I truly believe that there is a sentence worse than jail for the stock market criminal. Bill Ackman attacks Herbalife for their business practices to earn a buck for his hedge fund group and gets burnt!
New York – Bill Ackman, head of hedge fund firm Pershing Square, said Friday that his firm has lost $400 million to $500 million on his short bet against weight-loss company Herbalife.
Ackman, who revealed his bet against the company nearly a year ago, also told Bloomberg Television that his firm does not support Bruce Berkowitz of Fairholme’s plans for mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Ackman, whose Pershing oversees about $12 billion, said that he sees greater opportunity in the common shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than he does in the preferred shares.
New York – Legendary Investor Ackman Says Lost Up To $500 Mln …
http://www.vosizneias.com Fri, 22 Nov 2013 19:18:52 GMT
New York – Bill Ackman, head of hedge fund firm Pershing Square, said Friday that his firm has lost $400 million to $500 million on his short bet against weight-loss company Herbalife. Ackman, who revealed his bet against …
Ackman is also dealing with a souring short position in Herbalife, whose shares have risen over 100% so far this year.
Losing hundreds of millions of dollars publicly isn’t something you can easily forget, but competitors to Ackman’s Pershing Square fund seem to be enjoying his slip ups. Dan Loeb used the uber-insider medium of the Bloomberg terminal to presumably needle Ackman (twice). If that weren’t enough for Ackman, Carl Icahn and Soros have been on the opposite end of his bet against Herbalife. Sapna Maheshwari and Mariah Summers write that “Ackman seems to be coming unglued”. Gina Chon thinks it has suddenly “become cool to trash Ackman” because he is losing such vast amounts of money.
Ackman, who intentionally courts media scrutiny, might be abrasive, but he doesn’t lose too often. Justin Fox believes Ackman is doing the market’s work in pushing beleaguered companies like JC Penney to turn themselves around.
There may still be a path to profitability for Ackman’s short in Herbalife. William Alden and Andrew Ross Sorkin report new details that could lead to regulatory action. In 2011, fine shards of metal were found in the company’s shake mix as it was coming of the production line. A week after production resumed, Herbalife’s SVP for global quality said that if the plant were inspected by the FDA “in the next month, they’re fucked… I don’t know how else to put it”. Herbalife maintains that no tainted products made it all the way to consumers.
The newly-reported internal documents may explain why Ackman took his so-far losing position in Herbalife: the employee who obtained them first approached the FDA, then Ackman. Ackman is now paying the employee’s legal bills. Herbalife, however, dropped just 2.5% today. It is still up more than 75% since Ackman announced via a 300-page presentation that it would fall to zero. — Ben Walsh
Penney costs Ackman $700 million | Counterparties – Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com Tue, 13 Aug 2013 22:36:24 GMT
Ackman is also dealing with a souring short position in Herbalife, whose shares have risen over 100% so far this year. Losing hundreds of millions of dollars publicly isn’t something you can easily forget, but competitors to …
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who runs Pershing Square, gave another massive slide-presentation attacking Herbalife.
Late last year, Ackman gave a 342-slide presentation on why he thinks the nutritional supplement seller will go to $0.
Ackman believes Herbalife is a “pyramid scheme” that targets lower income people, particularly from the Hispanic population.
Since Ackman declared his short, shares of Herbalife have skyrocketed. They have risen more than 68% since he publicly confirmed his short.
What’s more is a number of hedge fund managers have piled on by going long the stock. Those who are long include George Soros, Richard Perry, Stanley Druckenmiller, and Ackman’s rival Carl Icahn. Daniel Loeb was long for a few weeks in the first quarter, but sold his stake for a profit. Icahn has said he believes Ackman will be the victim of the “mother of all short squeezes.”
A month ago, Ackman’s Pershing Square said it repositioned the $1 billion short by swapping more than 40% of the equity short position in Herbalife for put options in an effort to reduce risk.
Even after losing about $500 million in mark-to-market losses, Ackman has remained confident in his short thesis. He has said he will take his Herbalife short bet to “the end of the earth.”
We have included his slide-deck from last week’s Robin Hood Investors Conference. The stock rose as Ackman gave his takedown.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ackman-herbalife-robin-hood-presentation-2013-11?op=1#ixzz2mp9ddHAQ
Ackman Herbalife Robin Hood Presentation – Business Insider
http://www.businessinsider.com Mon, 25 Nov 2013 15:35:43 GMT
Even after losing about $500 million in mark-to-market losses, Ackman has remained confident in his short thesis. He has said he will take his Herbalife short bet to “the end of the earth.” We have included his slide-deck from …
I often wonder “how can this public criminal get away with betting against a stock, make up negative facts about that stock and not go to jail for their actions!” Well, $500 Million in lost revenues in my opinion is worse than jail.
By Dan Woods
