Insiders at Herbalife threw their hats into the ring of the media circus surrounding the multi-level marketing firm.
Three Herbalife top executives bought 30,700 shares for $1,709,467, an average of $55.68 each, on July 31.
Chief Financial Officer John DeSimone bought 10,000 Herbalife (ticker: HLF ) shares for $555,600. He now holds a direct stake of 28,690 shares. DeSimone’s most recent previous transaction was on April 16, 2012, when he exercised options and sold 31,700 shares for $2.7 million, an average of $70.50 each, through a 10b5-1 plan.
Chief Operating Officer Richard Goudis bought 10,700 shares for $597,167. He now holds a direct stake of 166,969 shares. Goudis’ most recent previous transaction was on Nov. 29, 2012, when he bought 180,100 shares for $2 million, an average of $43.89 each.
Finally, President Desmond Walsh bought 10,000 shares for $556,700. He now holds a direct stake of 107,599 shares. Walsh’s most recent previous transaction was on April 3, 2012, when he exercised options and sold 125,500 shares for $5 million, an average of $69.44 each through a 10b5-1 plan.
All the executives hold stakes of less than 1% in Herbalife.
Walsh and Goudis joined Herbalife in 2004. DeSimone joined in 2007.
Herbalife did not respond to a phone call seeking
Tag Archive for Herbalife
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Ackman Says “My Bad” On Herbalife Presentation
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has two words to sum up his Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) presentation last week: “My bad.”
Investors may have missed the point because the event was long and overhyped, Ackman said in an interview. Even the private researcher who helped convince Ackman the company is an illegal pyramid scheme now says the details of a two-year investigation into Herbalife’s nutrition clubs were largely ignored.
Ackman had promised to show an Enron-style fraud during the event. Instead of dumping the stock, investors sent the shares up 25 percent after the presentation, marking the biggest one-day gain in the history of the company. Ackman’s firm, Pershing Square Capital Management LP, bet $1 billion against the stock in 2012.
“It was a PR failure,” Ackman said. “I think we raised expectations. People were looking for the dead body and the smoking gun and instead what they got was a three-hour detailed regulatory presentation.”
The shares declined 6.1 percent to $52.40 at the close in New York.
Lost amid the earlier share gain was research that offers evidence of an elaborate and secretive illegal recruiting system, said Christine Richard, a former journalist who helped Ackman present material at the New York event.
William “Bill” Ackman, founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital
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Herbalife Q2 Earnings – $1.3 Billion Revenue + 7%
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Herbalife Ltd. Announces Second Quarter 2014 Results and Raises 2014 Earnings Guidance
Second quarter worldwide volume growth of 5 percent compared to the prior year period.
Adjusted1 EPS of $1.55 increased 10 percent compared to the prior year. Reported EPS of $1.31 primarily reflects the impact of the non-cash costs associated with the convert and other items.
Raising FY’14 adjusted diluted EPS guidance to a range of $6.17 to $6.32.
Repurchased $581 million or 9.8 million shares during the quarter.
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) today reported second quarter net sales of $1.3 billion, reflecting an increase of 7 percent compared to the same time period in 2013 on volume point growth of 5 percent. Adjusted1 net income for the quarter of $141.4 million, or $1.55 per diluted share, compares to 2013 second quarter adjusted net income of $150.7 million, or $1.41 per diluted share. On a reported basis, second quarter 2014 net income of $119.5 million, or $1.31 per diluted share compares to $143.2 million, or $1.34 per diluted share for the same period in 2013.
“Herbalife has once again delivered strong results in sales and profitability while demonstrating our continued ability to enhance our earnings per share,” said Michael Johnson, Herbalife’s chairman and CEO. “Our
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Herbalife Appoints Alan Hoffman Executive Vice President Of Global Corporate Affairs
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) today announced that it has appointed Alan L. Hoffman to the newly established role of Executive Vice President of Global Corporate Affairs reporting to Michael O. Johnson, Herbalife’s chairman and CEO. Hoffman will lead public policy, corporate communications, government affairs, community relations and philanthropy, effective August 25, 2014.
