Carl Icahn is hoping his financially successful offspring never flies the nest.
The billionaire investor is negotiating a new deal with his son, Brett Icahn, in hopes that he will stay at his father’s publicly traded company and eventually succeed him, The Post has learned.
Brett and partner David Schechter manage roughly $7 billion of stocks for Icahn Enterprises. Thanks to savvy bets, their Sargon Portfolio, which started out with $3 billion, has grown to represent nearly 20 percent of the firm’s $36 billion of assets.
The pair is in line for a huge payday come September. Under a deal struck with Icahn in 2012, each is entitled to a lump sum of more than $250 million, equal to 7.5 percent of the profits over a 4 percent “hurdle” rate of return.
Brett stood to reap $256 million as of Dec. 31, 2015, according to the firm’s regulatory filings. The same goes for Schechter, sources said.
Unlike most hedge fund managers, the two men did not collect management fees for running the portfolio.
“They had a tougher deal than any hedge fund manager I can think of, and their returns were better than any manager I can think of, so they certainly earned their stripes,” Carl Icahn told The Post.
“I’m very proud of them,” he said, adding that Schechter, who joined his firm in 2004 from Citigroup, also feels like a son to him.
Although the elder Icahn declined to comment on the negotiations, he’s discussing a deal that would put the pair in charge of Icahn Enterprises when he decides to step down, two sources said.
“They would be the two people that keep the firm going when Carl retires,” one source said.
While the 80-year-old Icahn has been one of Wall Street’s most successful activist investors, his firm lately has had little to brag about outside of Brett. Icahn Enterprises, which stopped managing outside money in 2011, fell for a second straight year, down 18 percent in 2015.
In contrast, Brett, 36, and Schechter, 40, had generated an annualized return rate of nearly 37 percent as of April 2015.
The pair make mostly passive investments, subject to father Carl’s approval, through the fund and have not been involved in running portfolio companies.
One of their biggest hits was Netflix, reportedly netting a $2 billion profit. Other notable investments include Apple, Hain Celestial Group, Mentor Graphics, Nuance, and Take-Two Interactive.
Brett and Schechter also might elect to leave and launch their own hedge fund — an idea they reportedly considered in 2014 and then abandoned, sources said.
Neither could be reached for comment.
Other Icahn protégés have successfully launched their own hedge funds, including Mark Rachesky, who started MHR Fund Management in 1996, and Keith Meister, who kicked off Corvex Management in
2011.
Meanwhile, the elder Icahn, who is close to Donald Trump, said he’s not interested in becoming Treasury secretary if Trump makes it to the Oval Office.
“It’s a little late to be working for someone,” he said. “I’d be happy to be in a kitchen cabinet,” he said, giving advice on a part-time basis.