will this approach stave off interference from carl icahn?er hancock about the plan. >> what we laid out this morning -- over the next two years to make this company more focused, more profitable and return $25 billion to shareholders. that is speaking to all of our shareholders, policyholders, regulators -- i am sure we won't satisfy all of them, but we need to deliver a sustainable franchise if we are going to make the right decisions of trading long-term versus short-term to deliver results. betty: when i pick up the company? -- why not break up the company? we have focused it down to the essence of what we can deliver to clients. our business is absorbing the risk of our clients. we need to use diversification. diversification is critical, and if you break up the company, you would lose between $5 billion and $10 billion at the minimum. that is an -- that is in the eyes of the rating agencies. this is risk diversification. you have a sizable business that has uncertainties balanced by the stable cash flows. perspective, that is a further

this was not engineered or push for by carl icahn?they are breathing down your neck, sooner or later, he will force you to do things. david: i outlined the split in broad terms. how you see it shaking out? it's similarurag: to what ibm is undergoing in terms of their business and focusing more on hardware. you have a hardware division that is not growing very fast, you have a services division with stable revenue streams and decent margins. that's what they are trying to do. david: why not sell off the hardware business? anurag: i'm sure they looked at all alternatives, it's been going on for a while. if you can't get a good price for it, what else to do but wait for a day when the valuations pick up? scarlet: what do you anticipate --david: we do anticipate carl icahn will do with seats on the board? anurag: it's not going to be a quick trade for him. one of the things we think it's possible they can do is take a look at the portfolio contracts these companies have. some of them are incredibly long-term legacy contracts. if they are

betty: have you talked to carl icahn at all? >> no.d you don't agree with what he outline for the company? >> it does not make any sense. as a manager of the company, this makes no sense. betty: would you ever have any interest in coming back to aig? >> no. i'm busy doing what i'm doing. building a company that is going quite well. building star companies in the insurance field. continue to cover this aig tsonga on bloomberg tv. here are some other business stories that caught our attention around the world this week. >> this is a big day for xerox. the company beat fourth-quarter product forecasts and is splitting into two different companies. one will manage its hardware operations and another that will handle its services business. what brought you to this stage? >> what made you decide this was the best decision? to what extent was it outside factors and to what extent did mr. icon play? >> it is a big decision for our company and it is a decision driven from analysis of what's happening in the market, around the world, what custom

carl icahn wanted to do as well.ia is considering an ipo of the world's largest oil business, but has ruled out some its reserves. chilcote joins us with the details. little bit of news on the story. what is the latest? >> we heard from the ceo and he is said in the last hour a couple interesting things on price, saying the saudi's are not responsible for low prices. >> we have been hearing from the ceo of aramco. in the last hour, a couple interesting's on price. the saudi's are not responsible for low prices. in the same breath, saying they won't cut production. as for the ipo, he said they are looking at two options, one would be selling a stake in the parent company. both those options delon the table. he did throw a little bone to international investors saying if there is an ipo, they are looking at listing some of those shares outside. >> the corporate story here, shareholders rubberstamping the fiji taker. the question simmering in the background, is has it paid too much given the 50% slump in the price since

did carl icahn get what he wanted from aig? the world's largest insurer promising to turn $25 million to investors. some analysts say the moves don't go far enough. apple reporting earnings after the bell today, shares of the world's most valuable company have fallen 5% this year thanks to concerns over the iphone. will apple be able to put those concerns to rest? ramy inocencio has the latest. ramy: we are just at about session highs right now. the s&p 500 is up by 1.4%. the dow was up by 1.7%. gains, that's the 13th triple digit gain so far this year. the nasdaq is up by 1.2%. we're definitely seeing the turnaround from monday's selloff , consumer confidence came in earlier this morning at the 10:00 a.m. mark. markets are following what's happening with oil, oil is on the boil, rising. crude is up i 5.13%. oil rallied by 9.5%. it had been down 30% year to date. as of today, it's down by about 14%. in saudi arabia, the kingdom saying they will potentially consider cutbacks in oil supply. the state look at the terminal right no

