Who is Carl Icahn?

Carl Icahn is one of the best-known US business figures of recent decades. Famed in the Eighties as one of that decade's "corporate raiders", he has more recently been reported to be advising President Donald Trump on financial regulation.

Where have you heard about Carl Icahn?

Rarely out of the news, Carl Icahn is someone whom it is difficult to avoid. Financial media will refer to him, as will histories of Wall Street in the Eighties and beyond. Even in his ninth decade, his deals still hit the headlines.

What you need to know about Carl Icahn.

Carl Icahn, a native New Yorker, is majority shareholder in Icahn Enterprises, a conglomerate whose interests range far and wide, spanning engineering, energy, manufacturing, real estate, casinos and packaging. Along with Alan Bond, Sir James Goldsmith and others, he typified the corporate raiders whose hostile bids for companies were depicted in exaggerated form in the 1987 film Wall Street.

He famously bought and then asset-stripped Trans World Airlines in the mid-Eighties and bid unsuccessfully for another renowned American name, US Steel. More recently, he has built up positions in technology stocks including PayPal and has been a major shareholder in the car-rental firm Hertz.