Description of Business	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018
Description of Business [Abstract]
Description of Business	Description of Business. Overview Icahn Enterprises L.P. ("Icahn Enterprises") owns a 99% limited partner interest in Icahn Enterprises Holdings L.P. ("Icahn Enterprises Holdings"). Icahn Enterprises G.P. Inc. ("Icahn Enterprises GP"), which is owned and controlled by Mr. Carl C. Icahn, owns a 1% general partner interest in each of Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings as of June 30, 2018. Icahn Enterprises Holdings and its subsidiaries own substantially all of the assets and liabilities of Icahn Enterprises and conduct substantially all of its operations. Therefore, the financial results of Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings are substantially the same, with differences relating primarily to allocations of the general partner interest, which is reflected as an aggregate 1.99% general partner interest in the financial statements of Icahn Enterprises, as well as due to the carrying amount of deferred financing costs related to our senior unsecured notes. In addition to the above, Mr. Icahn and his affiliates owned approximately 91.3% of Icahn Enterprises' outstanding depositary units as of June 30, 2018. References to "we," "our" or "us" herein include both Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings and their subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires. Description of Continuing Operating Businesses We are a diversified holding company owning subsidiaries currently engaged in the following continuing operating businesses: Investment, Automotive, Energy, Railcar, Metals, Mining, Food Packaging, Real Estate and Home Fashion. We also report the results of our Holding Company, which includes the results of certain subsidiaries of Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings (unless otherwise noted), and investment activity and expenses associated with our Holding Company. See Note 11, "Segment Reporting," for a reconciliation of each of our reporting segment's results of operations to our consolidated results. Certain additional information with respect to our segments is discussed below. Investment Our Investment segment is comprised of various private investment funds ("Investment Funds") in which we have general partner interests and through which we invest our proprietary capital. We and certain of Mr. Icahn's wholly owned affiliates are the only investors in the Investment Funds. As general partner, we provide investment advisory and certain administrative and back office services to the Investment Funds but do not provide such services to any other entities, individuals or accounts. Interests in the Investment Funds are not offered to outside investors. We had interests in the Investment Funds with a fair value of approximately $3.3 billion and $3.0 billion as of June 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively. Automotive We conduct our Automotive segment through our wholly owned subsidiary Icahn Automotive Group LLC ("Icahn Automotive"). Icahn Automotive is engaged in the retail and wholesale distribution of automotive parts in the aftermarket as well as providing automotive repair and maintenance services to its customers. Energy We conduct our Energy segment through our majority ownership in CVR Energy, Inc. ("CVR Energy"). CVR Energy is a diversified holding company primarily engaged in the petroleum refining and nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing industries through its holdings in CVR Refining L.P. ("CVR Refining") and CVR Partners L.P. ("CVR Partners"), respectively. CVR Refining is a petroleum refiner and marketer of high value transportation fuels. CVR Partners produces and markets nitrogen fertilizers in the form of ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate. As of June 30, 2018, CVR Energy owned 100% of each of the general partners of CVR Refining and CVR Partners and approximately 66% and 34% of the common units of CVR Refining and CVR Partners, respectively. As of June 30, 2018, we owned approximately 82.0% of the total outstanding common stock of CVR Energy. In addition, as of June 30, 2018, we directly owned approximately 3.9% of the total outstanding common units of CVR Refining. In June 2018, CVR Energy commenced an exchange offer to acquire additional common units of CVR Refining in exchange for shares of CVR Energy common stock. The exchange offer expired on July 27, 2018. A total of 21,625,106 common units of CVR Refining were validly tendered and not properly withdrawn, which, together with the common units already owned by CVR Energy and its affiliates (including affiliates of Icahn Enterprises L.P.), represent approximately 84.5% of CVR Refining’s outstanding common units. All of the common units that were validly tendered and not properly withdrawn have been exchanged for 13,699,505 shares of CVR Energy common stock. As a result, effective July 27, 2018, we owned approximately 70.8% of the total outstanding common stock of CVR Energy. Railcar We conduct our Railcar segment through our majority ownership in American Railcar Industries, Inc. ("ARI") and, prior to its sale on June 1, 2017, our wholly owned subsidiary American Railcar Leasing, LLC ("ARL"). As of June 30, 2018, we owned approximately 62.2% of the total outstanding common stock of ARI. ARI is a North American designer and manufacturer of hopper and tank railcars. ARI provides its railcar customers with integrated solutions through a comprehensive set of high-quality products and related services through its manufacturing, railcar leasing and railcar services operations. ARI's manufacturing consists of railcar manufacturing and railcar and industrial component manufacturing. ARI's railcar leasing business consists