‘Attempted Raid on TWA’

What would President Reagan’s reaction be if he discovered that Russia had placed agent provocateurs in America to infiltrate Wall Street with the sole aim of destroying American corporations? Indeed, what would America’s reaction be? And, especially if it could be shown that Russia was realizing hundreds of millions of dollars in unearned profits through this scheme?

Well, it is not Russian agent provocateurs who are performing this task. Rather, it is native-born Americans, and they are doing it under the guise of good old American free enterprise capitalism.

They have come to be known as “corporation raiders” in the nation’s news media. Bandits would be a better word.

Among the latest to feel the sting of one of these Wall Street bandits is Trans World Airlines. Not because it is one of the poorest run airlines, but rather because it is one of the most efficient.

With an eye to its long-range future, the enlightened management of TWA has not only managed to survive the negative aspects of airline deregulation, but also has poised itself for one of the greatest expansions in its history. In order to accomplish this it previously resisted the temptation to expand in order to keep its debt ratio, in relation to its assets, the lowest of all the nation’s major airlines. In other words, it lived within its means.

Enter now, Carl C. Icahn, a man who apparently has more dollars that most men have brain cells. In spite of appearing as a most affable man, Icahn is one of the nation’s most notorious corporation raiders.

Simple arithmetic made the affable Icahn come to the conclusion that TWA was ripe for a raid. Its common stock was valued at just under $300 million. However, it owned 90 of its 159 airplanes. Simple arithmetic showed Icahn that if he could gain control of TWA, even at double the cost of its stock, that he would be gaining 90 aircraft at a cost of less than $7 million per aircraft. Pretty heady stuff considering that the replacement cost of these airplanes would range from three to nine times that.

Consequently, various financial analysts have speculated that Icahn believes that TWA is worth more dead than alive.

So what’s wrong with that, you might ask?

Nothing, I suppose, unless you happen to be one of those TWA employees who has spent his or her entire life working for the airline, of which there are more than 20,000. And which, of course, I am one.

RODERICK M. BOYES

Redondo Beach