An extraordinary conversation took place on air at CNBC earlier this week. Carl Icahn, billionaire investor and financier, and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital, phoned in to a live show being aired from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Ackerman makes his money, among other things, by short selling stocks. This is the practice of placing large bets that a company’s stock price is going to drop. Short selling is one of the ways that capital markets self correct. If the price of a stock becomes irrationally high, short sellers begin to emerge, hoping to make money when the rest of the market realizes they have overbid a particular company. If you think that a company is overvalued, and you have bet that the price is going to fall, you should tell people that, by way of getting the ball rolling. That is what Ackman is doing, making presentations to investors about why he thinks a company called Herbalife is a “pyramid scheme.”
Ackman was calling into CNBC, when Icahn joined the conversation. Icahn thinks Ackman is wrong about Herbalife, and impugns Ackman’s ethics, integrity, business judgment, and manhood. He also shouts down the moderator about ten minutes into the segment. The on air moderator asks Icahn if he owns shares in Herbalife, if Icahn is “long” on the stock. If Icahn owns shares, he does not want to see the stock price drop. Instead of answering a direct question, Icahn claims the moderator is “bullying” him, and threatens to never go back on air at CNBC in the future.
Frankly, Ackman comes across as pretty calm and reasonable. He may be completely blowing smoke about Herbalife, but he lays out his positions without getting personal and calling names.
Icahn, on the other hand, comes across as a piece of crap. He acts like if you can keep the other guy from talking, you automatically win the argument. He may be an amazing investor, and he has made billions of dollars, but based on this segment, Carl Icahn is a pretty miserable human being.
You can watch the exchange here.
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