Is Biogen Idec ready for the Icahn onslaught? Activist shareholder and infamous thorn in management's side Carl Icahn made his proxy-fight threats official Friday with a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Icahn outlined his pitch to take over four board seats, plus fix the size of the board at 13 and move Biogen's state of incorporation to shareholder-friendly state North Dakota.
Icahn has been goosing Biogen management for some 18 months now, ever since he strong-armed the company into putting itself up for sale. Then, after Biogen failed to find a buyer, he mounted a proxy fight to put his own people in three board seats, saying that the company had deliberately sabotaged its own auction process. And now there's this year's model.
Meanwhile, Icahn is stirring up trouble at Amylin, trying to push his five nominees onto that company's board of directors. (Another minority investor is pressing for its own slate of five, too.) He's a busy, busy man.
- read the Wall Street Journal story