>>> ackman versus herbalife. he has another presentation. has he gone too far in the bid to win his big bet? former sec head harvey pitt answers that question. >>> liquid assets, why investing in wine can bring thirst quenching returns? it's doing that for one portfolio management here live. that jar j. we begin with a look at whether parents of the market are starting to look alarmingly similar to the last days of the tech bubble. let's take it then to the panel. pete, are we in a bubble in tech especially? >> when you say it like that i'm going to say absolutely not. are there areas in a bubble, absolutely. look at qualcomm, intel, micron. you're talking about basically companies trading anywhere from single digits and maybe -- as far as pe rz concerned, 13. even vmw, you're getting to the virtual space. you look at the growth. you look at the revenues. 6 billion in cash they've got. you look at that growth and trading at 25 pe it makes sense. so when you really start to breakdown, is technology in a bubble? i'm going to say absolutely not

ackman yet on this? been unable to reach him at this point. >> if he's listening, we would welcome him calling in and letting us know his opinion. >> he's not the only one who is going to have a big opinion on this. >> absolutely. >> i will say this, just for color, not on herbalife but nu skin, because we are seeing action there. i just want to note that it is trading about three times or triple its average daily trading volume. remember it got halted so you might be able to expect that same kind of volume pickup in herbalife shares as well. nu skin trading very, very actively after it was reopened for a volatility trading period. herbalife may experience that same kind of volume trading spike as well. >> the crowd that's down here is one of the biggest crowds i have seen since a very popular ipo. there is a lot of pressure here. there's a lot of discussion down here as to whether they will be able to open up this stock. the book is still open. they are taking orders. >> they will eventually get it open

ackman bet against herbalife in may 2012.an see the drop, as dan loeb and carl icahn came to herbalife's rescue, the stock battle back. the federal government opened an investigation into herbalife and the stock has fallen. the news from carl icahn has sent the stock back up. the war over herbal life goes on. dwayne stanford explained it to "market makers." >> these board members all come from icahn enterprises. two are executives with the company and the other is a director for icahn enterprises. he is beefing up his visions from 2 to 5 on the herbalife board. this comes as bill ackman has been able to get this investigation he has called for, the ftc now looking at the company. the stakes have been raised and we are going to be in for quite a battle. >> you were reporting that after a year of losses on the short bet against herbalife. bill ackman might be near break even, no longer losing money. >> that is right. based on our calculations, he is somewhere near breakeven. a lot of that coming in the last week as the ftc says

ackman.meone he had known who had been a reporter, he had become an analyst look at these things and brothers idea to him and said, look at this company. we think this is not operating above board. we think it is a fraud and not worth what they say it is. and that is sort of how this all got started. host: alexandria, virginia. republican caller. caller: the conversation is actually greater than what your guest is limiting it to, and i am sure he will look to the future to expand. congress passed what is called a retail investor protection act in 2013. as grand as the name sounded, it was actually nothing about that. it was just limiting to address something the sec was going to work on. but there are the practices of the pumpers and the dumpers, so many who take the data and are paid to raise interest in an item up and then they just suck out all the money. then the regulatory problem which began around 2009 when something called expungement was opposed to be implemented for special cases on

and ackman has investors too. not a one-way street where ackman can get out and say whatever he feels like. >> sure. >> you know something, i know i had that thing on your program and i was -- actually, you know i don't like ackman and everybody knows that. i think he, shall we say, took advantage of me in the deal. but that's not the point. and really i have no animosity anymore. anybody that can make -- that i'm profiting well over $300 million right now by just going against him and i never would have gotten involved in it. but i took the time to read that report he talked about. and that report was nonsense. >> i got ya. >> we can keep going over that. i really don't have a personal animosity with ackman. i think he's completely wrong on this. >> will you buy anymore herbalife? will you sell any of your position down? >> how many years we've been doing this, scott? i'm not going to be talking about my immediate plans. i will say this, that i think long-term the stock is very good. short-term, yeah, there could

be aboutrtain can we ackman's financial position?ut about $1 billion on a short position against herbalife to start off with in 2012. hard to believe with so much time has transpired. then he restructured his trade to limit his downside, presumably that cost him something. at what point, if ever, will we be able to know where bill open stance? stands?ere bill ackman >> the picture is more cloudy from when it was a simple short bet, the options make it very difficult. we have done some analysis looking at some of the average prices in the period he was buying the stock. he started buying may 1 of 2012. this was while david einhorn had asked questions on the conference call that sent the stock down. he started buying dan and it was december of that same year that bill ackman decided to act as his own catalyst, as he said, to bring his allegations to light. the company toed about $1 billion. later, as the stock increased, he did add some options. right now is that he is very close to breakeven. >> by the way, erik drinks herbal tea. how

