Hindenburg Research has an interesting business model. It does research on businesses that are bloated (for lack of a better word), shorts their stock, then publishes their research. Result? Profit.

The first time I heard of them was after they shorted Gautam Adani. But I really noticed them when they took aim at Jack Dorsey’s payments firm Block, causing shares to plunge. Whee!

But my favorite was the job they did on Carl Icahn. As this piece noted:

The development represents a rare challenge for Icahn who is accustomed, as one of the pioneers of shareholder activism, to dressing down companies over their governance and transparency, but has not had to field such criticism himself.

Icahn has been doing a number on companies for ages. Indeed he recently shook the trees at Apple, no less. Now the tables are turned, and “shares of Carl Icahn’s firm tanked after it halved its company’s dividend and Icahn said he would return to the style of investing he is known for”. (More on that,  here).

You love to see it. So far, Hindenburg has fueled a massive wealth wipeout for 3 of the world’s richest men, as this summarizes.

Here’s to more good research. Here’s to less bloated billionaires.

August 26, 2023: here’s the New York Times has more on how Hindenberg took Carl Icahn down a notch, here.