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This is the problem with short setlling - you don't need the company to be a fraud, you need it to be publicly outed as a fraud in a timeframe you can afford. T
by Traster 6y ago
This is the problem with short setlling - you don't need the company to be a fraud, you need it to be publicly outed as a fraud in a timeframe you can afford. This is what distinguishes 'The Big Short' and Bill Ackman with Herbalife. The mortgage crisis had a timeline for when the collapse would happen, that was the key. With Herbalife it was down to Ackman to convince the entire market that Herbalife wasn't a real business.
- dna_polymerase 6y agoHerbalife still is a 'real' business. Ackman would like you to think otherwise but it still is. The whole thing might be a point against short sellers.
- AndrewBissell 6y agoAnother famous short seller, John Hempton, responded to Ackman's short with a very public investment case for going long Herbalife (he argues it's a kind of social club with supplement sales attached as dues). Short sellers definitely don't bat anything close to 1.000 though.
- Apocryphon 6y agoSounds like regulators have found Herbalife to be fraudulent after all, even if it hasn't affect it's stock price too much. https://dealbreaker.com/2020/05/herbalife-fined-for-china-bribery https://dealbreaker.com/2020/05/herbalife-fined-for-china-br...