Amylin Chairman Is Out, a Victory for Icahn

Carl C. Icahn, the billionaire financier, and the hedge fund Eastbourne Capital Management have succeeded in ousting the chairman of Amylin Pharmaceuticals as well as its lead independent director, giving them a bigger-than-expected victory in their hard-fought proxy fight.

Amylin, which confirmed Tuesday afternoon that Mr. Icahn and Eastbourne had won two board seats, also disclosed that its chairman, Joseph C. Cook Jr., and the lead director, James N. Wilson, were not re-elected by shareholders at its annual meeting last week.

Mr. Icahn called for Mr. Cook’s resignation during the proxy contest, complaining in a letter to Mr. Cook in April that he had been “the chairman and/or C.E.O. during the time that an enormous amount of stockholder value has been destroyed.”

Both sides acknowledged last week that Mr. Icahn and Eastbourne had won two seats on Amylin’s board. But the company, until Tuesday, did not say which directors had been defeated.

Shareholders voted for two board nominees backed by Mr. Icahn and Eastbourne — Dr. Alexander J. Denner and Dr. Kathleen Behrens — while the eight other Amylin directors were re-elected. Two new independent nominees were also elected.

The victory gives Mr. Icahn and Eastbourne, which own a combined 21 percent of Amylin, a greater voice in how the company operates.

Shares of Amylin, which is based in San Diego and develops pharmaceutical products, were unchanged at $11.26.

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