they think it's a pyramid scheme following bill ackman.ple following carl icahn think it's a good company. this is notch in bill ackman's on his whatever, you know what i'm saying. he scored a victory here. we should point out as we were reporting and "new york times" reporting spreading a lot of money around washington. adam: lobbying money to do this. >> pushing people like loretta sanchez, the orange county democratic congresswoman. congressman markey from -- adam: paying alleged victims to write the same letter. >> he has been out there pushing key people to do this to push the sftc to do this. cheryl: charlie, you have dick bove, and do your exclusive interview. >> another crazy stock. cheryl: another crazy one. you're watching markets recovering. we'll be right back with charlie gasparino and dick bove. ack dow. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay noaxes for

what is interesting about dan lowe and bill ackman they told grudges.ction wants to kill herbal life like it is the greatest thing -- he wants to get back at bill ackman because of this loss in 2007-2008. liz: bill ackman shed tears over target when he couldn't essentially change what he wanted to make. >> he shared tears -- liz: can we see the boxing picture again? >> they still hate each other over this. i believe in reporting about the business of wall street. these are people. where he goes and drama and ideas and that is a good idea. do your own homework. liz: perfect advice. charlie gasparino breaking it once again. thank you very much. 40 minutes from the closing bell, the u.s. lambs' russia with sanctions, targets specific sectors as the russian military cements its grip on crimea changing to clocks to russia time. the rising economic tensions turn american companies or help them? what about american companies with a footprint in russia like john green leaf's double freeze? he is coming in live. we will ask about that and is it that time of year

ackman's unprecedented campaign to destroy herbalife has now been exposed for whats.f-serving attempt to manipulate the market by buying his way into an investigation to cover his own reckless $1 billion bet. bob? >> look, the guy's got a $1.1 billion bet against the company. it's not shocking to me that he spent $260,000 to try to get attention for it. they spent $2 million, was the number, their earnings were $577 million. i'm talking about herbalife. that's not a huge amount of anybody's money. there's a lot at stake here. i'm not shocked that these people are spending money. whether they should be allowed to try to influence the discussion, another matter. >> we have to leave it there. as we go to breaking news now with michelle caruso-cabrera. >> looks like puerto rico is finally going to borrow some money, as much as $3 billion, from the commonwealth. it's in the middle of a debt crisis and was being pressured by the ratings agencies to raise a lot of cash in order to deal with short term funding issues and to avoid any liquidity squeezes. right now, looks like

he spent an hour with bill ackman. he never received a direct contribution from ackman but it is interesting that the day that markey won his, remember he replaced, john kerry when he became secretary of state. the at this that he won the election, ackman gave $32,000 to democratic senatorial campaign from which markey received $45,000. indirectly it appears ackman contributed to this guy, right? >> that's right. the democratic senatorial committee in this case acted as a middleman. the other thing to point out of course is ackman hired as consultants, people that used to work for senator markey. and has hired them as either his lobbyists or his communications strategists to work on this particular issue. so you can bet those individuals that ackman has hired are also giving to senator markey and are helping him in his re-election campaign. so you know, he is technically correct. no direct money but there is a lot of transferred money that takes place in d.c. where they can avoid that appearance. but reality the money

bill ackman going to washington, we had john coffee on yesterday about this. liz: columbia university. >> one of the best people in terms of securities law. completely legal. that is the business we were in. you accept that. here is the other thing i will agree with you on. much of what herbal life does unlike much of -- like anything that bernie madoff did, what herbal life does is disclosed. they have distributors, they kick back money to the company. kind of a little bit of -- there is a shade of gray did this to beaters buying the product or do they sell the product, the end users as well but that is well known. there is nothing and known about this company that bill ackman is really giving us other than -- liz: on the long side. carl icahn and george soros, don't order this stuff either. these guys -- >> never drank any of this stuff. liz: just a trade for them. carl icahn is a smart guy, so is george soros, that is why they are billionaires'. this is something, the company has always been up front how they do it, they have assembly lines. >> just to play

ackman and herbalife. and look around, chans you're living next to the next millionaire, or that you are one. greater than ever. is this a tradable trend? that and much more is straight ahead. [ bagpipes play ] make it happen with fidelity active trader pro. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account today. >>> welcome back. herbalife shares continue falling today following word the ftc has opened a formal investigation into the company's business practices. robert chapman owns the stock and says he's looking to buy more. he's the managing member of chapman capital. he joins me on the phone live. bob, welcome back to the show. >> thank you, scott. >> so what's your reaction here that we've come such a long way now and now we have an ftc investigation? >> the investigation needs to be looked at in the framework of what the mandate is at the consumer protection bureau at the ftc. that mandate essentially is protect consumers against un

