Activist investor Carl Icahn said in a press release that he
plans to embrace a far more modern form of communication, the
popular social-media site Twitter, to issue statements to the
public.
Mr. Icahn, who first issued a tweet in June and has amassed a
relatively paltry 25,741 followers, encouraged investors, the media
and others interested in Icahn Enterprises LP (IEP) to review the
information he posts on Twitter in addition to details on the
company's investor relations website, press releases and Securities
and Exchange Commission filings.
The highly profile investor's embrace of Twitter comes roughly
four months after the SEC said that postings on sites such as
Facebook Inc. (FB) and Twitter are just as good as news releases
and company websites as long as the companies have told investors
which outlets they intend to use.
That statement was sparked by an investigation into a Facebook
posting by Netflix Inc. (NFLX) Chief Executive Reed Hastings, who
boasted on the social-media site that the streaming-video company
had exceeded one billion hours for the first time, sending the
firm's shares higher. The SEC ultimately didn't levy any civil
charges against Mr. Hastings or Netflix related to the initial
Facebook posting.
Mr. Icahn's Twitter handle is @Carl_C_Icahn, and while the
investor signaled his intention to use the site as a form of
communication, he hasn't been a very active user the past few
months. He has sent out 10 tweets from June 20 to Aug. 5, the last
time he issued a tweet on the site.
His first tweet? "Twitter is great. I like it almost as much as
I like Dell." Mr. Icahn has filed a legal challenge to Michael
Dell's buyout for the personal-computer maker, as the two are
locked in a battle over the future of the company.
Write to John Kell at john.kell@wsj.com
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