Icahn-Lazard Report: Reality Check

While we continue to slog through the massive report — remember, we read this stuff so you don’t have to — a few things to keep in mind:

– The report from Lazard is designed to buttress client Carl Icahn’s complaints, contentions, criticisms and goals. It is not dispassionate or unencumbered.

– It actually comes with disclaimers and a warning that Lazard “could be viewed as having a conflict of interest affecting the objectivity of these
materials.”

– As Rafat noted, poetry has a long history of use as hype. The report itself and the drama leading up to it are also part of the hype. For instance, the four-unit-split balloon was raised before and got plenty of attention but the report creates another round of coverage. No small irony given that Icahn charges TW with obscuring results via a massive PR effort.

– None of this means there aren’t some valid points or potentially viable ideas in the report, just that it all has to be taken with a box of salt.

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