that direct quote is the crux of what bill ackman is claiming herbalife is.t seems like this should be a pretty doggone black and white ruling by the ftc. >> again, i think, brian, personality has become so dominant here, perhaps too much so, rather than the merits of the issue that i think many people are surprised simply because ackman is such a galvanizing figure and we read in the "new york times" this week that he had really become -- he was lobbying at the grassroots level and spending money to kind of get political support for this effort. i think many people in the hedge fund world at least didn't expect it to actually happen. >> bottom line, herb? >> very important. this is very important. that is, there is equal to that 1979 ruling, though, is a 2004 letter written by the ftc, the direct selling association. this has been thrown up in every critic's face including mine when i was doing research for the cnbc documentary "selling the american dream" and it was thrown up to basically say it's okay to sell to our distributors. that is also going to be c

there's a chance he will are looking into what bill ackman is doing.s made public their efforts to get people to look at bill ackman's activities. in theis becomes a one "new york times" can the regulators ignore it? >> or maybe they are not ignoring it and they just don't see anything there. i know you will blue watching at 2:00 today. -- you will be watching at 2:00 today. -- bill one thing ackman has been very clear about what he believes, but there is a difference between believing in something theoretically and it being a winning trade. they'll ackman's investors need to believe it because if they pull out as this continues, he's going to have nothing left to do. >> as we have discussed so many times -- every activist effort or campaign involves changing the status quo in one way, shape , or form. whether it's the status quo in the board room or in washington. it is a lot harder to get the status quo in washington to change than it is in a boardroom. >> we were sitting here the other day with the founder of janus who said regulatory shorts is not

ackman has gone too far?look, i think just going, seeing -- what ackman has been doing makes you really wonder why he's doing this. it's gotten to a point that i think is almost bordering on the insane. i don't understand where he's going and what is happening here. he's just on some kind of crusade. what i do is say we need corporate governance in the country. i'm on that crusade. but that is a crusade that hopefully you can win. i don't know what he wins here. what does he hope to get? i don't understand. >> he hopes the stock goes to zero and people like you end up losing. >> yeah, but is he going to get it to go to zero? in other words, he hopes it goes to zero but his going out and ranting and raving about it, how is that going to affect it? in other words, you got a business, the business does well. if you read everything about it, it's not a pyramid scheme and he's going to suddenly make it a pyramid scheme, it seems like. i think -- you know what i think. i own a lot of the stock. i never sold a share

the battle of the billionaires between carl icahn and bill ackman and the federal trade commission jumping in. that is a pyramid scheme. we will teach you how to spot them from real businesses and legitimate stocks. you can't miss "countdown to the closing bell" starting right now. liz: i am liz claman. it is the last hour of an ugly day of trading. ukraine tensions, the slowdown in china and money borrowed to buy stocks has reached record highs and you got the bears throwing up the storm. positive economic reports but those reports have been swamped by all the negatives out there. dow jones industrial average on track for its fourth straight day of losses, triple digit loss for the dow, u.s. retail sales for the month, that was the good news. for february the numbers grew 0.3% beating expectations for 0.2% growth. another positive getting swamped, initial jobless claims fell more than expected by 9,000 last week. we are barely above 300,000, good news but really the only winning sector today, utilities which investors typically run into because they have average dividend payouts better th

. >> bill ackman is making herbalife his fight to the end. the company is facing more scrutiny after the ftc launches an investigation into the company's practices. julie hyman has more. how much of a win is this for bill ackman that the government is looking into herbalife? >> this is something he has been fighting for for quite some time. his allegation is that the company is a pyramid scheme. he has been saying in one of his main tenets is that the government is going to shut it down because he contends that it is illegal. he has been doing a lot of lobbying in washington and around the country to try to push regulators to investigate herbalife and ed markey, a congressman, he convinced him he should try and spark this type of investigations and looks like he has been successful on that front. he has been successful at least today in terms of what the stock did. it felt 7.5% and plunged after this news was announced and finished the day down about 7.5%. he has to see the stock fall quite a bit more until he makes a profit on his short bet

bill ackman's latest effort to take it down. he is getting china involved. we'll see who wins today's round. huge announcement from howard schultz. sounds like he is taking on paypal. we heard that on maria's show earlier. wait until you hear what he had to say. the brilliant liz ann sonders on new trends in hiring. governor of georgia is trying to create his own hollywood of the south. even when they say it's not it is always about money. melissa: billionaire hedge fund manager bill ackman locking horns with herbalife. preparing to launch the latest attacks on violations the company allegedly made in china. ackman betting a billion dollars he lands a knockout punch against herbalife. jonas max ferris is in the herbalife corner. fox news contributor. andrew keane is representing the ackman team. the whistle blows] melissa: you know what that means. jonas, what do you think? >> the guy is right, it is basically a multilevel marketing pyramid schemes like a lot of businesses are and selling placebo like elixers and aloe and problem is that is not illegal. cvs,

