Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is finally revealing his tough-guy, Far Rockaway side to Silicon Valley.
On Wednesday, Icahn blasted Apple’s board, which includes Al Gore, as “imperial” over its refusal to increase the amount of stock the company will buy from shareholders to $110 billion — from the earlier sum of $60 billion.
Later in the day, eBay said the septuagenarian has called for the auction giant to spin off its PayPal business. Icahn also said he plans to nominate two of his employees to sit on the company’s board, eBay said in a letter to shareholders.
Ebay said the board does “not believe that breaking up the company is the best way to maximize shareholder value.” Still, shares jumped more than 8 percent in after-hours trading on the news, after closing at $54.41.
Shares of Apple closed up 0.4 percent, at $551.51.
The Queens-born Icahn, well-known for his tough-as-nails investing style, had been unusually cordial for months while calling on the Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple to give more of its multibillion cash stash back to investors.
But on Wednesday he let loose his street fighter side, telling the board, “I think it is sort of disgraceful, and I think it’s doing a tremendous disservice to its shareholders.”
“What annoys me is that you still have this imperial board concept — that they know what’s better for you than you do,” he told CNBC on Wednesday.
Icahn has been pressing the iPad maker since August to boost its plan to buy $60 billion in stock over three years. After getting nowhere, Icahn filed a resolution in December asking shareholders to vote to add to the plan by $50 million through September.
Apple’s board, which seats Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and former US Vice President Gore, has recommended shareholders vote against the proposal. Stockholders will decide at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Feb. 28.
“They should be having people on there listening to guys like me — the shareholders,” Icahn told CNBC. “At the risk of being immodest, I think I have one hell of a good record on telling [people] how to use their money.”