"""Do it for the money and it's clear you don't care a whit what happens as long as your profit is assured.""" Maybe I'm misunderstanding capitalism but if you

"""Do it for the money and it's clear you don't care a whit what happens as long as your profit is assured.""" Maybe I'm misunderstanding capitalism but if you "do it for the money" it's actually quite likely that you care a lot more about what is happening. And as others have stated he will give away the profits (he'll still care quite a lot because the losses will hurt). He'll still come out a winner because this is excellent PR for his investment firm if he wins the bet somewhat similar to the lost Rockefeller bid. I actually think the idea of shorting a company as motivation to get things done is quite fascinating. It hadn't really occurred to me as an instrument for public change before reading up on this. [the methods employed seem somewhat questionable but I'm sure the other side employs similar methods...but then again I'd be interested to see some cold war scenarios play out publicly where two investment companies battle over sink/raise of some other companies stock price by employing the dirtiest tactics possible...mostly to make sure those tactics get removed as options. For example I think it would be hilarious if some other investment firm went long on HL and lobbying with more lobbying thus returning to the status quo of HL lobbying. Yeah sometimes I'm sick and twisted like that]