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Billionaire Bitch Fight: Ackman Slams Munger, Buffett For Profiting Off Fat Americans

Tyler Durden's picture




 

One week ago, an unexpected critic of Valeant (and by implication Bill Ackman's investment acumen) emerged when none other than Buffett's partner Charlie Munger slammed the battered pharma calling its practice of acquiring rights to treatments and boosting prices legal but “deeply immoral” and “similar to the worst abuses in for-profit education." In his role as chairman of Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, Munger said, "I could see the price gouging.” And speaking as a storied value investor, he said, its strategy isn’t sustainable: "It’s deeply wrong."

Ackman, inbetween his now weekly public conference call defense of VRX stock (which is again selling off) took offense, and during an event that was supposed to commemorate Warren Buffett’s 50 years leading Berkshire Hathaway and the billionaire’s "exceptional management and savvy acquisitions" at the Museum of American Finance, Ackman - who was among the invited - decided to divert attention back to himself and retaliated to Munger's dig at Valeant with his own attack at the ethics, or lack thereof, of Berkshire Hathaway and its vice chairman Munger, when he told Munger, 91, "he had no business calling the drug company immoral, especially given the profits that Berkshire made from investing in soft-drink maker Coca-Cola Co."

"I have a problem with Berkshire’s ownership of Coke,” Ackman told an audience of about 200 people. “Coca-Cola has probably done more to create obesity, diabetes on a global basis than any other company in the world.”

This time, Ackman was actually spot on.

Quoted by Bloomberg, Ackman continued: "I’m never one for avoiding controversy. What is Coca Cola’s business model? Coca-Cola’s business model is to displace the water that children and adults consume with sugar water."

Ackman said the company’s profits are built on savvy branding at the expense of its customers: "You have some of the best marketing in the world and a lot of happy skinny people drinking it in the advertising," Ackman said. “Unlike the tobacco companies, there’s no disclaimer on the Coke saying ‘replacing the water in your diet with Coca-Cola can cause harm.’ So when Charlie was saying Valeant is a deeply immoral company I would argue that.

To be expected, a spokesman for Coca-Cola promptly responded that Ackman went too far in his critique of the company. "These comments are irresponsible and do not recognize the current breadth of our business,” he wrote. That, or perhaps he just focused on the one product that generates the bulk of Coke's revenues while the rest are merely adjunct revenue streams designed precisely as an ethical smokescreen to provide soundbites such as this one.

Buffett is known for his investments in sugary treats. Berkshire owns See’s Candies and Dairy Queen, and has a large stake in Kraft Heinz Co. The billionaire said in May that he doesn’t see many people smiling at Whole Foods Market Inc., the grocery chain known for its offerings such as almond butter and organic frozen blue curled kale.

This is not the first time folksy uncle Warren has been criticized: Dan Loeb said in May that the billionaire is full of inconsistencies.

“He criticizes hedge funds yet he really had the first hedge fund,” Loeb said at a conference that month. “He criticizes activists. He was the first activist. He criticizes financial service companies, yet he likes to invest in them. He thinks that we should all pay more taxes but he loves avoiding them.”

And yet this circle jerk of ethical idiocy would not be complete if one did not point out that Ackman’s Pershing Square it itself invested in Mondelez, the maker of Oreo cookies. Furthermore, both Pershing and Berkshire have taken stakes in Restaurant Brands International owner of Burger King and the Tim Hortons doughnut chain.

Perhaps the most notable about the above bitch fight is just how suddenly sensitive and frayed the nerves of certain infallible, until recently, hedge fund managers have become when they resort to the most childish of defense and offense when called out in public, for something which is patently hypocritical.

None of this would have happened if the Magic Money Tree was still in bloom, and if the stock market had been up a solid 15% in 2015 instead of leading to the worst year for the hedge fund community since 2011, which has now been been underperforming the market since 2007, and where questions about the business model of an industry that does not need to exist when central banks themselves remove all risk of downside (and thus the need to hedge), have finally emerged.