this hancockhis is caving to carl icahn? sonali: icahn was the earning potential his job.had to say something. he promised asset sales since ant year, but now we have accelerated pace. he said nine modular businesses, , re of which are core to aig -- areabs someday, maybe for grabs someday, maybe. icahn is the only activist investor threatening hancock? he only has about 50% stake. sonali: john paulson also rallied behind icahn. he sent three letters, the first in october. matt: i am sure you are familiar with the holdings function on the terminal to show you who is control of the company. if you go into holdings and click on carl icahn's stake, it is interesting to note the graphic. carl icahn's building stake in green. the price of aig in white. it looks like an investment in which icahn has lost a lot of money. the market,ared to aig has not done as poorly. took a stake,n and lots of things have happened. said we are hancock getting out of a a lot of these hedge funds and reallocating funds. they have a huge stake in a chinese insurer. they say this might be one of the

betty: have you talked to carl icahn at all? >> no.you don't agree with anything he has outlined? >> it does not make sense. i do not believe it makes sense. as a manager of the company, it makes no sense. betty: would you have interest of coming back to aig? >> no. i'm busy doing what i'm doing. i'm building a company and is doing quite well. i'm building star companies in the insurance field and they are doing quite well. betty: we will continue to cover this saga on bloomberg tv. here are some other business stories that caught our attention around the world this week. >> this is a big day for xerox. the company beat fourth-quarter profit forecasts and announce it is splitting into two different companies. one double-digit's hardware operations and another double house its services business. what brought you to this stage? what made you decide this was the best thing for your company? this is a big decision. to what extent with outside factors? >> it is a big decision for our company. it's a decision driven from analysis of what is

the split comes after carl icahn pushed for those changes. -- didan't drive these a carl icahn driveeakup? what has been reported is that this was driven by mr. carl icahn. interestingly enough, it was not. the board did its analysis, and came to his conclusion without speaking to mr. icon at all. fortunately, when we spoke to him, he is a large holder of our shares, you agree with the .utcome that we reached on a going forward basis he will be involved from a perspective that when the company splits into two, he will have some governance input into the services business. he will not be engagement the document technology business, or the current xerox business at all. i'm pleased with the fact that we came out in a place that is strong for the business and it happened to be a line -- and live with what mr. carl icahn wanted to do as well. >> went extent did you bring them into your strategic review to consult with him? as opposed to just getting his reaction? >> we never brought him into the strategic review. we came up with an answer, and that spoke to him about it at his request. t

a small stock that carl icahn has a big stake in, freeport- mcmoran copper. closer to that 20% ipo suggested that icahn to spin off. so gaining traction in a battle he has been losing. today not a bad day for him. go to abigail doolittle, because she is looking at another stock index carl icahn has significant holding. abigail: apple not in the green. down nearly 1%. the bake earnings announcement for the holiday -- the bake big earningsnt -- announcement highly anticipated. we will see whether -- we have a slew of analysts questioning the near-term but positive on the long term. when there is a consensus opinion, you also see some sort of take surprise in volatility. stephanie: things to abigail doolittle at the nasdaq. when we come back, we are talking luxury real estate. we are seeing chinese, russian buyers. why high-end homes are feeling the heat. you are watching "bloomberg ." ♪ vonnie: welcome back. twitter's top managers are holding a retreat to discuss the company's future. twitter's stock has fallen 57% the last year and it was downgraded by go

carl icahn has about 8% stake in the services part of the company .he public companies. recapping earnings -- -- revenuer-share the coanchor of our next show, "bloomberg go," david westin joins us. david: we have a lot of news to cover, and leading it will be ursula burns, the ceo of xerox, joining us at 8:00 a.m., to talk about earnings, the stock split, and about what lies in the future for xerox. that is coming up on "bloomberg ." francine: we have some great news -- we have some news on oil , great because it was a bloomberg exclusive. the russian minister said there is no meeting with opec. let's get straight to our guest, an expert on oil. he is harry tchilinguirian. when you look at the price of oil, are we sure that it is oil supply, the equation, that it is not growth stalling? definitely oil supply. that is why the last couple of days have been so important. declarations of intent around the cuts and production have market move higher, but in the end this may be a case of rumor and self effect. francine: half the people that come here sa

