LOS ANGELES _ A long-running feud over Herbalife Ltd. between billionaire hedge fund managers Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman heated up Friday, with Ackman saying that Icahn was looking to sell his stake in the Los Angeles maker of nutritional supplements and Icahn saying that's not the case.
Icahn said Friday afternoon that not only is he not looking to sell, but he also just bought more than 2 million Herbalife shares. Even before Friday's purchase, he was the company's biggest shareholder.
Icahn said Ackman, who has called Herbalife a pyramid scheme and made a $1 billion bet that the company would be shut down, has become obsessed with the company.
"Obsessions concerning the value of stocks are the undoing of many investors because they often blind you to the facts," Icahn said in a statement Friday.
Herbalife fell 2.3 percent in Friday trading, but it shot up more than 4 percent in after-hours trading after Icahn's statement.
