Icahn is a diversified investor with holdings in about 10 business segments including automotive, energy, gaming, real estate and food packaging. His investments are made through publicly traded Icahn Enterprises and closely held Icahn Partners. Icahn Enterprises had revenue of $10.3 billion in 2023.
Icahn owns 90% of Icahn Enterprises, a publicly traded master limited partnership and diversified holding company, according to a December 2023 Securities & Exchange Commission filing. He owns an additional 1.99% of the company through his ownership of Icahn Enterprises GP, its general partner.
The billionaire invests his personal funds through several entities, including Icahn Partners, in which Icahn Enterprises and his son Brett are the only other investors, according to annual SEC disclosures. The value of Icahn Partners' investment holdings is disclosed in Icahn Enterprises regulatory filings about once a quarter.
He personally has $3.2 billion in loans, according to the company's 10-Q filing covering the quarter through Sept. 30, 2023.
Icahn invests in equities, futures, options and debt through High River, a series of entities that are held apart from Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Partners. These personal investment assets aren't included in the analysis since their size and value can't be confirmed.
Born in Queens to a synagogue cantor and a high school teacher, Icahn attended public school before enrolling at Princeton to study philosophy. After stints in medical school and the army, he discovered his passion lay in investing. Icahn started on Wall Street in 1961 as a registered sales representative and leveraged his client base to form his own brokerage firm by decade's end.
He began taking individual positions in companies in 1978, making his mark in 1984 with a large stake in Texaco during its failed merger with Pennzoil. His ensuing proxy fights with TWA, Nabisco, Gulf & Western and Uniroyal landed him the moniker of corporate raider, a title he shuns. Often controversial, his activist investing usually pays off. He doubled his money on Texaco in the 1980s, cleared $800 million on Nabisco and has made almost $3 billion on CVR Energy.
Today, his fortune is split between holdings in publicly traded Icahn Enterprises, his family office Icahn Partners and a wide range of personal investments in assets encompassing real estate and railcars.
Recipients of his charitable giving include shelters for single mothers, medical facilities and public and private educational institutions in the New York City region.