still, it isn't all bad for bill ackman today. his billion dollar short position, yes, that was a "b," in the multilevel marketer herbalife just got an announcement that it's under investigation by the federal trade commission. this is the news he's been waiting for for almost two long years. he believes that herbalife is a pyramid scheme. >> i was thinking of bill ackman with the fannie and freddie story and herbalife, what do you pay more attention with. you're losing with one and making money with the other. >> fannie and freddie are smaller investments for ackman. they're very volatile. they trade on the over the counter bulletin boards and they have been a popular retail set of stocks. the preferreds are a little more interesting when it comes to the huge money managers. but the herbalife thing is clearly an interesting story. i mean, it's a two-year drama. we broke it on our air in december of 2012, and, of course, we had the billionaire brawl between ackman and carl icahn, the short versus long. it will be an unfolding dram

what is ackman's next move? this is pretty powerful. five seats on the board. >> icahn or ackman? melissa: ackman. how does he respond? >> icahn, start with carl. carl now will be, will push management to be more aggressive to, addressing his concerns, what ackman has raised, that this is a illegal ponzi scheme and raised it enough where he has got, the ftc looking at it. melissa: right. >> possibly state ags looking at it. i think you see much more concerted, tougher defense strategy out of herbalife right now which is basically laying back. listen, they put out statements. melissa: it is hard to mount a defense. when you look at it, they do make money by virtue of setting up new dealers. new dealers are forced to buy product -- >> and customers. melissa: not reusing it. then they don't sell it. >> i never drank a herbalife shake. melissa: no. >> i don't have a here's in this race. this company has been looked at 30 years. melissa: i know people gone inside looked at books feel like it is a ponzi scheme. >> this move makes it harder to think of this as a criminal enterprise becau

and then bill ackman cap kepture on, -- bill ackman pressure on and we have seen politics get involvedou have studied this for 17 years. you co-authored an article with the senior economist at the ftc. what would it take for the ftc to make a decision to conduct an investigation like this? >> they have to have a lot of unanswered questions. >> there were unanswered questions 12 months ago when bill ackman started this per se did -- crusade against herbalife. >> they have had a year to come up with really good data to answer those questions. all of the answers have been very general. >> meaning herbalife? >> yes. >> do you question that they have been showing the retail sales numbers? when they say they have nothing to hide, do you wonder why they do not publish the numbers? like they would argue that they have answered the lightman's questions and it is for the public to decide. -- they would argue that they have answered till ackman's questions. >> looking at ebay, they know the business model. in this case, having talked to a lot of investors over the past year, i would bet there is

the problem for activist investors is what ackman did. i hate to lay it all on bill ackman. the fact when he did, pulled those political stunts, hiring lobbyists -- melissa: that is not illegal either. >> not illegal. when i talk to really sophisticated investors in the market they say that's a turning point. that is where regulators get scared at sec. >> i can prove to you why it is bad to shareholder. if you are a shareholder rather find out carl icahn bought 5% of your company you already owned or warren buffett? because warren buffett is long-term investor who has a plan for the company. these guys are trying to manipulate short-term trade. >> buffett's is not crystal clear. remember what he did with the steel company, lubrizol. remember how he bought the stock when one of his inside guys. melissa: told him about it and -- >> what are you talking about? >> backlash is -- >> that is the one you know. >> interested in long term fundamental growth. >> that is one you know. >> he was activist, all big mag money. hedge fund and -- >> warren buffett came out with a statement -

ackman has not been deceptive. couldn't be more public about what he thinks is wrong with herbalife. >> right. if he is giving campaign contributions that is obviously publicly disclosed. if he hires lobbiest that is is disclosed to a certain extent. >> remember too, this is not a financial bully picking on a financial widow and orphan. herbalife has its own lobbyist and backed by roughly half the financial community. carl icahn with his own billions is on the other side. we have confrontation of immoveable force and unstoppable object. >> is there a bigger story we're kind of glossing over we have so much regulation, we have 50 state attorney generals out there, very activist attorney generals a lot of them. we have a very activist regulatory body in the sec and the obama administration and activist justice department for right now, being on wall street investing that you have to take it as a given that if you want to move a stock, you might have to go into government, you might have to use the sort of powers of g

we have been covering the ackman icahn battle. >> he has been digging in his heels the same way ackmanas gone from two seats to five, and it appears to be that he is in this for the long haul. people are trying to figure out what his end game as. >> there have been rumors for ever that he might take the company private, that he will just dig it out altogether and there you go bill act in. -- bill ackman. do these three seats give any more ammunition or food to those thoughts? >> it is interesting because with the structured buyback they did recently, there was let's talk that he may try to take the company private. adding these seats today, you heard a little bit more talk about that of a wondering whether he will do that. the share price is certainly low. so you would think he would be able to get a pretty good deal of the company. think there is a strong sentiment that that is going to happen. it is more that he has tried to make sure that he has more leverage when it comes to management of the company as they go to the next phase which is all about the ftc investigation. >> i'm here

