Carl Icahn Blasts SEC Proxy Overhaul as a ‘Big Step Backward’

Carl Icahn is escalating his attacks on a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plan that he warns will make it harder for shareholders to hold companies accountable for poor performance.

In a Feb. 7 letter to the SEC, the 83-year-old activist investor called a proposed overhaul of shareholder voting rules “a big step backward” for corporate governance. The billionaire argued the changes would unfairly tip the scales toward management in elections that determine corporate strategy and who sits on the board.

Carl Icahn.

Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

At issue are a series of SEC proposals announced in November that would rein in proxy advisory firms ...