 

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Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:23 | 6778296 Mercury
Mercury's picture

FU Ackman, I have a problem with whiners.

 

But Munger is full of shit too. That someone can acquire the rights to a generic drug and run up the price is primarily the fault of the system not the actor.

 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:24 | 6778325 AlaricBalth
AlaricBalth's picture

Ackman said what??? Didn't he owm Wendy's a few years ago. Slime burgers and mega sodas. 

"In 2005, Pershing bought a significant share in the fast food chain Wendy's International and successfully pressured it to sell its Tim Hortons doughnut chain. Wendy's spun off Tim Hortons through an IPO in 2006 and raised $670 million for Wendy's investors."

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:25 | 6778327 highandwired
highandwired's picture

Roaches turning on each other...LMFAO

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:32 | 6778353 Herd Redirectio...
Herd Redirection Committee's picture

Rats flee sinking ships.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:48 | 6778431 Silky Johnson
Silky Johnson's picture

If y'all will excuse me I have to go take my after-lunch munger.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:59 | 6778498 localsavage
localsavage's picture

The quicker people realize that these guys are just a bunch of sociopaths, the better.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:26 | 6778639 Herd Redirectio...
Herd Redirection Committee's picture

And that sociopathy has NO CURE, and it has a genetic component (allegedly passed down from the mother's side, hence the importance of tracking matrinlineal descent).  There is no way in hell we should be letting these people breed!

Trophy wives to be, you have been warned...

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:58 | 6778793 bania
bania's picture

Munger invested in Coca Cola for the free eyewear.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 18:32 | 6779193 Killdo
Killdo's picture

they can't help it - it's up to normal poeple to spot them and not be screwed over. Here is a great book about how to do that: 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sociopath-Next-Door-Martha-Stout/dp/0767915828/ref...

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:50 | 6778445 booboo
booboo's picture

not before they chew the toes off of the infants in the crib, it's what rats do.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:41 | 6778400 nickels
nickels's picture

Anybody smell ozone? Hearing that scratchy record sound? When these guys start sniping at each other they're breaking the covenant. Drawbridges up.

 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:27 | 6778337 SILVERGEDDON
SILVERGEDDON's picture

Fuck you, Ackman - talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:31 | 6778351 AlaricBalth
AlaricBalth's picture

And Burger King!!!! AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH.....

2014 - Pershing Square Capital Management LP’s 10.9 percent stake in Burger King increased in value today by $203 million to about $1.24 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Ackman helped Burger King go public in 2012 after it merged with Justice Holdings Ltd., a special-purpose acquisition company co-founded by the hedge-fund manager. The stock has more than doubled since September 2012 when Ackman disclosed Pershing Square’s stake.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 18:28 | 6779175 beemasters
beemasters's picture

You mean..."Fuck you, Ackman - talk about the pot calling the black kettle calling the pot black?"

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:20 | 6778307 I woke up
I woke up's picture

Go watch the movie Fed Up

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:43 | 6778410 cheech_wizard
cheech_wizard's picture

Another movie about advertising and the world of sugary bottled substances is "Syrup".

Standard Disclaimer: I liked it, even though the critics spake otherwise. 

 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:25 | 6778313 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Ackman's losing it.  Can't make money for his clients any more so he plays the holier-than-thou card.  It won't work.  Nobody's giving Ackman their money just so he can go out and protelytize about the evils of capitalist companies.  They are giving him their money to make deals based on "material non-public information" and gain an edge that generates excess returns for his investors.  The minute he stops serving that purpose, it's over.

That minute is roughly now.  Stick a fork in him.  

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:26 | 6778332 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 I agree. Ackman got destroyed by Icahn twice.

 All he had to do was Wiki TWA, and he would have known Icahns' Modus operandi.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:41 | 6778401 oddjob
oddjob's picture

Ackman will still be enjoying the good life long after those 3 walking corpses have expired.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:55 | 6778470 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

  As long as his wife or significant other makes him eat "prime rib" with a spork.

