Putting Carl Icahn’s Motricity Comments in Context

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Daniel Primack’s PEHub Web post last week about billionaire Carl Icahn and his attitude toward the investment he made in Motricity created quite a stir. And The Skinny helped fan the flames of interest in quoting Primack on Monday.

However, when viewed in the full context of the video of interview with Primack at a buyouts conference, Icahn doesn’t come off nearly as critical of the deal as the blog posts – and the headline on The Skinny about “remorse” - appeared to make him.

After watching the video, I decided to rewrite the headline on The Skinny post and to print Icahn’s remarks.

Primack asked Icahn why he invested in Motricity, given that the billionaire is not known for making venture deals.

“My son liked it,” Icahn said, referring to Brett, who sits on Motricity’s board, “and he talked me into it.

“My son’s a smart guy – don’t get me wrong. And he talked me into it one night. I said OK.

“I’m not sure that it was the right decision. I’ll leave it at that.

“But, no, no I don’t think it’s bad. I’m being a little bit facetious.

“I do think Motricity has something that is very unique.”

He then went on to talk about the growth in the handheld device market, especially in store fronts and portals.

“They have some great software,” Icahn said of Motricity then added. “I’m not trying to push Motricity, but we got involved in it and I do know something about the handheld business because of Motorola so I’ve become sort of in quotes expert on it. Not really expert when you talk to somebody that knows about it, but when I talk to an average person, I sound good.”

Icahn is a major investor in Motorola.

Motricity last week announced it is laying off most of its workforce in Durham and moving its headquarters to Washington State. Icahn’s second investment in Motricity last year helped fund Motricity’s acquisition of the mobile business unit from InfoSpace. That deal and Motricity management’s decision to embrace InfoSpace technology over that developed locally led to the layoffs and HQ move.