of railcars built by ARI leased to third parties under operating leases. ARI's railcar services consist of railcar repair, engineering and field services. Metals We conduct our Metals segment through our indirect wholly owned subsidiary PSC Metals LLC, f/k/a, PSC Metals, Inc. (“PSC Metals”). PSC Metals is principally engaged in the business of collecting, processing and selling ferrous and non-ferrous metals, as well as the processing and distribution of steel pipe and plate products. PSC Metals collects industrial and obsolete scrap metal, processes it into reusable forms and supplies the recycled metals to its customers. Mining We conduct our Mining segment through our majority ownership in Ferrous Resources Ltd. ("Ferrous Resources"). As of June 30, 2018, we owned approximately 77.2% of the total outstanding common stock of Ferrous Resources. Ferrous Resources acquired certain rights to iron ore mineral resources in Brazil and develops mining operations and related infrastructure to produce and sell iron ore products to the global steel industry. Food Packaging We conduct our Food Packaging segment through our majority ownership in Viskase Companies, Inc. ("Viskase"). During January 2018, Viskase received $50 million in connection with its common stock rights offering. In connection with this rights offering, we fully exercised our subscription rights under our basic and over subscription privileges to purchase additional shares of Viskase common stock, thereby increasing our ownership of Viskase from 74.6% to 78.6%, for an aggregate additional investment of $44 million. Viskase is a producer of cellulosic, fibrous and plastic casings used to prepare and package processed meat products. Real Estate Our Real Estate operations consist of rental real estate, property development and associated club activities. Our rental real estate operations consist primarily of office and industrial properties leased to single corporate tenants. Our property development operations are run primarily through a real estate investment, management and development subsidiary that focuses primarily on the construction and sale of single-family and multi-family homes, lots in subdivisions and planned communities, and raw land for residential development. Our property development locations also operate golf and club operations. Home Fashion We conduct our Home Fashion segment through our indirect wholly owned subsidiary, WestPoint Home LLC (“WPH”). WPH's business consists of manufacturing, sourcing, marketing, distributing and selling home fashion consumer products. Description of Discontinued Operating Businesses As of June 30, 2018, we also operated discontinued operations previously reported in our Automotive and former Gaming segments as discussed below. In addition, see Note 12, "Discontinued Operations," for additional information with respect to our discontinued operating businesses. Automotive Our discontinued Automotive operations consists of our wholly owned subsidiary Federal-Mogul LLC ("Federal-Mogul"). During January 2017, we increased our ownership in Federal-Mogul from 82.0% to 100% for an aggregate purchase price of $305 million. On April 10, 2018, we announced a definitive agreement to sell Federal-Mogul to Tenneco Inc. ("Tenneco") for approximately $5.4 billion, comprised of $800 million in cash and 29.5 million shares of Tenneco common stock, of which 23.8 million shares will be non-voting shares that will convert to voting shares if and when sold. There will be restrictions on how many shares of Tenneco common stock can be sold by us within the first 150 days after the closing of the sale. In addition, under this agreement, Tenneco can reduce the amount of non-voting shares of common stock by up to 7.3 million shares and increase the cash consideration proportionately at closing. The voting and non-voting shares of Tenneco common stock will have the same economic value. All of Federal-Mogul's outstanding debt at the time of closing will be assumed by Tenneco. We expect the sale to close in the second half of 2018, subject to regulatory approvals, approval by Tenneco shareholders and other customary closing conditions. This agreement is also subject to a $200 million termination clause. Following the close of this transaction, we will own a non-controlling interest in Tenneco which we will value using the fair value option. This transaction met all the criteria to be classified as held for sale on April 10, 2018 upon execution of the definitive agreement. Gaming Our discontinued Gaming operations consists of our majority ownership in Tropicana Entertainment Inc. ("Tropicana") and the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort ("Taj Mahal"). As of June 30, 2018, we owned approximately 83.9% of the total outstanding common stock of Tropicana. On April 16, 2018, we announced a definitive agreement to sell Tropicana's real estate to Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. and to merge Tropicana's gaming and hotel operations into Eldorado Resorts, Inc. for aggregate consideration of approximately $1.85 billion. The transaction does not include Tropicana's Aruba assets, which will be disposed of as a condition to closing. The aggregate consideration of approximately $1.85 billion will be increased by the amount of the net proceeds received in connection with the Aruba disposition and will be further adjusted to pay corporate level taxes. We expect the sale to close in the second half of 2018, subject to receipt of required gaming approvals, termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, and other customary closing conditions. This transaction met all the criteria to be classified as held for sale on April 15, 2018 upon execution of the definitive agreement. Taj Mahal closed in October 2016 and was subsequently sold on March 31, 2017.