carl icahn has been sitting on the property since buying it out of bankruptcy for 150 million . he's looking to sell it for around 650- million. the stalled fontainebleau may be the single biggest eyesore on the strip. it is a painful reminder of the recession that hurt so many of us. the 68 story project went into bankruptcy before it could be finished and has been sitting idle on the north-strip since 2008. the executive in charge of time consuming process making sure buyers who have expressed interest have the necessary assets to complete a deal this big. ((john knott/executive vice president cbre: " they have, call it $50 million of their own equity, but they bring a fund in with them and the fund says we're prepared to support this bid and then all the sudden it becomes a highly credible bider because they demonstrated the financial capacity with the support of this multi billion dollar fund as their partner.")) ((paul joncich)) as cbre's john knott points out, there aren't very many individuals with $650 million in

carl icahn.you know that he is a large holder of our shares, he agreed with the outcome. on a go forth basis he will be involved when the company splits into two. he will have some governance input into the services business . he will not be engaged with current xerox business or the technology business at all. i'm pleased with the fact that we came out in a place that is strong for the business, and it happened to align with what mr. carl icahn wanted to do. david: to what extent did you chan into your strategic review? we never brought him into the strategic review. we came up with an answer and spoke to him at his request. that was the way the process was operated. stephanie: can you walk us through, with the split, services was your big push. help us understand why the split makes sense, if services is your growth area? ursula: services is a topline growth area. before i get into the details on services, i want to spend 30 seconds on our document technology business. we are the number one pro

carl icahn is the guy who signed on to this. >> he endorsed me. >> i'm sure people have asked you to sign this giving pledge. >> they have asked me. >> why haven't you done it? >> i'm old-fashioned. i have wonderful children doing a wonderful job and i believe in that and we employ thousands and thousands of people and i like the concept of keeping the company going as opposed to selling everything and giving it away. so right now i mean -- perhaps i shouldn't be saying this but i'm of the old school. i'd like to see my children take this great company that i've built -- and it is a great company -- and i'd like to see it go on for a long time creating jobs, lots of money, pay lots of taxes, give lots of money away. i'd make lots of big contributions. i like that better. >> mr. trump, until we meet again. >> thank you. >> one note from our friends at politifact about the interview. they've done initial fact checking. donald trump said the five prisoners who were swapped for bo bergdahl are back on the battlefield. we

carl icahn dialing up the pressure on peter hancock. the activist investor says hancock must offer a jerk drastic -- offer a drastic strategic shift. and china's economy slowing in the weakestpping quarter of growth since the 2009 recession. we will dive a bit deeper into china in just a few moments. as we had to break, here's a look at how the most actively traded stocks are performing today. ♪ betty: good afternoon, and welcome back to "bloomberg markets." i am betty liu. speaking of the markets, let's check on where they are as we are 40 minutes way from the close of trade. the s&p high at the open, following the global rally around the world -- is that redundant? take a look at the dow, same pathway for the dow as well. just after 2:00 p.m. we turned lower. off by .2%. we are making up some of those losses. the nasdaq, which had been one of the big gainers on a day we are seeing a rally, they are one of the big losers today. tech shares are falling as well. time for the bloomberg "business flash." ceos are turning pessimistic on glo

betty: have you talked to carl icahn at all? hank: no. and you 100% don't with what he's outlined for the company. hank: i do not believe it makes sense. as a manager of a company, this makes no sense. betty: would you have any interest of coming back to in any capacity? hank: no. i'm busy doing what i'm doing, building a company that is doing quite well. building star companies in the insurance field. we are doing quite well. betty: how much time would you give peter to prove himself? hank: it's not up to me. betty: but you are a shareholder. hank: the market will decide that. i don't know what the board thinks, i have no idea what the board thanks. betty: peter mentioned that people are calling him all the time, and they want to pick some of the assets up of aig. he wants to make sure if he's going to sell assets of the company, that it is the right time and it's the right price. he also mentioned today there are no sacred cows either. hank: so which is it? are you'm curious, interested in any of the assets of aig? hank: no. betty: so y

carl icahn will be getting three seats on the board. us first on cnbc xerox chairman, ursula burns. we thank you for being with us this morning to help us walk through what this deal means and how it happened. perhaps we should just start with that very question which is what does it mean and how did it happen? >> well, thank you. i'm happy to be here and explain the future for xerox. about early in october my board and the management team initiated a structural and portfolio view of the company. i'm trying to see how we can respond to shift and changes in the market around us. we initiated that review in october and came to a conclusion in early january. mr. icahn became public. i spoke to him specifically and told him what our decision was. he's pleased with the outcome. we're happy he's in support it. but he had nothing to do with the initiation, the contemplation, the analysis or any discussion around the deal. it is good and happy. we are happy that he's in agreement with it but he did not drive it as is being reported in the news.

