Carl Icahn Keeps Stake in PayPal Holdings (PYPL); Exits EBAY

Carl Icahn remained bullish on PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), the payment services company, which was spun off from eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY).

The shareholders of eBay received one share of PayPal common stock for every EBay common stock they own after the completion of the separation in July.

Based on its 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Icahn owns 46,271,137 shares of PayPal, which represents 5.15% of his firm, Icahn Enterprises (NASDAQ:IEP) for the third quarter.

Icahn pressured eBay to spinoff PayPal as independent traded company last year. He believed that separating the business operations of the two companies would provide the best opportunity to remain competitive over the long-term.

Icahn’s stake in PayPal is worth approximately $1.65 billion on Monday. Currently, PayPal has a market value of approximately $42.18 billion. The shares of the payment services company closed $35.61 per share, up by more than 3% on Monday.

The filing showed that Icahn exited his position in eBay as of September 30. The activist investor sold all of the 109, 940,772 shares he owned in the e-commerce company wort around $1.36 billion.

Icahn new stockholdings

During the quarter, Icahn acquired new positions in Freeport–McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX), CVR Refining LP (NYSE:CVRRI, and American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG).

Icahn owns 100,000,000 shares in Freeport-McMoRan worth around $969 million, and 6,000,000 shares in CVR Refining worth approximately $115.04 million. He owns 1,361,323 AIG shares worth around $77.35 million

Icahn reduced stockholdings

Icahn reduced his stake in CVR Energy by 6 million shares. He still owns 71,198,718 shares in the company worth around $2.92 billion.

The activist investor also sold 6 million shares in Hologic, Inc (NASDAQ:HOLX). He still owns 28,154,879 shares in the company by the end of the quarter. His stake has a market value of around $1.10 billion.

Icahn’s net wort is more than $21 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires index. During the 1980s, he established himself as a corporate raider. He rebranded himself as an activist investor and outspoken advocate for shareholders.

He has been demanding changes such as spinoffs and shares buyback in companies where he has huge stakes such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to create or maximize shareholder value.