Carl Icahn News: Leveraged Buyout, Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN)’s Split Role & Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN), Biogen Idec Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Analyst: Icahn may urge separation of CEO, chairman roles at Nuance (BizJournals)
While Carl Icahn’s team overseeing his investment in Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN) says they see a lot of promise in the future of voice recognition software, one analyst said the activist investor may try and split the role of CEO from that of chairman in the next two months. Icahn, who is known for getting involved in the oversight of companies in which he invests – including Biogen Idec Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) in 2007 – bought a 9.3 percent stake in the Burlington, Mass. software company this spring, and has since upped it to 16 percent. The company recently enacted a so-called “poison pill” plan intended to make it harder for an outsider to take over the company, though it said it didn’t do so in response to any particular threat.

ICAHN CAPITAL Carl Icahn

Apple: Is Carl Icahn Acting Unethically? (TheStreet)
Pardon me while I reiterate two points I made Friday in Is Tim Cook Certifiably Inane? Refer to that article to see Carl Icahn’s Tweet about plans for dinner with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook. At this dinner, according to Icahn, the billionaire will learn about the “magnitude” of Apple’s stock buyback. Tim Cook’s puppet strings have already been pulled — by Icahn and David Einhorn — now it’s just a question of how far he’s willing to go. This has nothing to do with Apple’s eventual success or failure. In my recent articles, I have rhetoricized the possibilities in that regard — along a crowded spectrum from positive to negative — six ways to Sunday. Make no mistake — Apple remains best in breed; whether or not it can stay that way nobody knows.

Carl Icahn meeting with Tim Cook to discuss AAPL share buyback (Tuaw)
Activist investor Carl Icahn made news a few weeks back when he announced, via a tweet, that he had bought a large position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), which is now reported to be about US$1.5 billion worth of Apple stock. Immediately, Apple’s stock shot up and has been up ever since. But as an activist investor, Icahn never just buys stock hoping it will go up. He buys stock (and a lot of it) hoping to use his shares and knowledge to influence the direction of a company. Along those lines, Icahn has now tweeted that he has set up a dinner with Tim Cook in September:

Unlike Dell, Apple CEO may cozy up to Icahn (BizJournals)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook is doing something Michael Dell probably couldn’t fathom — he’s planning to have lunch with billionaire rogue investor Carl Icahn to talk about working on a deal together. Icahn — who goosed Apple Inc.’s stock by $12 billion earlier this month by disclosing his investment in the California-based company that plans to employ more than 6,000 people in Austin in the coming years —tweeted that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook “believes in buyback” and is doing one. The two executives will discuss the magnitude of the buyback at a dinner to be held in September, Icahn said in this tweet: “Spoke to Tim.

How To Invest Like Carl Icahn (iStockAnalyst)
The leveraged buyout was one of the great financial inventions of the 1980s. Buying companies with little money down and stuffing them with debt before exiting with a massive gain turned millionaires into billionaires and forever changed the rules on the Street. Without the leveraged buyout, Carl Icahn would have never earned a reputation as one of the all-time great corporate raiders. Icahn, also a high-profile shareholder activist, has parlayed a highly disruptive and contrarian investment style to build a net worth over $20 billion, making him the 36th richest person in the world.

Executive Edge: SEC cooling-off period (CNBC)