you are already dealing with hank greenberg and i have to deal with carl icahn.s surprise you that activist investing is almost the asset class du jour right now? >> the activist investor i would say it's 75% of the time are better. just pulling with them. they will make something happen. stephanie: a good one. >> what is a bad one? stephanie: one who fails and is not know how it should work. we have seen great activist investors like bill ackman fail at jcpenney. erik: what about companies like chesapeake? or freeport. if you are the original raider, who is the activist? >> i end up having to run a company again. i have done all that i want to. stephanie: stay with us. we will wrap up "bloomberg best 2015 u.s. year in review" with some predictions for 2016. ♪ stephanie: welcome back to "bloomberg best." let's close this year in review with a look ahead to 2016. you like predictions, we have plenty. >> are you going to ask me questions or what? >> the most powerful modern rocket and the world will barge into space for the first time and it will be launched by spa

ceo is facing pressure from carl icahn.$25 billion to shareholders, starting an ipo for the mortgage insurance business, and slashing expenses. here is peter cap -- peter hancock. next we are going to make this company more focused, more profitable, and returned $5 billion to shareholders. that is speaking to all of our shareholders, all of our policyholders, all of our stakeholders. i'm sure we won't satisfy all of them, but we need to deliver a sustainable franchise if we are going to make the right decisions of trading versus long-term and short-term urgency. betty: why not break up the company? focused, andh more we're focused it down to what can deliver value to clients. riskusiness is absorbing a from clients and managing them. to manage those risks, need to use diversification. diversification is critical, if you were to break up the company, you would lose between $5 million and $10 billion of diversification benefits at the minimum. $5 million and $10 billion of diversification benefits at the minimum. and that's i

the move comes as xerox was under pressure from activist investor carl icahn. although xerox says the move had nothing to do with carl icahn but he will be able to name three members to the board of the business services company. >> what we found is that two companies that have fundamentally different kind of eth ethos, different movements, one grows a little slower than the other, one needed a little more investment in development and developing its market than the other, one threw off a lot more cash than the other, that it was probably better that we split so we can actually be more flexible, more responsive. and essentially more fit and focused for the markets that we're attacking. >> wall street applauded the move. shares of xerox up more than 5.5% to $9.75. >>> appliancemaker whirlpool said quarterly profit more than doubled thanks in part to cost-cutting measures but revenue fell more than 7%. whirlpool says this year it sees a strong u.s. market offsetting weakness in its overseas business. shares up nearly 2% to $134.39. >>> cost cuts the story at hone

it's one reason activist investor carl icahn wants aig broken up. he believes a smaller firm might be removed from fed oversight, eliminating those costs and potentially unlocking value at the insurer, a move analyst jay geld sees aig continuing to resist. >> my sense is that aig's highly unlikely to split the businesses for a variety of reasons, but now with metlife saying they will undertake a split, that puts pressure on aig to justify why they would keep the company together. >> reporte it might also put similar pressure on big banks. they've resisted breaking apart, despite the additional regulatory burdens imposed on them after the financial crisis, but with shareholders reacting positively to metlife's decision, it might prompt some big banks to rethink theirs. for "nightly business report," i'm mary thompson. >>> still ahead, low risk, low cost, high reward. it may be why the entire nation is playing the powerball lottery, even though the odds are stacked against you. first, though, a look at how all 30 dow components closed today. all but o

