double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs vietnamese seafood double-skinned crabs mud crab exporter double-skinned crabs double-skinned crabs crabs crab exporter soft shell crab crab meat crab roe mud crab sea crab vietnamese crabs seafood food vietnamese sea food double-skinned crab double-skinned crab soft-shell crabs meat crabs roe crabs

Breaking News

Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missile during attack on Ukraine, Kyiv says
Business

Herbalife shares soar after news of possible FTC deal

By
Richard Morgan
Published May 6, 2016, 1:00 a.m. ET

Herbalife shares jumped as much as 15 percent in after-hours trading Thursday after the nutrition company reported that a two-year investigation by Washington regulators into claims that it was a pyramid scheme could be settled soon for about $200 million.

The disclosure marked the first time that Herbalife put a price tag on any possible settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

Hedge fund investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square shorted $1 billion’s worth of Herbalife stock in 2012 and accused the Los Angeles-based company of running a pyramid scheme.

Ackman said many times, in countless forums, that the government should shut down the $5.5 billion company. He predicted the shares would go to zero.
The accusations moved the FTC to examine Herbalife’s practices as a multi-level marketer.

Herbalife, which repeatedly denied Ackman’s accusations, said talks with the FTC are now at “an advanced stage” and called $200 million its “best estimate” of what injunctive and other relief would cost the company. There is no guarantee of a settlement, the company said, as there are still “a number of material open issues.”

The prospect of an FTC settlement came on news that Herbalife had also generated its first quarterly sales increase in five quarters.

The after-hours stock spike, to $67.15, marked the highest level it had reached since February 2014. The shares are up 8.7 percent in 2016, closing Thursday at $58.30.

Sales of $1.1 billion in the first quarter were up 1 percent over last year. Adjusted earnings increased 5 percent, to $1.36 per share.