Activist investor Carl Icahn backs Xerox in bid for HP

Activist investor Carl Icahn, fresh from spoiling the merger between Xerox Corp. and Fujifilm, is now backing Xerox in a bid for HP Inc., according to an interview with The Wall Street Journal. The article states Icahn owns a 10.6% stake in Xerox and a previously undisclosed 4.24% position in HP worth roughly $1.2 billion.

“I think a combination is a no-brainer,” Icahn told the to Journal. “I’ve found over the years that these types of companies that are in shrinking industries tend to decline much more slowly than many markets participants may predict while continuing to generate substantial amounts of cash.”

Last week, Xerox made a roughly $33 billion cash-and-stock offer for HP.