Carl Icahn Turns His Attention to Hertz with Apple Shareholder Proposal Pending

Carl Icahn Turns His Attention to Hertz with Apple Shareholder Proposal Pending

Published on 01-04-2014 06:25 PM

The activist investor Carl Icahn, who has a history of using his money and power to influence publicly traded companies with Apple being one of his targets, is now setting his sights on Hertz, buying as many as 40 million shares in the rental car company. His newfound stake in Hertz was revealed by an anonymous source to CNBC recently. The move made by the investor prompted executives at Hertz to adopt a so-called “poison pill” earlier this week in an attempt to prevent Icahn from gaining control of the board of directors.

Prior to the news, the identity of the investor was unknown. Hertz simply attributed its precautionary measures as being in response to “unusual and substantial activity” in its shares. Icahn’s stake in Hertz is said to be partially in derivatives, in addition to common stock. If his entire stake was common stock, sources reportedly mentioned it would make him the company’s single largest shareholder.

The apparent interest in Hertz comes as the billionaire remains involved in a public fight with the Apple Board of Directors over the company’s cash and reserves. He has openly called for Apple to spend the entirety of some $150 billion it has in cash on a share repurchase program. However, Icahn formally filed a shareholder proposal in November, in which he instead detailed a $50 billion stock repurchase plan. Apple unsurprisingly has recommended that investors vote against the proposal, saying that its board is already “thoughtfully considering options for returning additional cash to shareholders.”

During fiscal 2013, Apple spent $23 billion of an expanded $60-billion share repurchase authorization, which contributed to combined dividend payments and repurchases totaling over $43 billion since the program was initiated roughly six quarters ago. Icahn revealed in October that he at the time had 4.7 million shares of AAPL stock, up from a previous total of 4 million. His interest in the company and stature as a Wall Street icon, have even garnered him private meetings with Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer.

We’ll have to see what happens next.

Source: CNBC via AppleInsider

_{This article was originally published in forum thread: Carl Icahn Turns His Attention to Hertz with Apple Shareholder Proposal Pending started by Akshay Masand View original post}