used to work with carl icahn. or worked for carl icahn. is he navigating the sell-off, and where is he seeing opportunity? as we head to break, here's a look at the dow 30 heat map. cnbc, first in business worldwide. here at td ameritrade, they work hard. wow, that was random. random? no. it's all about understanding patterns. like the mail guy at 3:12pm every day or jerry getting dumped every third tuesday. jerry: every third tuesday. we have pattern recognition technology on any chart plus over 300 customizable studies to help you anticipate potential price movement. there's no way to predict that. td ameritrade. >>> coming up on "power lunch" at the top of this level, oil ticking at $30 a barrel. we'll speak with one top lais that says oil is headed to $20. the question -- how long will it stay that low? the high quality bluechip names that you may want to take a second look at in this recent selloff, and small caps in a bear market. not all sml caps are created equally, right? we have five star stock picks ahead. all that and more. bac

carl icahn gets his way again. he manages to get a split from xerox.s this mean people get a higher separate business rather than the lowering of some of the parts for xerox? cory: they think it will be worse off apartment together. now they are saying they had come of it all in their own and that a shareholder is demanding. if you want to believe that, you can believe that. you are looking at a business in decline. both parts are in decline. there services business which is largely with the acquired with affiliated computer services acquisition which has been a disaster. and selling copiers and printers. both of those businesses are in decline. it's very focused on the u.s. and really suffering. when you have a business that's only doing about $500 million in profits a year, almost $64 billion in executive compensation to ursula burns and others. the management of his company has managed to pay themselves quite well as a company. has gone down the tubes scarlet: to what extent is xerox involved in mobile when the cloud? cory: not enough. it was founde

carl icahn worried about -- >> these guys play their positioning. unless we were lied lied to, banks are not loaded up with chinese debt, chinese stocks. think what would cause banks to implode as they were during the mortgage crisis? would have to hold junk bonds on inventories. trish: let me walk you through that. >> because of the volcker rule they can't. banks are capitalized since 2008. don't go there. trish: maybe not china but hold other emerging market. >> so? they can't. trish: hear my theory, charlie, please hear my theory. the thinking is if china is in a very bad spot, they're not going to buy as much way of commodity. >> they don't have the volcker rule. trish: that will hurt all the latin america countries. then hurt anybody who is holding that stock. >> that will not create a 2008 situation. might create a bear market, massive correction and all that stuff and recession. that will not create 2008. let's not even go there. >> it will hurt big banks in big international operations. citigroup is all over the world. >> right. >> but they'

you are already dealing with greenberg and i have to deal with carl icahn.his surprise you that activist investing is the inve himstor right now? >> activist investor i would say it's 75% of the time are better. just pulling with them. stephanie: a good one. >> what is a bad one? stephanie: one who fails and is -- does not know how it should work. we have seen bill ackman fail in jcpenney. >> what i want to know is why you are not doing things like carl is doing. rater,are the original -- i do not want an activist -- and it >> i do not want to next and to happen again. stephanie: stay with us. we will wrap up "bloomberg best 2015 u.s. year in review" with predictions for 2016. ♪ ♪ stephanie: welcome back to "bloomberg best." let's close this year in review with a look ahead to 2016. you like predictions? we have got plenty. >> are you going to ask me questions or what? ♪ >> the most powerful modern rocket, and the world will barge -- in the modern world will launch by spacex. >> virtual reality headsets will be relegated to the world of the -- world of video

the company is expected to give several board seats to activist investor carl icahn.rox will report a fourth straight year of declining profits and declining sales. they lost a quarter of their value last year and down another 13% this year. nicole: time for market check. look at global market action. japan bank cut rates to negative, negative. shanghai composite index up 3% as well. lauren: that is setting the tone for trading today. in europe up arrows across the board. cac up 26 and dax up 40 points. nicole: checking out now the next move here, u.s. stock market futures up 103 for dow futures. s&p up 12. though we see the two indices down over 7% for this month of january. lauren: today is the final trading day of the month of january. checking some key commodities oil just turned lower. we'll see how that affects futures. so far, so good. 33.19 is the quote. gold down three bucks. nicole: there is some encouraging news about the rapidly spreading zika virus spread by mosquitoes. a vaccine for the virus could be ready for emergency use before the end of the year. t

an carl icahn gets xeroxed to split into two companies and he gets several board seats to boot.head over to the markets desk with julie has been tracking the gains in stocks in asia and europe. julie: with the bank of japan surprise movement to go negative on the interest rates, an additional form of stimulus. that has had a ripple effect across the globe. it was not spurred by positive news from the u.s. on earnings. it's been an adjustinse

