Ackman: Now Would Be A Really Good Time For Someone To Put A Stop To Herbalife
Even better than the last time he asked, when the only thing that happened was the opposite of what he wanted, and cost him a large sum of money.
Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager who says Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) is an illegal pyramid scheme, says he now stands to gain more from the nutrition company’s demise than when he started. “We actually now have a much larger position notionally than we had initially,” Ackman said yesterday at the Harbor Investment Conference in New York. “If it were to disappear tomorrow, we’d make a lot more than had it just blown up the day after I gave my last presentation.”
Ackman, who said in November that his New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management LP had lost as much as $500 million on the investment, declined to update how much he has made or lost on the position. He also didn’t detail the current structure of his bet, which started when Pershing Square sold short more than 20 million of Herbalife’s shares in 2012. Last year, he reduced the equity short position in the company while maintaining his bet through long-term put options.
In sum, if this stock/company/regulator would just relent and do what Bill Ackman wants it to do, that'd be great for Bill Ackman. It's not that hard, it's pretty simple, in fact. Not sure why everyone is making this more difficult than it has to be, but regardless, now is the perfect opportunity to make up for past mistakes.
Ackman Says Herbalive Bet Carries Bigger Potential Gain [Bloomberg]
