In 2000 or so, I invested a few peanuts in my first stock: XO Communications. Three weeks later, I tripled my peanuts. For some reason, I had a burning desire to sell my paltry stake, and use the proceeds to play in someone else's sandbox.
A day later, I heard news that XO voluntarily halted trading on their stock. Soon, the name "Forstmann Little & Co." emerged in rumors of a buyout deal that XO's then executives reached without shareholder agreement.
It was also the first time I heard of the name "Carl Icahn". A few days later, a shareholder and myself launched the now defunct XOShareholders.com. It became the "social network" of the disenfranchised shareholder, where we had 3,000+ shareholders with more than 30 Million shares outstanding.
I didn't realize the impact of the deal until the numbers started rolling in to our website. Thousands of shareholders were losing thousands and millions of dollars because of this deal.
What happened? The shareholders lost, but we were offered an opportunity to purchase shares in the new company. Yet, because of the website, we gave the common shareholder a major voice -- and we put up a good fight.
Anytime I hear the name "Icahn", it's followed by "corporate raider". Having personally experienced the wrath of his "raiding", I can tell you that it was an ugly experience. However, I hold no opinion of the gentleman nor any animosity.
If Icahn or any other suitor were to acquire AMR and take the holding company private, I can only hope that it's a fair deal and that everyone involved will be winners, rather than losers. Maybe going private might be the best thing for AMR/AA. My former employer, Hospital Corp. of America (a $25 Billion corporation), went private last year.
Hopefully my wish of Icahn buying AA will come true sooner than I expected.
