Nutritional-supplement company Herbalife Ltd. saw its shares soar more than 7% Wednesday afternoon after a report indicated that its fiercest critic had unraveled a massive bet that the company would fall to zero. CNBC on Wednesday reported that Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital exited its Herbalife,according to CNBC’s Scott Wapner. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP made a bet against the company five years ago, accusing it of running a pyramid scheme. The company has steadfastly denied those allegations. And the bet that it would collapse in value has been dead wrong. In fact, shares of Herbalife are up 35% so far in 2018, compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite Index , which are up between 2% and 6% so far this year. In fact, Herbalife shares are up 130% over the past five years, according to FactSet data. Ackman first shorted the stock at around $47 factoring in the cost of the wager, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ackman had said Pershing Square would sell out if the wager gets too risky, but previously pledged to take his crusade “to the end of the earth.”
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