You gotta love this letter. The emotions are raw. The sarcasm is ripe. The invective is bubbling beneath the surface. What better antidote to a failing financial system than an old-fashioned hostile bid involving a corporate raider with an ego larger than Manhattan and a staid drugmaker struggling to remain relevant?

Here it is, folks. Carl Icahn’s love letter to Bristol ceo Jim Cornelius, who only last night did an about face and raised his offer for ImClone to $62 a share - after promising he wouldn’t do so - and vowing to eject the ImClone board. Carl is having none of it - and accuses Jim of finding new ways to make Bristol’s team of lawyers wealthier while doing a poor job of raising his own profile. Enjoy…

September 23, 2008

Mr. James M. Cornelius
Chairman and Chief Executive Office
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
345 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10154

Dear Jim:

Your letter of yesterday contains inaccuracies which are misleading to our shareholders. Your statements that there have not been any meaningful discussions concerning your proposal have no basis in fact. Indeed during the last few weeks we told you we would be happy to meet if you wished to increase your offer to which you replied you had no intention to do. I also told you a large Pharma company had offered $70 subject to due diligence and the diligence will be over on Sunday, September 28, 2008. In light of these facts, your hostile tender of $62, at this time, seems absurd. If you wish to make your attorneys wealthier, I can show you more productive ways to do so. Or, if you simply want publicity, I can also help you in that regard without your having to make unnecessary expenditures.

Sincerely,

Carl C. Icahn
Chairman of the Board

UPDATE: John Celentano, who was nominated by Bristol-Myers to serve on the five-member board, resigned Monday, according to a regulatory filing made by Bristol-Myers late Tuesday.