Chip East/ReutersCarl Icahn can be followed on Twitter at @Carl_C_Icahn.Carl C. Icahn, an outspoken investor in the old-school Wall Street style, has a new, and decidedly high-tech, megaphone.
Mr. Icahn is on Twitter, his assistant confirmed on Thursday. With the handle @Carl_C_Icahn, the investor, who is 77, posted his first tweet Thursday morning, with a reference to his investment in Dell.
While it remains to be seen how this line of communication will develop, Twitter seems naturally suited to Mr. Icahn, an activist who regularly engages in prominent scuffles over his investments. This week, Mr. Icahn, who is opposing a $24.4 billion management buyout of Dell, announced that he had significantly increased his stake in the company.
Mr. Icahn is the latest Wall Street denizen to establish a presence on Twitter. Warren E. Buffett opened a Twitter account in May. Financial firms like Goldman Sachs also maintain presences on Twitter. But one financier, the hedge fund manager Douglas A. Kass, announced over the weekend that he was taking an extended leave of absence from Twitter, citing the problem of “haters.”
Mr. Icahn is likely to stir up lively discussion of his own. But the investor, who is prone to lengthy declarations, may have to adjust to Twitter’s 140-character limit.
As of midday Thursday, Mr. Icahn had already garnered more than 3,000 followers. Still, he was not included among the accounts that are streamed on Bloomberg terminals. Here is a sampling of the responses: