I came across the article “Bill Ackman Surrenders in His Five-Year War Against Herbalife” in the Wall Street Journal. The hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management led by Bill Ackman short sold the multi-level marketing and dietary supplement corporation Herbalife.
Bill Ackman argued that Herbalife was a pyramid scheme, and its stock price would go to zero. Activist investor Carl Icahn of Icahn Enterprises invested in Herbalife –– becoming its biggest shareholder. Short seller versus activist investor. A live television shouting match between Ackman and Icahn.
Compare to the GameStop short squeeze. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has even been connected with Carl Icahn (“Ryan Cohen and Carl Icahn Meetup Energizes GameStop Bulls Amid Yet Another Bear Market Rally”).
Netflix produced a full-length documentary against Herbalife. And GameStop inspired multiple films –– notably including Dumb Money (for the bulls) and and This Is Financial Advice (for the bears).
The FBI and federal prosecutors investigated Ackman for market manipulation (“Prosecutors Interview People Tied to Ackman in Probe of Potential Herbalife Manipulation”). And the SEC similarly investigated Ryan Cohen (“Ryan Cohen Said To Be Under SEC Scanner Over His ‘Sketchy’ Bed Bath & Beyond Trades”).
After five years, Ackman apparently exited his position –– losing hundreds of millions of dollars. Supposedly, GameStop short sellers also closed their positions (“Melvin Capital, hedge fund targeted by Reddit board, closes out of GameStop short position”).
The book When the Wolves Bite: Two Billionaires, One Company, and an Epic Wall Street Battle by Scott Wapner describes the Herbalife story. The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees by Ben Mezrich describes the GameStop story.
Thanks for your comment –– you make some good points. While I agree that this conflict will have a winner and a loser, considering all of the stakeholders, I disagree that it is a zero-sum game. If the bears win, then a $5 billion company goes out of business, and 25,000 employees lose their jobs (negative sum). If the bulls win, then GameStop continues to provide value to customers –– and potentially enters into emerging markets like NFTs (positive sum).
I think it could be effectively argued that it’s far, far, far bigger and important than merely that.
On one hand we have truth, honesty, fairness, transparency, delight, and general good-will - the bulls.
On the other hand, well… the opposite of all those ideas/concepts - the bears.
Do the “good guys” always win? Well, no - not really. Nevertheless, the bulls really, really need to win at this point in time and history. The planet and all the people and other inhabitants on it, more so now than any other time in all of humankind - due to sheer population and power concentration and associated groupthink and associated incestuous ideation & leadership - need a sort of cataclysm and explosion of what the bulls represent.
Agreed!