bill ackman said herbalife is a fraud.he told his dinner companions that a democrat from california sent a let tore the federal trade commission the previous day calling for an investigation of the company. the commission has not yet stamped the letter as received nor had it been made public. but mr. ackman who personally lobbied miss sanchez and stood to profit if the company's stock dropped as a result of the up query knew what it said and read a copy on his cell phone. when miss sanchez's office released a statement, it was backdated to the day before ackman's dinner talk. the amount is dwarfed by the $2 million herbalife spent as the nutrition and weight loss company fought the billionaire's investors claim that is it runs a pyramid scheme, but the question is, is this a case of him doing good for the people he thinks are wronged or is this a case of him lobbying to make sure that his bet pays off. >> it's funny because they've got letters from one, two, three, four, five, six different people, no, five different peopl

what does this mean for bill ackman and his bet against the company?ns us from at lanta. people thought that he would come in and take his money off the table. this sounds like he is in for the long haul. >> people wonder whether he will join with other manufacturers and take the company private. so far, what has happened is that he is digging in more as endan digs in and he will up with five for board seats on a 15 person board. with this investigation going on, we will be at this for a while longer. >> bill ackman famously shorted the stock. he lost a lot of money and retraced his steps. breaking evene to on his wager against herbalife. late is thatews of they are asking questions of our herbalife. any have launched investigation. bill ackman alleges that the company is a pyramid scheme and defrauding customers. or will they give a slap on the wrist or will not happen? with all of that uncertainty, people are unsure. it could last six months to a year. the stock has taken a pounding. breakinging ackman even -- >> one way to test whether icahn is sinc

herbalife has vehemently denied ackman's claims. his latest volley comes months after chinese regulators launched a probe into the operations of productsmaker new skin which operates a similar business model. >>> and the u.s. state of colorado has raked in a lot of green from the legal sales of marijuana. the state cashed in $3.5 million in taxes and fees in january, 2.1 of which came from the sale of recreational and the rest of the tax revenue came from medical marijuana. the status 160 licensed recreational marijuana stores. >>> still to come on the program, as puerto rico prepare toes sell some $3 billion in bonds, will it be enough to rescue the troubled u.s. territories finances? hey, buddy? oh, hey, flo. you want to see something cool? snapshot, from progressive. my insurance company told me not to talk to people like you. you always do what they tell you? no... try it, and see what your good driving can save you. you don't even have to switch. unless you're scared. i'm not scared, it's... you know we can still see you. no, y

neela, what is bill ackman thinking today? what could all of this mean?i did say that on television, stephanie. the reality is, what he and other investors must think is that congress is not going to do anything substantive on gse reform this year or next year or for a long time. the issues are too big to get the reform most of for the gst's will be decided in the courts, not by congress. onhink they will double down their losses. and not on their lobbying. that that the same, nela, long-term, there is no prospect for sensible reform of fannie mae and freddie mac because really sensible reform would require an act of congress, and if it is the course that will decide the future for these two gse's, then congress is not going to get involved, at least not to a degree that would make a difference. >> actually, erik, i would differ a little with you on that opinion. i think -- first of all, long-term, congress does not actually have to have a huge role. it just depends on what type of overhauled you are looking for. there were some steps started by dimarco i

ackman's central thesis, that the ftc should investigate this, and they find we disagree with that -- >> to be done with this trade? >> right now? >> when do you get in? >> i would bet not. if he really believes -- he think it's going to zero. >> big wagers here. >>> are ads on social networks really worth the company? we have the ceo of the company that works with twitter and facebook to measure the impact of those ads. and you may be surprised how effective he says they are. >>> and solar city strikes a deal with best buy. pnc investments works with you to understand yours and helps plan for your retirement. talk to a pnc investments financial advisor today. ♪ anbe a name and not a number?tor scottrade. ron: i'm never alone with scottrade. i can always call or stop by my local office. they're nearby and ready to help. so when i have questions, i can talk to someone who knows exactly how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. that's why i'm with scottrade. announcer: ranked highest in investor satisfaction with self-directed services by j.d. power and associ

do the users of this product says it'sbill ackman a pyramid scheme?now it's a pyramid scheme. it's multilevel marketing. you put all the circles below you and that has been the american dream for a long time. >> they are saying there's nothing wrong with that business model? >> as long as you are upfront about it. he says they are not up front about it but look at what's going on. he had shorted the stock. this is how he makes money, by watching it go down more and more. easy this press conference on the webcast to do that. critics he's not had a lot of success here. >> he is going to make money. and that's what he is going to do. he's going to use every tool in .is existence if the organization does a good job, they should get out and educate their people. >> they are very aggressive about doing that. he has made some progress in terms of outreach into the latino community, for instance, but there is a story earlier this week in "the new york times." he has been lobbying very aggressively to get that outreach. >> from massachusetts, he has wrote a le

