Icahn Enterprises LP shares plummeted as the company cut its quarterly distribution in half, with founder Carl Icahn blaming a short-seller report for the firm’s second-quarter net loss doubling from a year earlier.
Icahn Enterprises will pay out $1 per depositary unit, down from the previous $2 a unit, the firm said in a statement Friday. The stock plunged 25% at 8:33 a.m. in early New York trading.
Carl Icahn said the firm was resetting its focus on its core activism strategy and has significantly reduced its hedges. Shares in his firm have fallen more than a third this year before Friday, largely on the back of a Hindenburg report in May that accused the billionaire activist of costly missteps.
“We believe strongly that our current portfolio will yield additional winners and generate significant upside ahead,” Icahn wrote in a letter to investors.
The company had $2.5 billion in revenue last quarter, and a net loss of $269 million, wider than the $128 million in the second quarter of 2022.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.