Carl Icahn gains ground in Illumina proxy battle.

Activist investor Carl Icahn secured a board seat for one of his three nominees to the board of gene sequencing machine maker Illumina Inc, a partial victory for the investor who is struggling to burnish his credentials following a shortseller attack on his company. Illumina's market value of $30 billion made the fight this year's largest proxy contest to go to a shareholder vote. Its shares closed down 9% at $193.53 on Thursday after Icahn failed in his bid to change the company's management by also ousting Chief Executive Francis deSouza from the board.