Evidence Locker: The Taking of TWA

Evidence Locker opens chapter nine of King Icahn, by Mark Stevens: the taking of TWA in 1985. Icahn bought in at nine dollars fifty and bid eighteen; Frank Lorenzo bid twenty-three but refused to pay Icahn nine million to step aside. The unions feared Lorenzo more, so the pilots paid, twenty-six percent of pay and benefits, promising two to three hundred million in the black. With forty-five percent in hand the board chose Icahn. The author's verdict: the turnaround would be shouldered by organized labor, and the one deal he made with his heart he regretted for years. His uncle had said buy Bergdorf Goodman instead.

Chapter nine of King Icahn tells how Icahn took TWA in 1985: he bought in at nine dollars fifty a share and bid eighteen, Frank Lorenzo's Texas Air offered twenty-three but refused to pay Icahn nine million dollars to step aside, so the unions, who feared Lorenzo more, handed Icahn the concessions, the pilots giving up twenty-six percent, and with forty-five percent of the stock he won the board's vote; the author's lesson is that the turnaround was shouldered by organized labor and that Icahn, for the first time, had let emotion into a deal he would regret for years.

On the book: King Icahn by Mark Stevens

Starring

Inspector HaleWrenThe LedgerNightjar