Last September, Forbes put together a list of the 400 richest Americans, and T. Boone Pickens came in 117th place. Now, thanks (at least in part) to Yahoo, he’ll likely be a few spots lower when that list gets updated.
Pickens has sold the 10 million shares of Yahoo’s stock he bought in May. During that month, the stock fluctuated between $24.37 and $28.67 per share. Lately, it’s been closer to $21.50, so by unloading his shares, the Texas billionaire appears to have lost at least $30 million.
T. Boone Pickens
He’s understandably upset. “I think that Yahoo management was pathetic,” Pickens told the San Francisco Chronicle.
However, given the amount of time it took Pickens to comment (Yahoo and Icahn made up eight days ago), he loses a little bit of our sympathy. Another notch or two goes because Pickens “misspoke about the amount Microsoft offered, saying that it was as much as $41 per share.”
And finally, Pickens “acknowledged on CNBC . . . that he was unfamiliar with the details of the proxy contest and that he was merely following Icahn’s lead,” according to the Chronicle.
So no one’s suggesting that you should shed tears for a man who’s still worth around $3 billion. Pickens is becoming well known because of his wind plan, though, and it’s interesting to see another powerful person speak out against Yang and Bostock.
