Icahn, Blogger (at Last?)

With Microsoft having finally thrown up its hands in despair over talks with Yahoo, financier Carl Icahn may finally have the motivation he needs to start up that blog he's been promising.

At the New York Financial Writers Association awards dinner on Tuesday, he said he would finally launch his blog next week. (Then again, he said that nearly five months ago, when he announced he would join to ranks of bloggers to post glaring examples of corporate waste and bloated salaries.)

While he prepares to launch The Icahn Report -- the site now says only "Blog coming soon. Please subscribe. Thank you." -- Icahn has been practicing on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website, using it to engage in a very public, high-profile pissing match with Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock.

In one post, on June 9, Icahn sniped at Bostock:

"You made approximately $10,000 per week last year -- not bad for a board member. I believe most of your shareholders would be interested in seeing your time sheets -- especially in light of the fact that, in my estimation, most of your so-called 'plans' over the last few years have been failures ... I ask again what your great 'plan' has been over the last few years. Why did you permit Google to leave you in the dust?"

The new blog does not necessarily have to limit itself serve as not only a platform to lambasting business enemies. Icahn could weigh in on politics as well.

Even before launching his blog, for example, Icahn has publicly dismissed Barack Obama, saying the Democrat would make a terrible president and wreck the economy.

by John Clarke Jr.