Herbalife Gets Investigative Demand Letter From FTC

Companies and Brands

Published: March 12, 2014 2:04 pm

Last Updated: April 27, 2020 10:52 pm

Source: Courtesy Herbalife Ltd.

In a terse press release Wednesday morning, Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) said that it has received a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Trading in the company’s stock was halted briefly pending the company’s announcement.

Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: NUS), another multi-level marketing company, was halted about 10 minutes later. Trading in Nu Skin resumed after about 5 minutes , and the shares dropped from an intra-day high near $82 to $70.

Herbalife was trading 4.45% higher at around $68 when shares were halted and reopened down about 13% near $57.

In its press release the company said:

Herbalife welcomes the inquiry given the tremendous amount of misinformation in the marketplace, and will cooperate fully with the FTC. We are confident that Herbalife is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Herbalife is a financially strong and successful company, having created meaningful value for shareholders, significant opportunities for distributors and positively impacted the lives and health of its consumers for over 34 years.

The company said it would have no further comment on the matter “unless and until there are material developments.”

U.S. Senator Edward Markey sent a letter to the FTC a few weeks ago seeking an investigation into Herbalife’s operations, and Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management held another roadshow yesterday detailing how he believes the company is operating illegally in China.

Herbalife’s shares are down 10.5% at $58.50 just before 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The stock’s 52-week range is $34.72 to $83.51.

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