Description of Business.

Overview

Icahn Enterprises L.P. ("Icahn Enterprises") owns a 99% limited partner interest in Icahn Enterprises Holdings L.P. ("Icahn Enterprises Holdings"). Icahn Enterprises G.P. Inc. ("Icahn Enterprises GP"), which is owned and controlled by Mr. Carl C. Icahn, owns a 1% general partner interest in each of Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings as of June 30, 2018. Icahn Enterprises Holdings and its subsidiaries own substantially all of the assets and liabilities of Icahn Enterprises and conduct substantially all of its operations. Therefore, the financial results of Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings are substantially the same, with differences relating primarily to allocations of the general partner interest, which is reflected as an aggregate 1.99% general partner interest in the financial statements of Icahn Enterprises, as well as due to the carrying amount of deferred financing costs related to our senior unsecured notes. In addition to the above, Mr. Icahn and his affiliates owned approximately 91.3% of Icahn Enterprises' outstanding depositary units as of June 30, 2018.

References to "we," "our" or "us" herein include both Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings and their subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires.

Description of Continuing Operating Businesses

We are a diversified holding company owning subsidiaries currently engaged in the following continuing operating businesses: Investment, Automotive, Energy, Railcar, Metals, Mining, Food Packaging, Real Estate and Home Fashion. We also report the results of our Holding Company, which includes the results of certain subsidiaries of Icahn Enterprises and Icahn Enterprises Holdings (unless otherwise noted), and investment activity and expenses associated with our Holding Company. See Note 11, "Segment Reporting," for a reconciliation of each of our reporting segment's results of operations to our consolidated results. Certain additional information with respect to our segments is discussed below.

Investment

Our Investment segment is comprised of various private investment funds ("Investment Funds") in which we have general partner interests and through which we invest our proprietary capital. We and certain of Mr. Icahn's wholly owned affiliates are the only investors in the Investment Funds. As general partner, we provide investment advisory and certain administrative and back office services to the Investment Funds but do not provide such services to any other entities, individuals or accounts. Interests in the Investment Funds are not offered to outside investors. We had interests in the Investment Funds with a fair value of approximately $3.3 billion and $3.0 billion as of June 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively.

Automotive

We conduct our Automotive segment through our wholly owned subsidiary Icahn Automotive Group LLC ("Icahn Automotive"). Icahn Automotive is engaged in the retail and wholesale distribution of automotive parts in the aftermarket as well as providing automotive repair and maintenance services to its customers.

Energy

We conduct our Energy segment through our majority ownership in CVR Energy, Inc. ("CVR Energy"). CVR Energy is a diversified holding company primarily engaged in the petroleum refining and nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing industries through its holdings in CVR Refining L.P. ("CVR Refining") and CVR Partners L.P. ("CVR Partners"), respectively. CVR Refining is a petroleum refiner and marketer of high value transportation fuels. CVR Partners produces and markets nitrogen fertilizers in the form of ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate. As of June 30, 2018, CVR Energy owned 100% of each of the general partners of CVR Refining and CVR Partners and approximately 66% and 34% of the common units of CVR Refining and CVR Partners, respectively.

As of June 30, 2018, we owned approximately 82.0% of the total outstanding common stock of CVR Energy. In addition, as of June 30, 2018, we directly owned approximately 3.9% of the total outstanding common units of CVR Refining.

In June 2018, CVR Energy commenced an exchange offer to acquire additional common units of CVR Refining in exchange for shares of CVR Energy common stock. The exchange offer expired on July 27, 2018. A total of 21,625,106 common units of CVR Refining were validly tendered and not properly withdrawn, which, together with the common units already owned by CVR Energy and its affiliates (including affiliates of Icahn Enterprises L.P.), represent approximately 84.5% of CVR Refining’s outstanding common units. All of the common units that were validly tendered and not properly withdrawn have been exchanged for 13,699,505 shares of CVR Energy common stock. As a result, effective July 27, 2018, we owned approximately 70.8% of the total outstanding common stock of CVR Energy.

Railcar

We conduct our Railcar segment through our majority ownership in American Railcar Industries, Inc. ("ARI") and, prior to its sale on June 1, 2017, our wholly owned subsidiary American Railcar Leasing, LLC ("ARL"). As of June 30, 2018, we owned approximately 62.2% of the total outstanding common stock of ARI.

ARI is a North American designer and manufacturer of hopper and tank railcars. ARI provides its railcar customers with integrated solutions through a comprehensive set of high-quality products and related services through its manufacturing, railcar leasing and railcar services operations. ARI's manufacturing consists of railcar manufacturing and railcar and industrial component manufacturing. ARI's railcar leasing business consists of railcars built by ARI leased to third parties under operating leases. ARI's railcar services consist of railcar repair, engineering and field services.

