Icahn Buys Stake in Monro
Icahn Enterprises LP, which owns Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack, has accumulated ownership of nearly 17% in Monro Inc.
Monro has announced that its board "has unanimously voted to approve a limited duration shareholder rights plan," which has a one-year duration and expires on Nov. 6, 2026.
According to a statement issued by Monro, "the Rights Plan was approved in response to the rapid accumulation of a significant beneficial ownership of the company totaling nearly 17% by Icahn Enterprises L.P.
"The adoption of the Rights Plan is intended to protect the long-term interests of Monro and all Monro shareholders and enable them to realize the full potential value of their investment in the Company.
"The Rights Plan is designed to reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group would gain control of Monro through the open-market or other accumulation of the company’s shares without appropriately compensating all Monro shareholders for control.
The Rights Plan is not intended to prevent or interfere with any attempt to purchase the entire company, according to Monro officials.
"It is also not intended to prevent or interfere with any action with respect to Monro that the board determines to be in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. Instead, it will position the board to fulfill its fiduciary duties on behalf of all shareholders by ensuring that the board has sufficient time to make informed judgments about any attempts to control or significantly influence Monro.
"The Rights Plan will encourage anyone seeking to gain a significant interest in Monro to negotiate directly with the board prior to attempting to control or significantly influence the company."
Monro officials add that the plan "contains elements similar to those adopted by other publicly traded companies. Pursuant to the Rights Plan, Monro will issue one right for each common share outstanding as of the close of business on Nov. 24, 2025. The rights generally would become exercisable only if an entity, person or group acquires beneficial ownership of 17.5% or more of Monro’s outstanding shares.
"In that situation, each holder of a right (other than the acquiring entity, person or group) will have the right to purchase, upon payment of the then-current exercise price, a number of shares of company common stock having a market value of twice the exercise price of the right.
"In addition, at any time after an entity, person or group acquires 17.5% or more of the company’s common shares, the company’s board of directors may exchange one share of the company’s common stock for each outstanding right," other than rights owned by such entity, person or group, which would have become void.
Icahn acquired Pep Boys in 2016 for more than $1 billion. There are more than 850 Pep Boys stores, according to MTD data.
Monro has more than 1,000 locations, according to the 2025 MTD 100.
Monro recently announced that its comparable store tire sales were flat during its second fiscal quarter versus the same period last year. However, the Rochester, N.Y.-based company saw comparable store sales gains in front end/shocks, up 18% year-over-year, and brakes, up 6%.
Overall, for the second quarter of Monro's fiscal year, which ends in March 2026, the firm posted $288.9 million in sales, a decrease of 4.1% on a year-over-year basis.
"This was primarily driven by a reduction in sales from the closure of 145 underperforming stores in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, partially off-set by a 1.1% increase in comparable store sales from continuing store locations," said Monro officials, who add that comparable store sales fell 5.8% in the prior-year period.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, 2025, Icahn's revenues were $2.7 billion and its net income was $287 million. For the three months ended Sept. 30, 2024, revenues were $2.8 billion and net income was $22 million, or $0.05 per depositary unit