This Parting Is No Sorrow

It has been widely accepted wisdom that corporate raider Carl Icahn launched his hostile takeover of Trans World Airlines six years ago in order to greenmail management into paying a higher price for his stock. Icahn confounded the skeptics by actually taking control and running the airline, – but he has made no secret in recent years of wanting out of his money-losing investment. Throughout last week, Icahn and TWA’s labor unions hammered away at a deal that would turn over the airline to its 28,000 workers and allow the New York takeover artist to bail out and save face at the same time.

Though at week’s end the talks were ongoing, all the parties are in agreement that Icahn’s departure is the desired outcome. Once the nation’s No. 3 carrier, TWA now ranks a distant seventh. The reluctant chairman wants out of a bad investment, which he claims has cost him personally at least $100 million. The airline has lost more than $511 million since 1990, including $104 million in this year’s first quarter. TWA’s workers, angered by Icahn’s relentless quest to cut costs, blame him for driving the carrier into the ground. But before Icahn can exit, he has to satisfy union demands for job security. He also has to resolve an order by federal pension authorities to make up a shortfall in TWA pensions of $1.1 billion. (See related story on page 44.)