 Guys like Ackman are "ALL or NOTHING". They can't understand evolution, and embrace knowledge.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:07 | 6778540 oddjob
oddjob's picture

I think Buffett receiving Cartel drug money to prop up Wells Fargo would be considered "All Or Nothing". Worst thing Ackman probably does is waste silk socks.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:24 | 6778324 Johnny Horscaulk
Johnny Horscaulk's picture

I respect ackman for his support of hrw and the innocence project, but this sort of thing is just absurd.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:32 | 6778326 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

Ackmans' picking fights with all the oligarchs. They must not have let hm in the club, now he has to join Bill Gross on the outside looking in. Look for Ackman to be working as a wholesaler for some obscure fund family soon. If he's a good boy I might even let him in the office to buy us lunch.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:40 | 6778372 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

 

 

Dear Mr. Ackman,

We regret to inform you that by thine own had has your membership in The Club been revoked.  Please remit you membership card and any club property that may be in your posession to the business office no later than tomorrow.  

We take the demeanor and actions of our members both inside and outside of The Club very seriously as it reflects on all of us and could result in greivous harm should it be discovered what we actually do here and how we do it.  Your personal behavor and public statements of late are no longer befitting a member of The Club.  You have drawn attention to areas of Club business that are in direct conflict with the interestes of other Club members, creating disunity and disharmony.  Such behavior will never be tolerated.  

If you persist in your current line of discourse and action, further steps will be taken as deemed needed necessary by The Mangagement of The Club, at their sole discretion.

Thank you,

The Management

 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:41 | 6778397 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

P.S. We don't recommend any home improvements in the near future as nail guns can be detrimental to one's health.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:42 | 6778404 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Yeah, don't buy any green bananas either.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:02 | 6778520 kiwigal
kiwigal's picture

Green to yellow bananas are probiotic and good for your digestion, not as good for you when bright yellow.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:26 | 6778328 Jorgen
Jorgen's picture

"He criticizes hedge funds yet he really had the first hedge fund,” Loeb said at a conference that month. “He criticizes activists. He was the first activist. He criticizes financial service companies, yet he likes to invest in them. He thinks that we should all pay more taxes but he loves avoiding them."

'Do as I say not as I do' seems to be Buffet's motto. In the other (related) news, the Welsh town of Crickhowell may have set up an example to follow for other municipalities in the U.K. and maybe also in the U.S. and Canada.

 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:34 | 6778361 Herd Redirectio...
Herd Redirection Committee's picture

Yep, thats the 'elite' for you.  Once they make it, their job is to make sure no one can follow the same path to 'success' they did.  Barriers to entry.  Thats where true partnership with government comes in.

"We're bigger than US Steel!" "we have now what we have always needed, real partnership with the government"

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 17:58 | 6779074 DetectiveStern
DetectiveStern's picture

Good luck to them but HMRC are very good at bullying the general public. Motherfuckers hounded me for an £80 underpayment for a year. I doubt the £80 would even cover the cost of them getting the £80. Idiots.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:29 | 6778341 Tim Knight from...
Tim Knight from Slope of Hope's picture

Charlie Munger doesn't look quite human in that picture. I mean, he's not Jack Ma weird-looking, but........something's off.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:29 | 6778342 cordial savage
cordial savage's picture

He's old.  That's what happens.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:33 | 6778357 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

  Jack Ma, is one of the shape shifters that lives in his real skin.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:30 | 6778346 poland spring
poland spring's picture

I'm still surprised Herbalife is still around....I mean really do you know of anybody that buys/uses Herbalife's products?

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:44 | 6778412 Tom Servo
Tom Servo's picture

Mexicans love that shit...

 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:32 | 6778354 cordial savage
cordial savage's picture

If Ackman is complaining about obesity and the fact that people should lose weight, people are about to get a lot fatter.  What he says normally causes the opposite to happen.