you said something interesting about it picked up 1 of your other interviews, ackman has investors too. i started thinking is it possible that karl now is playing a bigger role as the company, the company always thought what he is doing is legal, attacks against him. is it possible you will push herbalife to sue? >> i am not going to discuss that at this time. right now herbalife is a very undervalued company, but long-term looks very undervalued. a real business that makes real product. you don't shut down companies like that, and this is why when i read his report it was ridiculous because the irony is ackman has dismantled, he is saving hispanic people. he is hurting them because a lot of hispanic people, women who can't get jobs are making money, not illegally. charlie: we have to wrap it up, but i want to say this. you do not deny it is a possibility there may be a lawsuit on the way, that is one of your and games. >> let me say this to you. this was always a possibility. this was always under consideration. you know something, i'm hoping with the ftc in there, i am hoping we get

all we know is he's going to be part of this effort to attack what's going on right now from ackman androm the government and possibly the state attorney generals. that's why he's going on the board. so that's what we know right now. liz: i can predict a little bit of what the ftc will do. they will dig up some people who had a bad experience -- >> yeah. liz: -- selling herbalife shakes. oh, they had me -- >> they already found 'em. liz: the world is littered with disgrunt disgruntled employees. >> i'm with you on this. what's scary about the story is you go and you hire lobbyists, you go and try to influence a senator like mr. markey from massachusetts or the congresswoman from l.a., and then you, you know, you hire lobbyists, you get campaign be contributions, guess what happens? now we have to switch -- liz: if you or i started complaining about a company, we were just regular retail -- >> no one would care. liz: exactly. >> i think i have to talk about dan loeb. i wanted to sing to dan because dan and i i, i think we have some stuff in common. we both have very bad tempers. the only

ackman betting a billion dollars he lands a knockout punch against herbalife

putting a little bit more pressure on bill ackman.lion toting $1 build the world's largest global for theoud to be used internet of everything. apple and contrast -- apple and comcast are in talks for a tv service to rival netflix. set-top use an apple box and get special treatment on comcast cable, according to "the wall street journal." it would allow you to stream live from video stored on the cloud. we are back with jed kleckner. we were talking in the break. the senate will be looking as early as today at minimum rage, talking about raising it to $10.10 per hour. there are lots of questions as to whether that would do anything to reverse or help close the income inequality gap that has become so significant and severe in our country. what do you think? >> we have over 10,000 merchants on our platforms, small businesses. small businesses are the driver of the economy. we want people to be paid well, and one way we help in that for is thatn that forum there is an opportunity to tip the person delivering to the door, and we encourag

we know carl icahn and bill ackman did -- do not like each other. beyond just at this point. quest george soros also. quest there are a lot of big names. it has not gone particularly well for bill ackman. so far. >> not. today may be a turning point. quest spends a lot of money lobbying in washington. the ftc opening up inquiry into this. what might they find? what is he hoping they find? >> i do not know anything about the company more than i read. phil akerman's you is this is a pyramid scheme and should be put out of business. that its stock should trade 20. he has that it will go that way. he has been pushing for the last 16 months to see if he can make it happen. it has not worked yet. the stock has gone in exactly the opposite direction than what he hoped it would go. he has lost hundreds of millions of dollars. he hedged out some of the rest of his position. who betrman is the guy against an bia for seven years and everybody told me was crazy and he was right and he stuck with it. >> at what point do you as an investor throw in the towel and

ackman says he has never given direct donations to marquee. a lot of interesting stories. >> you got some hot stuff tonight. first of all, i don't know what senator marquee is doing getting involved in herbal life. that's point number one, whether ackman gave him money or not p number two is this, eating the evidence? >> even then they got caught. >> you trumped me. if he's eating the evidence, how did they catch him? >> the truth always comes out. i believe the middle man recorded conversations between the two men and that's how this all came out. >> did they make any money? i mean, they did initially. >> you quoted $5.5 million. >> right. >> all right. there you go. insider trading. thank you very much. as always we appreciate it. >>> the latest round of bad news on obamacare includes rising premium costs and more evidence of very poor choices for cancer patients of all people, cancer patients. we're going to convene our panel of obamacare experts next up on the "kudlow report." co: i've always found you don't know you need a hotel room unti

apparently according to ackman the sec looked into that. melissa: we have to go.o much. charlie we'll see you back here in a little bit or maybe you should just stay. >> okay. melissa: huge score for college athletes on the union front. one expert says they are selling themselves short and career earnings short. why this move could actually hurt players and their paychecks. >>> simple aquarium pumps are being used to save premature babies. wait until you hear about this one. medical dollars with dr. manny. more "money" coming up. she loves a lot of the same things you do. it's what you love about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approvedo treat ed and symptoms obph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cia