Hoffman brings over 20 years of public policy, communications and government affairs experience to the corporate affairs role. Presently, he serves as the Senior Vice President for Global Public Policy at PepsiCo, where he oversees policy development, external relations and government relations.
Hoffman has helped PepsiCo proactively develop and implement initiatives to support the company’s wide-ranging portfolio of products and drive value for its consumers, shareholders and communities. Before joining PepsiCo, he served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to Vice President Joseph Biden and Deputy Assistant to President Barack Obama.
Herbalife also today announced that Barbara Henderson will be retiring as its Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Communications. In 2013, she informed the company that she would like to retire at age 67, which prompted the search for a new executive. Henderson will assist with the transition and will remain President of the Herbalife Family Foundation.
“We are thrilled to welcome Alan to the Herbalife team,” said Johnson. “He
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Vox Media: Herbalife Science Is Definitely Garbage
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Vox Media is one of the USA’s largest and fastest growing online publishers. Based in Washington DC, Vox owns and operates sites in distinct vertical categories: general news, sports, technology & culture, gaming, dining & nightlife, shopping & fashion, and design & real estate.
According to Vox:
On the Herbalife website, there’s a section dedicated to “science videos,” where various company stakeholders boast that they “guarantee the very best science” behind their products, which are all “science proven.”
Dig a little deeper, however, and it seems the evidentiary underpinnings of Herbalife’s wares boil down to only four very weak studies that can barely be called science, let alone the “very best science.” If this is Herbalife’s prime research and development, then the company’s science is definitely garbage and customers should question the health claims on its products.
A look at Herbalife’s clinical trials
On a dedicated science website, Herbalife cites four clinical trials to prove the safety and effectiveness of its products:
1) The first clinical study compares weight and fat loss in two groups of obese men and women: the first went on a diet involving protein enriched Herbalife meal-replacement shakes; the second dieted with a standard Herbalife shake. While the study shows that both groups
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Statement From Herbalife In Response To Bill Ackman’s Three-Hour Presentation On Nutrition Clubs
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) today issued the following statement in response to Bill Ackman’s three-hour, presentation on the Company’s nutrition clubs:
Herbalife is a 34-year old nutrition company with 7,400 employees worldwide and millions of members. Today, Mr. Ackman highlighted many of the reasons we are proud of our company, our record and the value we bring to members, consumers and communities around the world. His presentation reaffirmed that:
Herbalife is first and foremost a company with great products that people want.
There are hundreds of thousands of members and millions more consumers who choose Herbalife for our products and community-based approach to health and wellness.
There is a comprehensive training system for members who aspire to open their own nutrition club so that they are fully informed of the time, commitment and skills required to do so.
Once again, Bill Ackman has over-promised and under-delivered on his $1 billion bet against our company. After spending $50 million, two years and tens of thousands of man-hours, Bill Ackman further demonstrated today that the facts are on our side.
We will continue to focus on our mission of bringing good nutrition and economic opportunities to communities across the globe. We recognize that he is running out of time to make good on his bad bet
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Herbalife Calls Bill Ackman “The Worst Of Wall Street”
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Herbalife’s digital media strategy fighting off Bill Ackman’s short campaign appears to include comparing the fund manager to Jordan Belfort-a convicted felon who ran a 90s-era boiler room, wrote a best-selling book and had a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio made about him.
On July 17, verified Twitter account @HerbalifeTRUTH tweeted a superimposed an image of Ackman on a “Wolf of Wall Street” movie poster calling him the “Worst of Wall Street.”
The Twitter account linked to a press release slamming Pershing Square’s short bet against Herbalife.
“Ultimately, Pershing Square’s campaign is based on propaganda, and we look forward to demonstrating that its assumptions will crumble under serious and independent scrutiny.”