Shooting Ackman into the stratosphere would shed about 170lbs from the planet, so that's a start.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:32 | 6778355 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

It doesn't matter what piece of shit gets paid. Coke or Pepsi. The stupid cunts think the 80's are alive and well in 2015. As they back down advertising, the price increases. More cable subsidizing subscribers will pull the plug. 

Just bought two new Vizo TV's for Marco Island, Fl. Placed a password on the direct TV access, Comcast. These fucker's know the end is near. The TV will only allow their personal account to access downloaded movies. ;).

Negativland - A Most Successful Formula - YouTube

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:34 | 6778360 chrsn
chrsn's picture

Hedge fund managers never look so foolish as when they play the moralist.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:35 | 6778364 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

Well at least Ackman is going down swinging. He is going DOWN for the count though. 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:36 | 6778367 Johnny Horscaulk
Johnny Horscaulk's picture

if Big Gulps are outlawed, only outlaws...

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:40 | 6778388 TheBeatles
Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:42 | 6778402 Duc888
Duc888's picture

 

 

 

Is anyone forcing anyone else to drink  Coca Cola?

 

I didn't think so.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:45 | 6778405 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Goodnight Ammesty GOP twats. Especially, John Richard Kasich

You're a disgrace to Ohio.  

I have the photos from Batavia, OH. You spoke! Do you remember?   

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:35 | 6778684 resaci
resaci's picture

Kasich is an asshole. A fucking banker tool. He was disgusting last night.  

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:43 | 6778407 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 Maybe Ackman should share a nice "candle lit" dinner with 'Phil falcone'?

 They can postulate outflows, and how their outsourced legal teams evaporated, after deciding the check/compensation, wasn't worth the" damage control".

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:50 | 6778446 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Don't forget Tim Cook helping his iPhone users to the medical table. Apple trauma has gone full circle.  

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:11 | 6778564 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

Another shining example of AmeriCON financial ingenuity.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:46 | 6778747 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Derivatives bets gone tit's up. Time to bring out a baseball bat looking for kneecaps. 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:51 | 6778447 Itchy and Scratchy
Itchy and Scratchy's picture

I love to watch paracite feeding frenzies! 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:52 | 6778453 Keynesians say ...
Keynesians say the darndest things's picture

I read that as "Slaps Munger, Buffet"

 

Would have been better

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 15:59 | 6778491 cigarEngineer
cigarEngineer's picture

Sugar and fat are not what makes people fat. Food abuse is what makes people fat.

I can tell you right now that a coke and a greasy double-cheeseburger is healthy for a starving african kid who hasn't eaten in 2 days.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:17 | 6778591 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

Agreed! It's all the other preservatives, emulsifiers and goodness knows what other shit they're putting in the food chain.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 17:21 | 6778912 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

'Please sir, may I have another cheeseburger and Coke' - with my bowl of gruel of course...?

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 18:34 | 6779198 beemasters
beemasters's picture

Then, I agree those should probably be given on prescription basis only to that "starving african kid who hasn't eaten in 2 days" not over the counter at every street corner of the world.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 19:12 | 6779328 wizteknet
wizteknet's picture

Also obesity is caused by the couch potatoe non exercising person.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:00 | 6778503 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Two nothing better to do cunts.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:02 | 6778517 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

 

 

"What is Coca Cola’s business model? Coca-Cola’s business model is to displace the water that children and adults consume with sugar water."

 

Are these guys born with the Hollywood gene or something...?   They seem to be able to really get their sensationalism on when there's a hint of an audience for a 'social' cause...   Fucking Shylock slimebags.

 

 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:11 | 6778568 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Incorrect, the original formulation was Coke. Look it up. Pepsi just alters different surgar bases on WTO compliance. Again, look it up for yourself. 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:03 | 6778522 Demdere
Demdere's picture

Another standard dynamic as systems collapse is the infighting at every level of the heirarchy as people compete to keep their positions. That gets much worse as the end approaches, of course, I think it accounts for much of the partisanship in DC these days.

https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/pan-galactic-buggery-game/

https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/us-federal-government-is-f...