look what ackman didn't do the first time out. he shorted the stock. it went down -- in herbalife. went down to 26 and rebounded back. his second trade was the good trade. the one where he bought puts. defined his risk with that trade. that's the same thing carl did when he went in in the first place. i think people would learn if you invest with an option and you know how they work, it's a much safer way to invest than owning the stock, or shorting the stock. >> stock pick that you guys make is going to be a home run. >> never expect it to. >> you guys are always the first to own up to a call that maybe doesn't go your way. >> i would still put my money on these guys. >> i would, too. >> i'm a critical observer. >> very critical. >> all three of the guys pop not just the two guys out hair. >> that's just wrong. >> serious though. i got a lot of tweets about plug. i'm glad we addressed it. >> i had a bunch of guys flagging me, too. you're awful for bringing this up. there was opportunity there still and you still would lose money but not nearly the kind of money on this move if you

next thing ackman, trying to destroy herbalife. sure he's going to say people going on new skin's board from icahn -- >> herbalife's board. >> herbalife's board. because nu skin didn't get kicked out, i think ackman would sacrifice everything to destroy herbalife, including intimidating people from doing anything with herbalife. icahn was willing to press this, given the fact that ackman is just trying to get this company to be bankrupt. take it to zero. his hatred of herbalife and the ability to do it and people love what -- i see more people loving his decision to end herbalife. i find it amaze, it's a hedge fund decision to end a company's life. you know? i think that's what he want to do, whether right or wrong. >> sure. what strikes me, we had one-year anniversary of the showdown on wapner's show. how long can this go on? >> until ackman takes the stock to zero. he's got people protesting. he got the government authority to look at it. >> sure. >> ackman won't stop until it goes to zero. the people of herbalife, the board, it'

so far, ackman has declined to comment about the ftc investigation. he and carl icahn have gone head to head over herbalife when ackman first made his claims, the stock soared. a lot has been going on since then. it was kind of -- we had carl icahn on last week when we were in the city. but it hasn't gone away. i would think that it's just weird. we saw how many different avenues that ackman had taken to get the word out with -- >> even going to china. >> you know, and now here we are. >> although you can imagine that that probably put additional pressure on the agencies to look into this. it doesn't mean necessarily they'll find anything, but the idea is that some of the allegations that have been raised -- >> they say we know exactly what you're trying to do, but you got eight points out of it yesterday. >> it is a big day of economic data. we have a lot on tap to get started at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. jobless claims are out today. they're expectinged to come in at 330,000. retail sales for february are expected to rise by 0.2%. we have import price

i want to talk about ackman's behavior. this is a continued effort by someone who doesn't just want to be a noisemaker and a disrupter, i have no challenge with challenging the management. but to bet against the company and then to work hard to point out its laws, it's troubling for me and it's troubling on a lot of levels. we had these issues with jcpenney. interestingly enough, the business is doing better since he's been gone. whether herbalife has a good business or not, that is up to people to decide. if they want to make the >>> really troubling for me. >> i go back and forth on this. i can't decide what i think about it. i'll take the other side just for the sake of argument on it. >> yes. >> he'll say, look, there are people being affected. the reason he's had some groups that have helped him out he says they have targeted hispanic groups and some of the people who have taken stuff on and bought some of this -- the product can't then unload it. i don't know enough about it. >> look, becky, i don't mind anybody in th

you know bill ackman.here. ♪ quakes that is going to do it. -- >> that is going to do it. tomorrow, simmons is going to rock the house. a new book. thought dan love was the only guy who cared about transcendental meditation. guess again. this hip-hop king understands the power of quiet. thinking, this woman knows nothing about quiet. >> it is time for on the markets. >> hello. it is time for the options. the vix is climbing after china reported downbeat economic data. exports by 18%. a look at how the options markets are trading. we are joined by a strategist with mk partners. what are you seeing in terms of vix and auctions? >> there is one curiosity we have noticed recently. that is elevation above the 14 levels. over the last 15 months, we have had eight volatility events stop on the -- volatility events, where the vix got down to 12. we would have expected something similar here. have seen spot picks up above that 14 level. no great explanation, other than the obvious geopolitical wisdom related to the

. >> we have breaking news on bill ackman. wapner at hq. >> bill ackman's boosting his stakes in both fannie and freddie. and the comment stock, i've learned, i've had a conversation with him, you know that there's this johnson and crapo plan on capitol hill that would wind down fannie and freddie. the likelihood of that happening is decreasing, at least in his hind. that's why he's increased stakes in fannie and freddie from a cop bijed 9.8% to more than 11% of each of these businesses, which is quite interesting, just given what's going on down on capitol hill. that conversation has heated up in weeks about future of both fannie and freddie. again, senators johnson and crapo want to wind down the entities. bill ackman had been in the names, as well as other hedge fund managers. increasing his bet that the likelihood of that happening has decreased, just a bit. we'll keel an eye on fannie and freddie today. >> what's interesting about this decision by ackman is, it's the comment. bruce ber cowits, they have taken significant

