VENTURE CAPITAL POST

A source interviewed by Reuters said billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn had a higher stake in eBay than what was previously reported, saying that his stake was near 2%.

In what could potentially set the stage for a battle with an activist investor, eBay Inc has rebuffed the proposal of Carl Icahn to spin-off its payments platform PayPal, Reuters reported.

Activist investor Carl Icahn reportedly bought 30 to 40 million shares in car rental company Hertz Global Holdings Inc. Sources said that Icahn is the target of the poison pill adopted by Hertz on Monday.

Carl Icahn has proposed that Apple increase its stock buyback program to $50 billion but Apple cited reasons why shareholders should not vote for it.

Apple Inc. has filed a proxy statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. Apple investors are set to vote on activist investor Carl Icahn's $50 billion stock repurchase proposal on February 28.

Bloomberg said in its report that nutrition company Herbalife Ltd attempted to destroy activist investor Bill Ackman's credibility after the latter claimed that the former is running a pyramid scheme.

Forest Laboratories Inc, which is facing patent expirations on several of its biggest drugs, on Monday said it plans to buy rights to a new schizophrenia treatment from Merck & Co and cut annual operating costs by $500 million in fiscal 2016.

The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported on Wednesday including Sinopec, Apache, AMR, US Airways, Deutsche Bank, EDF, Oxford, Andor, Bank Zachodni WBK, Shuanghui, Campofrio, OCZ, Toshiba and CVS Caremark.

The resignation of billionaire Carl Icahn's director appointees in Take-Two Interactive Software Inc's board of directors was part of an earlier agreement should Icahn decide to sell his position in the video game publisher.

The S&P jumped around 26% in 2013 with major indexes hitting record high, but investors are wary of the surge in US stocks, citing a potential big drop on the market the following year.

The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported on Thursday including Omnicom, General Motors, Deutsche Telekom, Devon Energy and others

When companies see activist investors as a threat before, a Reuters article said companies are now treating these types of investors as a catalyst for corporate change.

Herbalife Ltd fourth largest shareholder Bill Stiritz said he would most likely take part in a leveraged buyout of the company, as the nutrition company is in the middle of pyramid scheme accusations by hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.

Transocean Ltd announced on Monday its plans to appoint new members of its board of directors in Switzerland, an initial public offering of a Master Limited Partnership, and an equity payout of USD3 dividend.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn's letter to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook published on Thursday indicated that Icahn would be witholding his shares from his proposed stock buyback program.