Herbalife Ltd’s biggest critic, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, said he had been approached to buy shares in the nutritional supplements maker from billionaire investor Carl Icahn. “The sooner he sells the better”. “With Carl exiting, I think it’s over and it’s over quickly”.
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This is a good time for Icahn to pull out because he’s made “a bunch of money” off his stake, but he also knows that “this thing is toast”, Ackman explained. Ackman and his hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, have been betting against Herbalife since late 2012, saying that the company is an illegal pyramid scheme that should be shut down.
Ackman has called Herbalife a pyramid scheme that would fail and his allegations have led to federal probes against the company.
Icahn and Ackman had placed opposing bets on Los Angeles-based Herbalife.
Shares of Herbalife were trading lower by almost 6 percent at $58.55 on Friday morning.
To be sure, it has been a mostly losing battle as Herbalife shares rallied.
Still, Stiritz said he still believes in the Herbalife business adding, telling CNBC, “I have a lot of confidence in Carl Icahn”.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Icahn was not immediately available for comment.
Additionally, Herbalife said at that time that it has granted Icahn, Icahn Enterprises Holdings L.P. ( IEP ) and certain related entities the right to increase the size of their maximum ownership position in the company to up to 34.99 percent of its outstanding common shares from a previous maximum of 25 percent.
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Since then, the company’s shares have risen 4.3 percent.
