Icahn mulled selling Herbalife stake to group that included Ackman: Report
Carl Icahn recently discussed selling his stake in dietary supplement company Herbalife (HLF) to a group that included the company's biggest critic — and the activist investor's arch-rival — William Ackman, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
In a further twist to the long-running feud between the two billionaires, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ that investment bank Jefferies Group LLC had been looking for buyers for Icahn's 18 percent stake, worth roughly $1 billion.
However, the status of the talks and the names of the other investors weren't clear and the WSJ said that Icahn might not sell anything.
Herbalife has been in the news thanks largely to a high-profile war Ackman has waged against the company. With a billion-dollar short in play, Ackman has contended that the company is engaged in a pyramid scheme where its representatives benefit more from recruiting new distributors than from actual sales.
However, last month the Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with the supplements company that, while determining Herbalife was not a pyramid or Ponzi scheme, called for the company to change its operations.
You can read the full WSJ story here .
Jeff Cox contributed to this article.
