[metaphorm]

Icahn is only interested in Icahn. I can't really see this as positive for anyone just because Icahn has a track record of pressuring businesses into destroying their value creating engines in order to enrich his own coffers. He's a pillager, not a builder. Why does anyone tolerate doing business with him anymore?

[kolbe]

Firstly, this is not an instance of a company being pillaged by an activist investor. Icahn is not assuming control of the company, he's trying to make them change direction.

Secondly, Icahn has been completely right about eBay. Andreessen functionally stole billions from eBay via a deal with one of the most egregious conflicts of interest we've seen in all of corporate America. Which, fine, it was a fuckup. Sometimes companies fuck up. But then, eBay keeps the same board of directors with the same crooks running the show. eBay needs an activist investor or else these are the guys who are going to pillage the company (even further). Not Icahn.

[x0x0]

To be fair, I think Andreessen only got a couple hundred million (3% on an $8.5B acquisition [1]). But while pmarca says he recused himself, the whole thing reeks.

Though don't forget what is actually the far far bigger failure. When that idiot Meg Whitman acquired skype in 2005, she acquired skype but not the underlying tech (Joltid), then fucked the founders on an earnout. So there was tons of bad blood, and they were declining to relicense their p2p tech to skype. You can read all about it [2] and elsewhere. That, plus some other stupid stuff, made ebay give the founders 30% of the company back for $160m. I don't think Andreessen was on the board for the initial acquisition, but what idiocy.

It's hard to believe a reasonable technical person was involved in the initial acquisition. Where the hell was the board? The point is, it's hard to say ebay has had competent executive leadership or a board for a while.

[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-03/ebay-andreessen-ref...

[2] http://mashable.com/2009/11/06/skype-lawsuit-settled/

[metaphorm]

I wasn't commenting about the board of Ebay or Andreesen. they may well be pillaging assholes in their own right. that doesn't mean that Icahn isn't also a pillager. He certainly has the track record of one.

[xnull]

Everyone keep your eyes peeled for same thing re Value Act Capital and Microsoft.