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Activist short-seller Nathan Anderson, known for his campaigns against Adani Group, Super Micro and Nikola, seven years after founding Hindenburg Research , he will close the company.
“This program concludes after we complete a series of ideas we were working on,” Anderson wrote in a statement, describing the work as “quite intense and at times all-encompassing.”
Anderson has become one of Wall Street’s most prominent activist short sellers, known for meticulous reporting and relentless pursuit of companies he claims are fraudulent.
His rise comes at a time when many of his peers are losing momentum as a decade-long bull market and the growth of passive investment funds make it difficult for them to buck the trend.
Prominent short-seller Jim Chanos told investors he will close his short fund in November 2023 after more than three decades in the industry amid a costly lawsuit against Herbalife. Bill Ackman, famous for his actions, abandoned the approach altogether.
Aggressive short selling is a notoriously difficult business that is typically shunned by large Wall Street institutions. Smaller players tend to use balance sheet arrangements with partner hedge funds and receive fee waivers, but they are the public face of events.
Hindenburg made several deals with a small New York firm called Kingdon Capital.
There may also be legal issues with this approach. Last year, U.S. regulators charged Citron Research founder Andrew Left with market manipulation fraud. He has pleaded not guilty and a trial is scheduled for September.
Despite all the challenges, supporters believe short sellers are necessary to balance the market’s excitement.
Hindenburg was prolific, often targeting several large companies at once, an intensity that seemed too much for Anderson to bear. “This comes at the cost of missing out on so many other places around the world and people I care about,” he wrote in a letter published Wednesday. “It wasn’t always obvious to me, but I see it all as a love story now.”
Hindenburg’s last report, released at the beginning of this year, focused on online auto retailer Carvana.
Anderson rose to prominence with a report on electric truck company Nikola, then a darling of the corporate craze for going public through shell companies known as special purpose acquisition companies.
The report included the now-infamous video of a truck rolling down a hill, which led to founder Trevor Milton being convicted and the company paying a $125 million fine.
The case attracted widespread media attention and gave Anderson a legion of followers who eagerly awaited Hindenburg’s report and speculated on his next potential target.
Hindenburg’s research led to fraud charges and indictments against dozens of people, but also expensive legal battles, according to its website. The company has only 11 employees.
Hindenburg also relied on unconventional research methods.
In 2022, as the company investigated an alleged Ponzi scheme, it outfitted a private jet with equipment to secretly record sales pitches made by company representatives to Hindenburg employees.
Anderson began investigating corporate misconduct by targeting hedge funds. In 2014, he filed his first whistleblower report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Hindenburg’s website.
Andreessen has taken on some of Wall Street’s most prominent investors, including fellow activist Carl Icahn. A Hindenburg report on Icahn Enterprises in 2023 caused the company’s stock price to drop 20% and forced the billionaire to restructure his personal loans.
“We all work very hard to be precise and let the evidence dictate our words,” Anderson wrote in Wednesday’s statement. “Sometimes, that means taking big steps and doing things that are bigger than any of us individually. A lot of struggle.”
Anderson’s parting gift to his followers was a YouTube link to a DJ set playing in Bali. “This had a huge impact on me at a critical time,” he wrote.
