Anderson said in an interview this week that he expected Icahn Enterprises’ stock would still fall further. He continues to hold a short position, betting against the stock. He said Icahn’s extensive use of personal loans is still dangerous to the company’s future. “He’s got too much debt and needs cash. He’s really cornered himself,” he said. “There’s no safe exit.”

In April 2023, Icahn Enterprises stock traded around $US50 to $US55 a share.

But investors became increasingly sceptical of Icahn after the Hindenburg report was released, as evidenced by the sharp sell-off. The move out of the stock intensified after the firm cut its dividend in August that year.

The pressure mounted even further since last month, when the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Icahn with failing to disclose that he had personally pledged his own stock as collateral for margin loans worth billions of dollars. The settlement called for Icahn to pay $US2 million in fines.

The stock has since continued to drop. Some investors said they are worried that Icahn may be forced to cut its quarterly dividend again.

Even with its rapid fall in share price, Icahn Enterprises still trades at a premium to its so-called net asset value, the value of a public company’s stakes, real estate and private company holdings, minus debt and liabilities. Many publicly traded investment firms trade at a discount to net asset value because of a presumption that certain stakes would lose value if the manager were forced to sell.

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At Icahn Enterprises, Icahn holds the largest stake in certain public companies, and some have fared poorly. Shares of CVR Energy, a Texas-based oil refiner, for example, are down more than 30 per cent in the past year, and Icahn Enterprises owns roughly 65 per cent of the stock, one of Icahn’s largest holdings.

In the interview this week, Icahn said that Anderson’s statements on him and his firm are “what we consider to be compete and total lies and extremely misleading.”