Metals

We conduct our Metals segment through our indirect wholly owned subsidiary PSC Metals LLC, f/k/a, PSC Metals, Inc. (“PSC Metals”). PSC Metals is principally engaged in the business of collecting, processing and selling ferrous and non-ferrous metals, as well as the processing and distribution of steel pipe and plate products. PSC Metals collects industrial and obsolete scrap metal, processes it into reusable forms and supplies the recycled metals to its customers.

Mining

We conduct our Mining segment through our majority ownership in Ferrous Resources Ltd. ("Ferrous Resources"). As of June 30, 2018, we owned approximately 77.2% of the total outstanding common stock of Ferrous Resources. Ferrous Resources acquired certain rights to iron ore mineral resources in Brazil and develops mining operations and related infrastructure to produce and sell iron ore products to the global steel industry.

Food Packaging

We conduct our Food Packaging segment through our majority ownership in Viskase Companies, Inc. ("Viskase"). During January 2018, Viskase received $50 million in connection with its common stock rights offering. In connection with this rights offering, we fully exercised our subscription rights under our basic and over subscription privileges to purchase additional shares of Viskase common stock, thereby increasing our ownership of Viskase from 74.6% to 78.6%, for an aggregate additional investment of $44 million.

Viskase is a producer of cellulosic, fibrous and plastic casings used to prepare and package processed meat products.

Real Estate

Our Real Estate operations consist of rental real estate, property development and associated club activities. Our rental real estate operations consist primarily of office and industrial properties leased to single corporate tenants. Our property development operations are run primarily through a real estate investment, management and development subsidiary that focuses primarily on the construction and sale of single-family and multi-family homes, lots in subdivisions and planned communities, and raw land for residential development. Our property development locations also operate golf and club operations.

Home Fashion

We conduct our Home Fashion segment through our indirect wholly owned subsidiary, WestPoint Home LLC (“WPH”). WPH's business consists of manufacturing, sourcing, marketing, distributing and selling home fashion consumer products.

Description of Discontinued Operating Businesses

As of June 30, 2018, we also operated discontinued operations previously reported in our Automotive and former Gaming segments as discussed below. In addition, see Note 12, "Discontinued Operations," for additional information with respect to our discontinued operating businesses.

Automotive

Our discontinued Automotive operations consists of our wholly owned subsidiary Federal-Mogul LLC ("Federal-Mogul"). During January 2017, we increased our ownership in Federal-Mogul from 82.0% to 100% for an aggregate purchase price of $305 million.

On April 10, 2018, we announced a definitive agreement to sell Federal-Mogul to Tenneco Inc. ("Tenneco") for approximately $5.4 billion, comprised of $800 million in cash and 29.5 million shares of Tenneco common stock, of which 23.8 million shares will be non-voting shares that will convert to voting shares if and when sold. There will be restrictions on how many shares of Tenneco common stock can be sold by us within the first 150 days after the closing of the sale. In addition, under this agreement, Tenneco can reduce the amount of non-voting shares of common stock by up to 7.3 million shares and increase the cash consideration proportionately at closing. The voting and non-voting shares of Tenneco common stock will have the same economic value. All of Federal-Mogul's outstanding debt at the time of closing will be assumed by Tenneco. We expect the sale to close in the second half of 2018, subject to regulatory approvals, approval by Tenneco shareholders and other customary closing conditions. This agreement is also subject to a $200 million termination clause. Following the close of this transaction, we will own a non-controlling interest in Tenneco which we will value using the fair value option. This transaction met all the criteria to be classified as held for sale on April 10, 2018 upon execution of the definitive agreement.

Gaming

Our discontinued Gaming operations consists of our majority ownership in Tropicana Entertainment Inc. ("Tropicana") and the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort ("Taj Mahal"). As of June 30, 2018, we owned approximately 83.9% of the total outstanding common stock of Tropicana.

On April 16, 2018, we announced a definitive agreement to sell Tropicana's real estate to Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. and to merge Tropicana's gaming and hotel operations into Eldorado Resorts, Inc. for aggregate consideration of approximately $1.85 billion. The transaction does not include Tropicana's Aruba assets, which will be disposed of as a condition to closing. The aggregate consideration of approximately $1.85 billion will be increased by the amount of the net proceeds received in connection with the Aruba disposition and will be further adjusted to pay corporate level taxes. We expect the sale to close in the second half of 2018, subject to receipt of required gaming approvals, termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, and other customary closing conditions. This transaction met all the criteria to be classified as held for sale on April 15, 2018 upon execution of the definitive agreement.

Taj Mahal closed in October 2016 and was subsequently sold on March 31, 2017.