📖Carl Icahn
Business Moat Assessment
Identify sustainable competitive moats before investing.
Before investing, identify the moat — the sustainable competitive advantage that protects the business from competitors. No moat means no long-term edge.
🏠 Everyday Analogy
📖 Core Interpretation
Carl Icahn emphasizes durable business quality over short-term noise. A strong model, real competitive edge, and disciplined capital allocation matter more than quarterly excitement.
💎 Key Insight：Moats protect earnings from competitive erosion.
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❓ Why It Matters
Without business-quality filters, investors drift toward stories rather than economics. Durable cash generation is what supports long-term valuation.
🎯 How to Practice
Use a checklist covering moat, management, unit economics, and capital allocation; track long-term cash generation instead of quarter-to-quarter noise.
⚠️ Common Pitfalls
Buying narratives instead of cash-generating economics
Overreacting to short-term operating noise
Ignoring management quality and capital allocation
📚 Case Studies
1
Apple Shareholder Activism (2013)
Icahn disclosed a large Apple stake and pushed for a significantly larger share repurchase program to deploy excess cash and boost shareholder value.
✨ Outcome：Apple expanded its buyback authorization, increasing capital returned to shareholders and supporting a substantial rise in market capitalization.
2
eBay–PayPal Spin-Off Campaign (2014)
Icahn took a stake in eBay and urged the company to separate PayPal and improve capital allocation, including more efficient returns of cash to shareholders.
✨ Outcome：eBay agreed to spin off PayPal, unlocking value; combined with buybacks, this enhanced shareholder returns over time.
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