Were we at all rational, we would end this government and assume responsibility for food and shelter and medical care for everyone at minimal levels while we sort everything out and begin again.  But that would mean large losses of pensions for gov employees.

Nevertheless, the point is, we can't replace this failing pos until we agree how to share the losses and gains.  Thus, pitchforks and burning brands is the usual solution, as the kind of people who end up running a system like this aren't compromisers.

Have you noticed the Israeli-Neocons double-down with loss? 9/11 was their false flag operation.  That was not the move of rational human beings, how could it be covered up long enough not to affect their fortunes?  It is affecting their fortunes, their wars are going well and people are starting to associate that with Israeli-Neocon policies.

Dangerous people, desperation time approaches for them and their bankster allies and all of our deep state.

Anyone who thinks they can predict anything about "the future" is disconnected from any reality I think I see, however dimly.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:08 | 6778548 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

We need to get back to the good old days of Landowner/Serf when Folks knew their Place.

We can't just stand buy and watch the Elite Disintegrate!

Triple Sec, er Sarc

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 20:05 | 6779521 Pure Evil
Pure Evil's picture

It's a big club and you're still not in it!

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:15 | 6778586 One And Only
One And Only's picture

Black lives matter

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:29 | 6778657 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

Comical.

Pretty boy Ackman should have taken it a step further with CoCola's ties to MonSatan.

Prolly has too big a stake.

Theater of lies.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:42 | 6778722 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

Was Ackman getting a pedicure when he said this. Fuck him, Fuck Buffet, Fuck Munger.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:43 | 6778727 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

Well at least Warren doesn't have trains crashing all over the US loaded with crude..............er.......wait

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 16:50 | 6778759 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Hahahahaha. His trains are covered under Geico insurance policy. 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 17:01 | 6778805 K_BX
K_BX's picture

As if someone forced you to drink Coke.

DRINK THIS COKE OR I SHOOT.

GOOD! ANOTHER ONE!

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 17:11 | 6778863 theeseer
theeseer's picture

Ackman making a comparison between a soft drink company that has a wide range of food products and does not put a gun to your head to consume their products and a disgusting, vulture, dispicable, foul, stinking low life company, that develeops nothing and preys on the sick by buying drug companies and then raising the prices on life and death drugs exposes Ackman to be the excrement that comes back in the toilet after an atempted flush. One can only hope that he and Valeant will get a final flush together.

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 18:01 | 6779081 Spungo
Spungo's picture

Yeah, how dare warren invest in real companies that actually make things and produce cash flow. 

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 18:41 | 6779215 wisefool
wisefool's picture

The BBC documentary on buffet is awesome. Including on how as child, started a ponzi scheme with lost golf balls. Admits that the "buffet rule of taxation is to catch guys like me, not the thousands of rich people who actually pay their fair share in taxes."

Paraphrase "I spent an entire lifetime cheating to get ahead, made other people suffer/pay for my indulgences, but now in my 80s, personal generations of personal wealth secured, I will use my vast power and influence to make sure new people can't get away with the things I have done."

Sounds alot like Trump and Hillary. These people are very brazen on foriegn media. The documentary includes buffet saying lots of things he would never say to an american audience on CNBS, or to his folksy hometown neighbors at the local Dairy Queen licking an ice cream cone ....

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 18:58 | 6779265 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

#cronylivesdontmatter

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 19:17 | 6779342 U4 eee aaa
U4 eee aaa's picture

I sure am glad Buffett hates Whole foods. I can imagine what organic food would cost if he liked them

Thu, 11/12/2015 - 00:31 | 6780647 ken
ken's picture

Word! Speak it! "

Billionaire Bitch Fight: Ackman Slams Munger, Buffett For Profiting Off Fat Americans
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