Carl Icahn appeared on CNBC to talk about a variety of issues today, including the stock market in general, as well as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and the “imperial boardroom.” When speaking about the stock market, Icahn actually echoed the words of Warren Buffett, who spoke earlier.
Carl Icahn on the stock market
Speaking with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo via telephone today, Icahn said he believes that currently the market is giving us a false picture. He thinks most stocks are fairly valued and doesn’t believe very many companies “are doing that well.” He notes that many of them are “taking advantage of low interest rates.”
He also talked about his recent investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), one company he continues to see as “very undervalued.” He said the company’s big cash position and ability to generate $45 billion every year are two big reasons he sees it as undervalued.
Other areas of the markets which he mentioned included real estate, which he called “ridiculously overvalued.”
Carl Icahn disses the boardroom
When he spoke on CNBC today, he also reiterated some comments he made about the “imperial boardroom.” An editorial written by him today and published in The Wall Street Journal challenges the boardroom and explained what he thinks is wrong with the boardroom setting in the U.S.
He writes about how important voting is to democracy but says that voting doesn’t really apply to public corporations. He notes that even though shareholders are able to vote on topics, the board “can just ignore them under the ‘business judgment rule’ backed by state laws and courts.” He then went on to compare today’s board rooms to Middle Age feudal lords who used their “’divine right’ of royalty to justify their lordly positions while plundering the peasants.”
According to Icahn, shareholders no longer have any real rights in the boardroom system because pro-management groups have created “a thicket of laws that protect the impregnability of boards and CEOs.”
