HackerTube.dev

Carl Icahn: "I Fired 12 Floors of People"

Investor Talk · 1.3M views · 2019-08-24 · 8:35

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

A short clip in which Carl Icahn tells the story of his first activist investment and of firing 12 floors of people, arguing activism need not be short term.

On Hacker News

Used as an anecdote in layoff and cost-cutting debates: the company supposedly never noticed what the fired staff had done.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2022–2025

Topics

Investing & personal financeManagement, leadership & organizations
Search by tags
carl icahnlayoffsactivist investingmanagementanecdote

What people said

WatchDog · 2025-02 · Reference

The strategy is: Shut down everything, and see who complains. If the complaints seem well reasoned, then you adjust course. You can certainly argue that it is crude, but it’s simpler than trying to deeply analyze and understand a very complicated system. Carl Icahn has a story[0] about firing 12 floors of people that seems relevant [0]: [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
mouse_ · 2023-02 · Reference

I get it, but never forget the flipside. Here is a good anecdotal example of just how wrong things can go: [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
skippyboxedhero · 2023-02 · Reference

Classic Carl Icahn story about firing a building full of people and never discovering what they did - [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by Investor Talk, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources