LIONS GATE BOARD FIRES BACK AT CARL ICAHN

Approaching a showdown next Tuesday with activist investor Carl Icahn, who has been maneuvering to take control of Lions Gate Entertainment, the company’s board on Wednesday fired off a scathing message to shareholders warning them that Icahn “typically does not make money for shareholders of companies on which he or his representatives have secured board representation.” If his pharmaceutical holdings were excluded, the board said, $1 invested in his companies 10 years ago would have yielded just 18 cents today. The board’s letter went on to attack the business records of some of Icahn’s nominees to the Lions Gate board.

Update: Late today (Thursday) a New York judge rejected Icahn’s request for an injunction that would bar director Mark Rachesky from voting the shares he acquired in a July debt-for-equity transaction at Tuesday’s board meeting. Icahn had acknowledged that a favorable ruling by the court was crucial in his bid for control of Lions Gate.