Icahn Enterprises shares slide on surprise quarterly loss

(Reuters) - Icahn Enterprises LP on Wednesday reported a surprise quarterly loss as volatility in markets hit returns on its investments sending the shares of the company owned by billionaire Carl Icahn down nearly 8% before the bell. The shareholder activist had recently found himself in unchartered waters when short-seller Hindenburg Research launched a scathing attack accusing his firm of overvaluing its holdings and relying on a ’Ponzi-like’ structure to pay dividends. ’Icahn has been using money taken in from new investors to pay out dividends to old investors’ Hindenburg had alleged about the Florida-based company with investments in the energy automotive food packaging real estate and other industries. Excluding one-time items Icahn Enterprises reported a loss of 11 cents per share missing analysts’ average estimate of a 19 cents profit according to Refinitiv data. Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 came in at $2.6 billion compared to $4.1 billion a year earlier.