great corporate raider and teflon operator from the junk bond days. Audacity and chutzpah combined with a brilliant financial mind and ability to build and cultivate the brand. What is most interesting is that the early deals were simple shake downs of management teams whose misalignment with shareholders (or ethics) forced them to pay off their accuser rather than face the street. A rare book and well worth the read.

For a while I thought Icahn paid to have this book written. But after finishing it I'm not sure. He's one surly dude no doubt. He is the GOAT when it comes to extracting money from public companies directly into his own personal coffers. Unfortunately the book doesn't go into the details of the deals enough to make my top 10 greatest business books (#1 being The Patriarch) but considering what is published as business writing today, this book could teach someone a few things. Like how to dislodge anyone from anything. Icahn is like a tiger prowling the safari looking for his next meal. Once you're in his sights you either get serious or get eaten. Texaco. TWA......not the best business book but all in all not to bad,

This book is interesting in so far as one is interested in Icahn's deals in the 80's.As far as biographies go it's fairly poor. There is no depth to the book, you walk away with a superficial understanding of the man and the circumstances/ environment that led to Icahn's rise.The Kindle copy is full of spelling errors, misplaced words and sentences that end abruptly.

This is a searing indictment of a medical school flunkee driven by ruthless greed and a need to prove to his overbearing mother he would amount to something. Rather than build something honorably with his mind and/or hands, like a slippery snake, he wiggled his way through the most manipulative aspects of capitalism to feed off shareholders and American companies. He is nothing more or less than a parasite, plain and simple. While the biographer is no doubt a second or third-rate author (which is appropriate for Carl), it serves the important purpose of documenting this stain on American history. I can assure Carl he won’t be getting a big biography from the likes of Walter Isaacson - that involves truly creating something of lasting value.

A book that provides historical reference of the financial transformation in Wall Street during the 80s. No company was safe, all were up for grabs, as long as the corporates raiders considered that their market value was below their asset or book value. Arguably, Carl Icahn was one of the most representatives of the corporate raiders, also called "greenmailers" for their practice of taking greenmail, a premium payment by management above the cost of acquiring the company stock, to recant from their intentions of taking over, streamline operations, sell assets, or finally liquidate the company. All options were on the table for the corporate raiders; they would select the option that delivered the highest return to investors.The books provides a inside look in the personality, mindset and business philosophy of Carl Icahn.

For those wishing to learn more about this Wall street legend, this book will benefit you. The author did an exceptional job.

The subject of the book is super interesting! But the book is really poorly written, the first third of the book is okay, after that there are SO MANY typo’s and bad grammar, the author obviously didn’t proofread the final version, if he did he should be ashamed of himself!! Poorly published, I do not recommend this book.

Excellent read and inspiring. But it does have typographical errors

GREAT detail, Incredible story. Don't understand the other reviews. Content was great, story telling was also smooth and enthusiastic.

Master piece for manifesting varies takeover strategies; especially enjoyed the detail covers on the negotiations with varies parties.Wondering would Icahn ever coming back to his glory 80s

It’s a decent profile of the beginnings and rise of Icahn. I was very disappointed that this “updated” edition only goes up until around 1992, he has done a lot since then, and I expect has refined his approach.

Good book..Nice read if you want to know about one of the greatest investors ever... Has a better record than Warren Buffet when it comes to investing and creating wealth...

Bought the book, because it said, it was a biography. It is not. It's more a book about the deals / raids Carl did in his carrer, but only until the early 90's. Little out of date.It's also terrible to read. The info about Carl is short, but the deals / raids are told in soooo much detail, it's really boring at times.