Skip to main content

Carl Icahn Buys 2.3 Million Herbalife Shares Just to Spite Bill Ackman

If he has to, he'll go door to door selling shakes.
  • Author:
  • Updated:
    Original:
Getty Images

Getty Iages

Earlier today, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman appeared on CNBC claiming that his nemesisturned friendturned probably nemesis again Carl Icahn was looking to sell his Herbalife stake because "he knows he's toast." Ackman liked this idea a whole lot, because Icahn dumping his shares would potentially "accelerate the demise of the company which is something Billy's been trying to do since, oh, May 2012. Know who didn't like the idea? One Carl Icahn, who fired up his blog to give Bill Ackman a piece of his mind. The short answer: Bill Ackman needs to STFU when he's talking about me.

Over the years many investment bankers, including Jefferies, that specialize in block trades frequently make bids for our large positions. But completely contrary to what Bill Ackman stated on television today, I have never given Jefferies an order to sell any of our Herbalife shares. Last month we publicly disclosed that Herbalife granted us permission to go up to 35%. At the time of the disclosure, Ackman declared that I have no interest in increasing my position in Herbalife. This was obviously another misstatement of the facts by Ackman since today I bought another 2.3 million shares. I continue to believe in Herbalife: it’s a great model that creates a great number of jobs for people. Ackman may be a smart guy but he has clearly succumbed to the same dangerous (and sometimes fatal) malady that afflicts many investors – he’s developed a very bad case of “Herbalife obsession”. Obsessions concerning the value of stocks are the undoing of many investors because they often blind you to the facts, and it becomes impossible to see the forest for the trees. Watching Ackman on television today is a perfect example of this “obsession”. A month ago he declared that I’d never buy more Herbalife stock, which obviously turned out to be completely wrong. Today, he said I’m done with my Herbalife investment and that I’m a seller. Obviously wrong, again. It amazes me that a guy who hasn’t any knowledge of my internal investment thinking believes he is in a position to go on television to tell the world what IAM thinking! Amazing! He has no right to do so, and even worse, I’m sure his unsubstantiated, obsessive comments, especially about Herbalife, have cost investors a great deal of money over the last few years.

You hear that? That's the sound of CNBC calling up a boxing promoter to book the MGM grand for a prize fight between the two tonight at 9.

Carl Icahn Issues Statement Regarding Herbalife [CarlIcahn]
Icahn buys 2.3 million more Herbalife shares; slams Ackman's 'obsessive' remarks [CNBC]

Related

Getty Images
News

Carl Icahn Finds 307,000 More Ways To Tell Bill Ackman "I Will Haunt Your Dreams"

The Pershing Square manager will never be free of this guy.

StatlerAndIcahn
Hedge Funds

Carl Icahn Throws 1.8 Million More Herbalife Shares On The Bill Ackman Feud Fire

Uncle Carl is toasting and roasting Billy-Acks with a gassy Herbalife shake.

News

How Should Bill Ackman And Carl Icahn Settle This Thing Once And For All?

When Mark Hughs founded a multi-level marketing company called Herbalife in 1980, he probably thought it had the power to do a lot of things. Help people lose weight. Makes others rich. Shake up the diet industry. What he mostly likely did not expect, however, was that his li'l company that could would reignite a feud between two billionaires that would devolve into a flurry of press releases quibbling over who was dying to be friends with whom, shouting matches on live TV, and, we predict, someone telling someone else he has a right mind to "Rip the eyes out of your head and piss into your dead skull! You messed with the wrong hedge fund manager!"

Getty Images
News

Carl Icahn Endorses Herbalife In The Most 'Old Man From Queens' Way Possible

His GI problems get a shout-out.

Getty Images
Hedge Funds

Carl Icahn vs Bill Ackman Is Back On With The Fury Of 10,000 Herbalife Shakes

And just when they were getting along so well.

News

Herbalife Would've Gone Down For The Dirt Nap Months Ago If Carl Icahn Had Minded His Own Business: Bill Ackman, Basically

Ackman knows this much to be true.

News

Bill Ackman Thinks Carl Icahn Is A Great Investor, Bald-Faced Liar, Person Who Will Never Gain Admittance To The Friends Of Bill Ackman Society

In response to Icahn telling Bloomberg he neither likes, nor respects the Pershing Square founder, Bill Ackman got a couple important points of his chest, the first being that 1. The feeling's mutual, buddy! And 2. You can tell Carl Icahn is lying if his lips are moving.

News

Carl Icahn Still Thinks Bill Ackman Is A Bum, But That's Just, Like, His Opinion

There are many people in the universe who are fans of hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. They like his style. His charm. The way he makes them feel. The fact that he's not afraid to show his emotions or give them an honest opinion about their new dress or say "You know what? Those highlights really aren't working for you." Carl Icahn, however, is not one of those people. Save for a fleeting moment of supposed amicability following "a lengthy, boozy dinner," Icahn has viewed Ackman as a punk for nearly a decade; an untrustworthy little jerk who Ichan's friends supposedly told him not to do business with. (The feeling being more than a little mutual; as Ackman has put it, "The guy is a shakedown artist. His word is worthless.”) Anyway, in case anyone was wondering if the investors had put an end to their feud with another long, booze-filled meal, wonder no longer.