Carl Icahn, notoriously ruthless corporate raider and billionaire, has just made the biggest spectacle in the financial world that much more ridiculous.
When hedge fund manager and corporate board activist Bill Ackman went on CNBC on Friday to discuss his incredibly vocal and open short position on Herbalife, the share price dropped to its lowest point of the day.
But minutes later, the price soared back up. Carl Icahn called in to the show and accused Ackman of trying to manipulate the markets on live television.
The situation quickly devolved into a bizarre spectacle that brought years of bad blood between the activist investors to the surface.
Icahn and Ackman were partners in a deal on Hallwood Reality. Icahn bought a stake in Hallwood Realty Partners from Ackman's former fund Gotham Partners.
They ended up spending two years in court fighting over profits. Court records show that on shares Ackman sold to Icahn, they were to split the profits 50/50 on anything above 10% return to Ackman. Apparently what “50/50 is over 10%” is pretty hard to figure out.
Ultimately, the court agreed with Ackman and he was awarded the disputed $10.5 million plus $9 million in court costs.
Herbalife called Ackman's allegations "a malicious attack on Herbalife's business model, based largely on outdated, distorted and inaccurate information," but no one was paying any attention. The battle about Herbalife was suddenly just about Ackman and Icahn acting like children.
Perhaps, in that regard, Herbalife was the only clear winner.
A full video of the show may be found through this link. CNBC even went as far as making a highlights clip for the spat, which may be viewed here:
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