As "Icahn: The Restless Billionaire" (2022 release; 101 min.) opens, various talking heads offer snapshot comments. "The great white shark is the sea of capitalism", is how one of them sums up Carl Icahn. We then go to "NYC", and we catch up with today's Carl Icahn, now well into his 80s but as active as ever. And ready to share some stories... At this point we are 10 min into the documentary.
Couple of comments: this is the latest from longtime producer-director Bruce David Klein ("Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened"). Here Klein looks back at the life and times of Carl Icahn, a self-made billionaire who wrecked havoc on Wall Street and corporate America, identifying undervalued companies and forcing change on them, typically resulting in a noticeable uptick in the company's value. Corporate raider? Shareholder activist? Icahn recounts some of the bigger, or most interesting, turnarounds he was involved in: Teppan, Texaco, TWA, and in later years tech companies like Herbalife, Netflix and, yes, even Apple. As it turns out, you may or may not agree with what he has done or how he's gone about it, but Icahn is a master story teller and we are in for treat. I happen to think that Icahn is misunderstood by many. In the end, his track record speaks for itself. Along the way a bunch of talking heads, typically from the business section of a newspaper or magazine, pitch in and offer their perspective. Frankly, the movie flew by in no time (for me).
"Icahn: The Restless Billionaire" premiered on HBO a few days ago and is now available on HBO On Demand and on HBO Max (where I caught it). If you've heard the name of Carl Icahn but aren't entirely sure what the guy stands for, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
