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While it feels icky to root for a billionaire hedge fund manager who probably couldn't care less if I lived or died, I was kind of pulling for Ackman. Herbalife
by Analemma_ 9y ago
While it feels icky to root for a billionaire hedge fund manager who probably couldn't care less if I lived or died, I was kind of pulling for Ackman. Herbalife is a complete scam, and in a sane universe they wouldn't have any valuation at all. But no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. Sigh.
- nwah1 9y agoFelt the same way. The documentary Betting On Zero was eye-opening, and I was surprised that he stuck to this bet for so long. I suppose it isn't really a pyramid scheme in the sense of being unstable. It is perfectly stable at fleecing people who don't know any better.
- icantdrive55 9y agoSo many companies/people are fleecing people because they can. I thought by now, the perpetrators in slimey businesses would be socially ostracized. Instead, they seem like they are put on a pedastool? In my world, I'm disgusted by those that take advantage of the poor, and uninformed. I see the predatory behavior in so many professions. It seems like ethics/morality just went out of fashion. I'm literally shocked when I meet someone with ethics, or sthics when the heard isn't looking directly at them. I remember sitting through Sunday school classes. Even at a young age, I wondered how will I incorporate this mythology (was just truth back then) into the real world.
- Reedx 9y agoIt goes way beyond the American public, they're global - in at least 95 countries. I guess that's how they're managing to keep the scheme going as long as they have. Really does seem like a strong bet that they will go to zero.
- glibgil 9y agoThe lifecycle of an MLM company: Utah, then the rest of the US, then the world
- defen 9y agoWhy do you say Utah? Near as I can tell Herbalife came out of California.
- sg0 9y agoExactly, I was shocked to see Ackman betting against Herbalife, because I have seen Herbalife craze first hand in India. My office was in M.G Road, Bangalore, a premium spot of Bangalore, and Herbalife had a big distribution center right there (next to our office building). It was always crowded, people coming and going. My then roommate also got into the Herbalife cabal, and got his entire family involved. He claimed that his dad had lost significant weight after regularly having one of their shakes, and left no stone unturned in advertising the product, to the point that some people started avoiding him. But note, he never asked any of us overtly to buy Herbalife products and build a chain of Herbalife-peddling minions. I guess the point is, some people are attracted to the exclusivity factor, they think that wow these products are expensive, so they must be good, and praise about them to others. Some of these praise soaked people get interested enough to check it out, and the iteration continues.
- walshemj 9y agoInteresting I have shares in Pershing Square brought as a discount ploy in my ISA