what he wants is a much more scorched earth attack against ackman. there is sort of a guilt among them that said we will not dignify his speeches and presentations with a direct response other than a three word paragraph. i don't know what else you do, but he wants a much more robust, vigorous response. the other thing is a buyback. there was a lot of speculation he might buy more shares. he would increased his stake. he has the option to buy more. what he really wants is them to buyback more shares. to help him, to basically put more pressure on ackman's short position. adam: the other side of the complaint is new skin. both of the stocks were impacted. charlie: when you read a headline herbalife is being investigated or looked at in china,-- cheryl: this is the sec. this was the ftc came out and announced it. charlie: think about the new skin. all of these various investigations weighing on these stocks. investigations way to dramatically on the stock and on herbalife, but what you see today is this chinese investigation, we don't know what they do

this is what ackman has been pushing for all along. when we see this investigation begin here it makes us look closer at comments of his announcement they may be breaking laws in china. china is their fastest-growing market. u.s. is their biggest market. we don't want to see them being investigated in this either market. melissa: herbalife coming out saying bring it. we are ready for this. we welcome the investigation i think was their official quote. they are basically saying they knew it was coming all along. i'm sure they did. they have got david boies. they're ready to go. >> right, that's a big point here they probably knew this was coming. the statement they released i think that is probably what we expected them to say. i don't think we would hear anything else from them. the other big point, herbalife spend a lot of money lob anything washington ever since ackman broke the announcement that he thinks everybody had a life is -- herbalife is pyramid scheme he spent $275,000 in washington trying to get this investigation started.

it was referred to them by bill ackman regarding herbalife.rs wrote to the sec in the summer saying that an employee of the soros fund had tipped off a bunch of his buddies about the fact they were about to file a big or disclose a big stake in herbalife. so there's one investigation into this kind of general area but there has never been any cause brought by the sec that would include these kind -- david: i have to break in for a moment. we're talking about activist investors and big-time investors. steve cohen is one of them. he is still embroiled in all these lawsuits, sac capital founder. he bought a big stake, 5.3% stake, in zynga. and zynga is trading as you can see, a little bit after-hours. this is according to reuters now. we haven't confirmed it independently but a 5.3% stake is not small matter. so we'll be watching what happens with that stock. back to susan now, actually 5% is an interesting number because the sec sort of uses that as the benchmark. if you go above 5%, you have to fulfill all kind of disclosure requirements that y

. >> from what i -- >> is ackman right? >> that's anybody's guess.g is going to play out for a long time. as long as a year, from some of the source i'm talking to. there's going to be depositions of the ceo and other sources. the last time they had an inquiry was years ago against google. and that came back with them having done nothing wrong. who knows what's going to happen this time. it's too soon to tell. yesterday's decision by the ftc, was it a victory of some sorts for ackman? undeniably. does it play out that way? too soon to tell. don't you think? >> i think there's a really good chance he's been right all along. and karl was right in, in terms of the trade. maybe he's overplayed his hand. but the whole thing is fascinating. >> yeah. >>> well, amazon, hiking the price of its prime service by $20 per year. will that increase scare commerce away? or will it mean big money for amazon's bottom line? with us is gene muenster, from piper jaffrey. what's this ultimately going to mean here? this wasn't a secret that amazon was thinking about doing

>>> has bill ackman gone too far this time?sten up. we have a portfolio manager who trades in the liquid asset who says now is the time to get in. it's all straight ahead on the half. carl, maybe we'll drink wine as well. i hope so. i told the producers, i hope so. >> thanks, scott. see you soon. >>> it's an exciting time of year for college basketball. fans across the country just a week away from the start of march madness. and on sunday we will learn which teams will qualify for the ncaa tournament. joining us this morning is rick pitino, the the coach of the defending champion louisville cardinals, men's basketball team. joins us this morning from louisville. coach, it's great to have you back. good morning. >> thanks for having me. >> are you ready to defend your tight until. >> we are. we got a great group of guys to coach. we're excited about it. >> it's always -- you're talking to a business channel. it's a great time for us because a lot of our audience just devours sports but it's also a huge time of the year for soci

if it does, maybe in the lame duck session. >> ackman hopes it doesn't.g his bet. >> that's why i like what they're doing. odds are going more and more in favor of the reform not happening this year. >> final trades now. stephanie, start us off. >> i like cigna. it's down 8% on the year versus the group up 10%. i like the pbm business. >> cigna with a nice day today. pete? >> love the energy space. continue to think just about every part of the segment of that space will go to the upside. conoco phillips has already been right for the last couple weeks. they are looking for even more. i am as well. >> josh? >> swap out of your u.s. small caps. they are way too expensive. buy the dfe, european small caps. they will keep dropping. >> there's that on the day. joe, your final trade? >> i like rkus, wireless. been kind of beat up. if we keep showing the leader board, my hair is much darker than the reality of 2014. >> have a good day, the final trading day of this quarter. dow is up. "power lunch" picks it up right now. "halftime" is over. "power lunch" and th