Icahn Blog is Live

Dane was right. Carl Icahn’s blog has gone live today, with no fewer than seven initial posts. Some of them are timestamped from earlier this week, so apparently there was a soft launch behind that generic GoDaddy screen we saw yesterday.

That’s the good news. Now here’s the bad news: No mention yet of Biogen, Yahoo or any of the other companies that Icahn is fighting (losing battles) for. Instead, the early focus is on his time-worn crusade against poor corporate governance.

As an aside, my boss just asked why so many of us (read: financial journalists) care that Icahn is beginning to blog. He can’t really try to influence stock prices due to SEC regs, so doesn’t he become just another voice in the cyber-wilderness?

It’s a good question, and I think part of our frenzied response might be deep-seated fears of media disintermediation. If Icahn can talk directly, who needs people like us to interview him.

But I think more of it is about our recognition that Icahn is on the leading edge of a trend. VCs have been blogging for years, and now Icahn is one of the first big-money guys to take the plunge. I wouldn’t be surprised if folks like Bonderman, Kravis or Schwarzman begin blogging within the next few years. After all, just a handful of buyout firms even had websites a few years ago, and now almost all of them do. It’s just the next step in mass communication.

We’ll keep watching…