Carl Icahn gives up on MGM

The billionaire investor has sold his stake in the movie studio, a year after he tried to merge Lions Gate with MGM. But he's exiting at a nice price: The LAT reports that MGM agreed to pay $33.50 a share, or about $590 million, which is nearly a 20 percent premium on the company's most recent trading price. Since the price originally paid for MGM shares has not been made public, there's no way of knowing whether Icahn made a profit. MGM is planning a public offering within the next few months. Some backstory from the Times:

In 2010, Icahn bought up MGM debt -- which was later turned into equity -- with the goal of merging the struggling film and TV company with independent Lions Gate and creating a giant that would rival major studios like Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures. Icahn -- a 76 year-old Wall Street trader who has been an activist shareholder in a variety of firms including Time Warner, Yahoo and RJR Nabisco -- was considered a thorn in the sides of both MGM and Lions Gate. He long criticized Lions Gate management, led by Chief Executive Jon Feltheimer and Vice Chairman Michael Burns, and unsuccessfully attempted to rally other shareholders to elect a dissident slate to the board of directors.