Corporate raider Carl Icahn, who owns 17.3% of Texaco, has tirelessly hectored its top management for 1 1/2 years with charges that the giant oil company is poorly run. Icahn has repeatedly threatened to stage a hostile takeover, and even tried unsuccessfully to replace Texaco's directors in an old-fashion proxy fight late last spring. Finally, after 14 hours of peace talks, Icahn agreed last week to sign a standstill agreement that prevents him from buying any more stock in the company or trying to wrest control for another seven years.
Icahn will extract a rich payoff. Texaco agreed to pay a...