Companies and Brands

Bill Ackman and Pershing Square Keep Up Fight Against Herbalife

Bill Ackman may have seen Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) rise more than handily after the initial tank after his short sale position was disclosed, but his Pershing Square is not letting up on his short-selling campaign against what he thinks is a pyramid scheme. At the Facts About Herbalife, the landing page even states:

“[T]he organization is deemed a pyramid scheme if the participants obtain their monetary benefits primarily from recruitment rather than the sale of goods and services to consumers”
— Dr. Peter J. Vander Nat, senior economist at the FTC, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Vol 21-1, 139-151, (2002)

Today the company has issued its 13-page Executive Summary of the Ira Sohn Presentation. The summary is titled “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” The summary says Herbalife is a pyramid scheme as its distributors earn more than ten-times as much from recruiting as they do selling their overpriced products to bona fide retail customers. The rest of the summary is here.

Herbalife shares closed up almost 5% in Tuesday trading and the 52-week trading range is $24.24 to $73.00. This stock closed out 2012 at $32.94, but shares were around $42.50 on December 18 (a day before the short selling position was disclosed) and the stock hit its yearly low of $24.24 on December 24.

ALERT: Take This Retirement Quiz Now  (Sponsored)

Take the quiz below to get matched with a financial advisor today.

Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.

Here’s how it works:
1. Answer SmartAsset advisor match quiz
2. Review your pre-screened matches at your leisure. Check out the advisors’ profiles.
3. Speak with advisors at no cost to you. Have an introductory call on the phone or introduction in person and choose whom to work with in the future

Take the retirement quiz right here.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.