Carl Celian Icahn (born February 16, 1936) is an American business magnate.

Icahn was raised in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York City, where he attended Far Rockaway High School. His father was a cantor, his mother was a schoolteacher. He was educated at Princeton University (A.B., philosophy, 1957) and New York University School of Medicine, but left without graduating.

Icahn began his career on Wall Street in 1961. In 1968, he formed Icahn & Co., a securities firm that focused on risk arbitrage and options trading. In 1978, he began taking control of positions in individual companies. He has taken substantial or controlling positions in various corporations including RJR Nabisco, TWA, Texaco, Phillips Petroleum, Western Union, Gulf & Western, Viacom, Uniroyal, Dan River, Marshall Field's, E-II (Culligan and Samsonite), American Can, USX, Marvel Comics, Revlon, Imclone, Federal-Mogul, Fairmont Hotels, Blockbuster, Kerr-McGee, Time Warner and Motorola.

Little is known about Carl Icahns' endeavors prior to the 1990s, yet still many have regarded him as a main player in the "junk bond," and "mortgage bond," industries which transformed corporate America and S & L's into a profitable enclave susceptible to investment bankers and corporate raiders.

William A. Ackman, more commonly known as Bill Ackman, (born May 11, 1966) is the founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP. In December 2007 his funds owned a 10% stake in Target Corporation, valued at $4.2 billion through the purchase of stock and derivatives. His funds now own a 7.8% stake. In December 2010, his funds held a 38% stake in Borders Group and on December 6, 2010, Ackman indicated he would finance a buyout of Barnes & Noble for US$900M. He most recently won a shareholder proxy battle for Canadian Pacific Railroad.

Ackman was raised in Chappaqua, New York. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1988, and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1992.

In 1992, Ackman co-founded Gotham Partners with another Harvard graduate. By 1998, the firm had more than $500M in assets. In 2003, the New York Attorney General investigated whether the firm had engaged in illegal practices for publishing its own research reports on stocks in which it has taken either a long or short position. The litigation concluded that the firm had committed no wrongdoing. Gotham Partners primarily invested in non-publicly traded companies and real estate concerns.

Timothy D. “Tim” Cook (born November 1, 1960) is the CEO of Apple. Cook joined Apple in March 1998 as SVP of Worldwide Operations and also served as EVP of Worldwide Sales and Operations and was COO until he was named the CEO of Apple on August 24, 2011, succeeding Steve Jobs, who died on October 5, 2011, from pancreatic cancer. Cook had previously served as acting CEO of Apple after Jobs began a medical leave in January 2011.

In early 2012, he was awarded compensation of 1 million shares, vesting in 2021, by Apple's Board of Directors. As of April 2012, these shares are valued at US $600 million, making him the world's highest paid CEO.

Cook grew up in Robertsdale, Alabama, near Mobile. His father was a shipyard worker, while his mother was a homemaker. Cook graduated from high school at Robertsdale High School, earned a B.S. degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University in 1982, and his M.B.A. from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in 1988.

Cook spent six months at Compaq as VP for Corporate Materials before he was hired by Steve Jobs to join Apple in 1998. He initially served as Senior Vice President for Worldwide Operations. Prior to that, Cook served as the chief operating officer (COO) of the computer reseller division of Intelligent Electronics and spent 12 years in IBM's personal computer business as the director of North American Fulfillment.