WeB favors public short shows, Munger's no fan of Icahn... is it an HLF thing?

[dual_bid]

With WeB's new idea ("credentialed bear") coming into the lights on the biggest capitalist show on earth and Munger's publicly showing his attitude towards Carl Icahn on DJCA meeting ("I'm not sure we want everything in America taken over by Carl Icahn. Would that be a great outcome for the country? I don't think so."), one might say the Elders implicitly favor Ackman's side on the HLF west side story?

[BRK IN MKE]

I think you might be reading too much into this situation. In my opinion I don't think Buffett or Munger would be a big fan of the way either party handles themselves. Obviously both Ackman and Icahn are great investors, but I don't think either have the type of personality Buffett and Munger like to associate with.

[ItsAValueTrap]

Perhaps the problem with Icahn taking everything over is because he was a big part of the leveraged buy-out wave in the 80s.  (This is sort of depicted in the 1987 film Wall Street.)  People like Icahn would try to buy out entire companies and liquidate their assets, looking for quick short term profits even if it destroyed value in the long run.  The amount of debt used to buy these companies can also cause problems.

 

I could be wrong though.