carl icahn, who is a great businessman, endorsed me, many other bips men ha businessmen have endorsed me. unfortunately a lot of people haven't heard of them but these are the greatest businessmen and women in the world. we're going to have great people negotiating our trade agreements. we're not going to lose $500 billion a year with klein like last year. $500 billion in trade deficits with china. not going to happen anymore. japan. mexico's killing us at the border but they're also killing us in trade. ford is building a big plant there, a 2 $1/2 million plant. nabisco is leaving chicago with a big plant and building a plant in mexico. why? so we're going to stop all of that. we're going to have people build plants but they're going to be built from this country. they're going to want to build them. we won't force them because we're lowering the taxes. we're the highest tax nation in the world. my tax plan which is very good which your friend larry kudlow who i respect a lot loves my plan. when this plan goes into effect -- >> i like the repatriation. >> we're going to stop corporat

xerox may be bowing to pressure from activist investor carl icahn.he company will be splitting into two separate businesses, hardware and services. icahn will be given three seats on the board of the services company. back in november, icahn disclosed a large stake in xerox and said he would seek talks with management. icahn spoke saying, we think this is a major move and will greatly enhance shareholder value. xerox is expected to announce the move officially when it announces earnings. "squawk box" has an interview with the chairman, ursula burns. another old-school technology company looking to split. >> bowing to activist investor pressure. one interview you don't want to miss on "squawk box." other stocks to watch today, microsoft beating street estimates. cost cutting and growing demand for its cloud products. it's moving higher to the tune of 3.7%. it was a 6% move at its peak overnight. visa did not cut its full-year forecast, as many were expecting. still, revenue came in below consensus. highs sharer after hours. a weak report from electron

. >>> when we come back, aig's battle with carl icahn.xt move should be after a key call this week. we'll talk to him after this break. ♪ >>> aig is holding a call tomorrow morning to give an update on its strategic plan. that, of course, after carl icahn released yet another letter last week renewing his call for the insurance giant to break itself apart. my next guest says it's time for aig to shrink to greatness, or be regulated to irrelevance. here to explain, josh sterling, managing director, senior analyst at sanford bernstein. thanks for coming. >> thanks for having me. >> you have been an outspoken critic, or supporter, said another way of the position of carl icahn to desisting, get out from under the government, and break itself apart. why do you believe that is the right way to go, when management says it isn't? >> well, so if you look back at aig, they have been -- they're this big sprawling conglomerate struggling for ten years. ever since hank greenberg left, they have had five ceos, blew up during the financial crisis, and

i think freeport-mcmoran, butt for carl icahn could be dead. i think it comes back and restructured in some form. i don't know what happens to the absolute equity. i still think it goes lower. >> but they don't have a debt that will kill them in the next six to nine months. people are looking at the stock price going down because speculators are saying smig and they won't be able to pay free cash flow. >> and you need somebody to buy yourself. and they top tick dodge and others and they are in trouble. there is no bounce in the things they need to bounce. trouble. i think life support is right. gun to my head, i say dead. >> coming up, do you know any bill oil stocks? you could be facing a big problem. some savvy trader could see a dividend cut on one widely held name. >>> and starbucks making a push into china but what the ceo just said moments ago on "closing bell" that has traders excited. and later, could earnings revisions be so bad they are good news for the market. why a relief rally could be in store and how you could get in. much more

from warp speed, carl icahn has gotten crushed by his energy hoerlds in the past year and traders are betting on more painful one stock in particular. dan is at the smart board with today's "options action." >> that is chesapeake energy. when the stock was 3 and a quarter. there was a roll down. the trader sold 5700 of the puts at 99 cents and opened 15,000 of the february 3 puts for 43 cents. those break even at $2.57 n. a month, down 20% from here. to pete's point, he is pressing the short in these names. i superintendespect this is pro. the stock has lost 30% of the value in a week and it is a capital structure trade where people are looking to protect something other than the equity at this point. >> dan nathan. thank you. and for more "options action" check out the full show at 5:30 eastern on friday. >>> up next on the program, the traders tell you what they are watching for tomorrow in addition to the planets at dawn. that is right after this break. more "fast money" coming up. every day you read headlines about businesses being hacked and intellectual property being stolen. th

