Boring Market

One of the worst investments I have ever made was to invest in Motorola without any prior investigation, and with the encouragement of investment pundits on T.V. I based everything solely on several factors; that this wireless communication company was supposedly deemed a ‘bargain’, the economy was not slowing down and that Carl Icahn was on the inside trying to turn the company around. Carl Icahn, who currently owns 6.3 percent of the company, is classified as a ‘corporate raider’ (others call this a shareholder activist) which means Icahn buys large amounts of stock in a corporation and then uses voting rights to enact measures directed at realizing a profit or growing market share.

Most often corporate raiders are not the type of people who stick around or who aim to build a business for the long term. They usually buy shares, change around business practices for the short term and then sell when the stock price rises. Carl Icahn has been on the inside slowly gaining more ownership for years and has only made a little process. With shares nearing a several year low Icahn needs to pressure Motorola in order for the turn around he planned or else he will fail and loses billions of his own money. Obviously I understand now that I simply paid more for Motorola then it is worth, realized that the economy is slowing down and that I didn’t do enough research on Carl Icahn or his ‘raiding’ techniques. Can Carl Icahn save the worst investment I ever made? I sure hope so.

Tags: Carl·Corporate·Icahn·Motorola·Raider