It’s unclear who exactly is behind the @HerbalifeTRUTH Twitter account. It links back to Iamherbalife.com. The two authors listed on the site areHerbalife and Andy Amsler, who works for digital media campaign company Podesta Group.
Ackman is loudly short Herbalife-a multi-level marketer that sells weight loss shakes and nutritional supplements. Ackman believes the company operates as a “pyramid scheme” that targets lower income individuals.
Herbalife has denied and continues to deny Ackman’s accusations.
On Tuesday, Ackman will be giving another one of his presentations on an investigation into how the company operates its nutrition clubs.
“An in-depth analysis and examination of these clubs-which Herbalife claims
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Herbalife Members To Fight Back
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Herbalife, a leading global nutrition company, announced today that dozens of independent Herbalife members and independent business owners will hold a press conference during the Herbalife Extravaganza in Chicago in order to take a stand against the continuing campaign of attacks and misinformation being waged by Bill Ackman and Pershing Square Capital Management.
Thousands of Herbalife members from across North America are gathering this weekend to celebrate the positive impact Herbalife has had on their lives and in their communities.
“Members like me are under attack by a billionaire hedge fund manager who has embarked on an unprecedented effort to take down my way of life, and we want him to know that Herbalife members won’t stand for it,” said Silvia Muir, an Herbalife member from Palatine, IL who will be taking part in the press conference.
“Bill Ackman has displayed a bald-faced hypocrisy in his sham support for Latinos,” said Pablo Caicedo a member from Lincoln Park, IL who will also be taking part in the press conference. “As a Latino, I think it’s important for the world to know the truth: that Bill Ackman is only interested in his own short-sighted financial goals and has a history of investing in
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Herbalife Donates To Groups That Want To Destroy It
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Facing a massive public relations campaign against it, the nutrition sales company Herbalife has adopted an intriguing strategy in recent months: Donating to local chapters of the Latino rights nonprofit whose national leadership is seeking its demise.
The Herbalife donations have sparked controversy within the charity, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation’s oldest and biggest Latino rights group with 1,000 chapters in the United States and Puerto Rico. LULAC is holding its ritzy week-long annual convention at the Hilton in midtown Manhattan this week, featuring appearances from Mayor Bill de Blasio and Michelle Obama, and boasting some 20,000 attendees.
Dissent has been brewing over the LULAC leadership’s aggressive fight against Herbalife, and questions about whether it fits into the broader mission of the nonprofit, founded in 1929, to fight discrimination against Hispanics. LULAC’s muscular response has been to crack down on Herbalife’s attempts to donate money to LULAC’s cash-starved state chapters.
“Frankly speaking, no, I don’t think that LULAC should be involved in this,” said Elia Mendoza, LULAC’s Texas state director. “We’ve got much bigger things to worry about.”
Herbalife’s donations came as the The New York Times reported in March that William Ackman, the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, had placed a
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Members Go To Washington D.C. To Help Herbalife
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Global nutrition and skin-care firm Herbalife announced six independent Florida affiliate members will take part in a group pilgrimage to Washington D.C. Their mission is to lobby lawmakers and promote the company’s focus on healthy lifestyles over the past 34 years.
Florida participants will be among 21 Herbalife Members from six states, including California, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina and Virginia.
The Floridians will represent more than 54,480 independent Herbalife Members from across the state. According to a statement from Herbalife, it will be the first time they “bring a clear message to Capitol Hill about the opportunity and integrity behind Herbalife’s products.”
“As I look across my community, I see that a healthy active lifestyle is something we all need to do a better job of embracing,” says Andres Mejia, a Herbalife Member from Miami. “Herbalife provides a roadmap to success so that an individual can achieve their fitness goals one step at a time. The goal of Herbalife is to motivate people to be the best they can be and I am proud to be a part of that.”
Mejia and the group will address four issues with lawmakers:
Herbalife is a company built on excellent products. Herbalife has been making nutritional products for nearly 35