. >> i am carl icahn. >> i am ben bernanke. >> larry summers. >> david rubenstein. >> jeff smith. >> david the tray us. >> i am watching wall street week. >> iwatch wall street week. >> i am watching wall street week. >> i was a guest on original wall street weekend and pleased to be on the brand-new one. >> and you should, too. quite spanking on wells fargo, bank of america. j.p. morgan chase. financial sectors, spider etf. to help minimize stock risk to why invest in a financial stock when you could invest in the entire sector of s&p 500. read it carefully and visit us on the web. >> you can join millions of americans we are available online. world. your iphone or android. do it today and find out why millions are tuning in. for real news, better talk. >> sponsored in part by morgan stanley, where capital creates change. >> i took an interest in helping a gentleman by the name of chris kyle, who wrote the book, the american sniper. became a fantastic movie directed by clint eastwood. tell us a little bit about chris kyle and your experiences with him? kyle: i met him through enter

let's get to seemor, mody. >> reporter: activist investors carl icahn is reiterating his call for more drastic action at aig despite aig's reorganization announcement this morning, that according to dow jones. icahn says ai gi should be run by somebody who understands property and casualty business. he also says aig shareholders want the company to be split up. melissa, back to you. >> seema mody, thanks for this and this comes on the heels of aig announcing a business plan here. karen, it's funny because we were just saying we haven't heard from carl in a while and here he is with aig. >> not his most aggressive though. >> yeah. >> doesn't seem to be doing much about it, and it's hufnlg the company is huge. apple is bigger, but, i don't know. >> and there are a lot of activists we should note like john paulsen. gold rallied to a three-month high. one trader bet more than $then million that the rally could continue over the next few months. dan is is over at the as far as board with the reaction. >> gld that tracts price of gold, largest options trade in the whole market today. when th

private equity firms, hedge funds, people like carl icahn. what do you make of that trend?it creating more competition for you? beth: it is so incredibly competitive out there that we have to wake up every morning and compete to win and work with the best entrepreneurs. john: there has never been a better time than now to create a new company. emily: it is great for companies , but is it great for investors? john: if the markets were not growing, it would be bad for investors. but that is not the case. we are in the midst of insurmountable opportunity. emily: so other investors have been a bit more about doomsday about the scenario going on, saying that there are startups out there that are burning cash, burn rates are too high. beth: the cycle of success and failure goes on all the time. and i think we will see the same thing here. if a company is at too high of a valuation and that they are raising too much money, that will not last. john: companies will fail, you can only lose one time your money. if you invent a really valuable new service, or kind of product, that make

gene, was carl icahn's push the right call? >> i have not gone back and looked at total valuations.or investors, it has been the right thing because it has allowed them to parse out a good business in paypal and an average business in ebay. from that context, it was the right thing to do. emily: he has swapped out his ebay for paypal shares. martha stewart left the platform. here is the ceo on the call talking about where he is investing and where he is not. >> they could throw a lot of money at short-term growth and we are not doing that because we are being disciplined about our investments and we are investing in the platform and a new business opportunities that we think will be important for ebay two or three years from now. emily: mike, do you believe in ebay? mike: the long-term future, it is somewhat challenged. they are competing with alibaba and amazon and walmart and companies that are pure plays as well as legacy companies. they have a very large mobile commerce presence, but i do not see them growing it at the same rate of other companies. emily: anything to suggest tha

the move comes as activist investor carl icahn is calling for a break-up of the company.s of aig rose nearly 2% to 56.35. the first federal trial over general motors' faulty ignition switch has been dismissed because of questions about the plaintiff's claims. both sides requested the dismissal after the judge asked the parties yesterday to consider dropping the case when he concluded there was merit to gm's claim that a document was doctored and injuries were exaggerated. other claims against gm, however, will proceed. so far gm has reached settlements of more than $2 billion over the faulty switch which has been linked to more than 100 deaths. shares of gm fell about a percent today to 29.28. >> and now to our market monitor, who likes small cap names that he says have big growth potential. he's craig hodges, president and portfolio manager at hodges capital. last time he was on in august 2014 he recommended capstone paper and packaging. it's down 42%. shoe carnival, which is up 8%. and matador resources, which is down 44%. craig, welcome. we may have to have you go and