Icahn sells his part in Federated Stores

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 16, 2007 | by Bloomberg News

Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor who tried to take control of Time Warner Inc., has sold his 1.3 percent stake in Federated Department Stores Inc., the second-largest U.S. department store company.

Icahn Management LP sold its 6.8 million shares as of March 31, Icahn said in a filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Icahn has bought stakes in companies including Time Warner Inc. and ImClone Systems Inc. and forced management to add new directors, boost buybacks or change strategies. Federated acquired May Department Stores Co. in 2005 and converted about 400 former May locations to the Macy's name in September.

Shares of Cincinnati-based Federated fell 96 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $39.94 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange trading. Federated has a market value of $18.2 billion.

Icahn, who is based in New York, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment. Neither did Federated spokesman Jim Sluzewski.

Last year, Icahn unsuccessfully pressured Time Warner Chief Executive Officer Richard Parsons to break up the company. He accepted board representation and a $20 billion share buyback instead.

Earlier this month, Icahn failed to win a seat on Motorola Inc.'s board after a three-month campaign. Icahn had planned to use the board seat to push executives to turnaround the handset unit at the world's second-largest mobile-phone maker.