Carl Icahn's track record

Whether playing the role of corporate raider or white-knight activist, Carl Icahn is no stranger to pushing for change at the companies in which he holds big stakes.

Icahn made his name in the 1980s by revamping companies such as Texaco and TWA. More recent high-profile campaigns have centered on pressuring companies as varied as Motorola, Blockbuster and Time Warner.

His most recent scorecard is a patchwork of hits and misses:

• February 2002: ImClone Systems (IMCL: 41.72, -0.97, -2.3%) : Icahn bought a large stake in the drug manufacturer in early 2002, when the stock was trading around $18 a share, and began a major sell-off two years later when the price peaked at around $80. ImClone's board then accused him of scaring off an earlier $36-a-share offer from Sanofi-Aventis, but he has denied that claim, saying he felt the offer was low and untenable. His battle with the company's management continued until October 2006, when he became chairman of its board.
• February 2005: Mylan Inc. (MYL: 12.22, +0.25, +2.1%) : Icahn took a stake in Mylan in 2004 after the pharmaceutical company said it would attempt to acquire Bristol, Tenn.-based King Pharmaceutical. Icahn then mounted a proxy fight for the company, alleging that its chief executive, Robert J. Coury, was vastly overpaid and took the firm to court in an attempt to change its bylaws on board nominees. Icahn lost the court battle, but effectively killed the King deal.
• May 2005: Blockbuster (BBI: 3.15, +0.10, +3.3%) : Icahn purchased a significant stake in Blockbuster in early 2005 and within months was battling to have himself and two other dissidents named to the video-rental chain's board of directors. Icahn eventually won the battle, leading to the ouster of longtime Blockbuster Chairman John Antioco. More recently, Icahn said he supports steering Blockbuster in a new direction, backing an effort by the company to purchase electronics giant Circuit City (CC:  5.00, -0.10, -2.0%) . Icahn even offered to finance the deal himself if Blockbuster were to fail to secure funding in the near future.
• February 2006: Time Warner (TWX: 16.47, -0.04, -0.2%) : The media giant spent months battling a consortium of investors led by Icahn and Lazard Frères CEO Bruce Wasserstein that sought a sell-off of cable holdings and proposed breaking the company into four parts. The two sides settled their dispute in February 2006, when the company offered to buy back $20 billion in stock and bolster independent membership of its board. In a conciliatory gesture, the Icahn-led group agreed not to contest the re-election of Time Warner's slate of directors at that year's shareholders meeting.
• October 2006: Lear Corp. (LEA: 30.88, -0.42, -1.3%) : Icahn picked up a $200 million stake in the auto-parts maker in mid-October 2006 and then launched a full-out, $2.3 billion takeover bid for the company in February 2007. The deal received intense scrutiny, and Wall Street derided the offer as too low. Icahn eventually sweetened the bid to $37.25 a share, or $2.85 billion, vs. the original $36, but the offer fizzled after failing to win shareholder backing.
• January 2007: Motorola (MOT:  10.07, -0.06, -0.6%) : Icahn began wrangling with tech and telecom pioneer Motorola when the company's sales began to sink after it failed to come up with compelling new products to follow the popular Razr cell-phone line. Icahn purchased a 1.39% in the company in January 2007 and immediately began lobbying for a seat on the firm's board. Motorola's shareholders rejected that request the following May, but Icahn has persisted. He sued Motorola in March as part of an effort to gain four seats on the company's board and force the sale of the firm's mobile-phone division. The next month, Motorola caved in and agreed to add two of Icahn's associates to the board and to consult with him on the naming of a new leader for the troubled handset division
• April 2008: BEA: Nowhere has Icahn's approach to "flipping" companies been more evident than in his dealings with software maker BEA Systems Inc., of which he snapped up more than 10% with the aim of hauling BEA back to the bargaining table with Oracle (ORCL:  21.68, -0.19, -0.9%) . After substantial wrangling, BEA agreed to be acquired by Oracle for $8.5 billion in April of this year. The closing purchase price was $19.38 -- a 42% premium on the price at which the stock was trading before Icahn jump-started negotiations.