Betting on Zero

William Ackman, quietly charismatic investor and producer of Inside Job, has made a short bet on Herbalife, which he claims is a pyramid scheme benefiting the rich at the top and stealing from the poor at the bottom. Betting on Zero is the fascinating documentary about the battle between equally charismatic Herbalife CEO, William Johnson, and Ackman.

The ambiguity comes on two levels: Is Johnson a con man or a brilliant business man? Is Ackman in this game to bring down the price of Herbalife's stock and cause the company to close, or is he looking to make a huge profit (he promises to spread his profit to the poor, mainly Latinos, who bought into the pyramid)? This doc is not as pro-Ackman as you might expect. By tracking him coming to a meeting like a rock star out of a black SUV and increasing skepticism about his motives, it seems to support a balanced view. Yes, Johnson has been part of a management that has made the company worth over $50 billion and many at that high level, millionaires, yet the evidence is that the need for more and more managers merely means more people in the lower levels will never make a buck.

As with The Big Short and Margin Call, both about the bad mortgage game, the tension is ripe even though we know the outcome of a potentially nerdy story. However, these stories are all fraught with human drama and educational enlightenment for those of us not versed in financial language and events.

These real-life stars carry the moral ambiguity of Shakespearean tragic characters, which, in this case, appear to honor and protect the consumers who buy their products. You will leave the theater with a better understanding of shorting and more than that, a wariness about door-to- door products and slick purveyors.

I just watched "Betting on Zero," and gotta say, it's quite the ride. This documentary drives home its points on this evil corporation. They mix interviews, undercover work, and personal experiences to expose what horrible things have taken place. They talk with ex-Herbalife sellers who got the short end of the stick, and there's Bill Ackman, a hedge fund manager leading a full-on crusade against the company. They try to play it fair, showing both sides of the story, which gives a nice balance.

They do seem to drag a bit on the story and they could've made the film shorter but I didn't really mind it that much. It shouldn't affect weather or not you see the film (in my opinion).

Ackman is focused on a lot in this movie and I can see why some people don't like that they focus on him so much. On the other hand, I think it shows that there are people on many ranges of income that are working to fight against Herbalife. And that it is not just a rich v.s the poor scenario.

So even though there are its cons, "Betting on Zero" seriously nails it when it comes to uncovering the shady side of corporate greed. I love how they went over the story without making you want to stop watching it out of boredom. It tugs at your heart with personal stories, and makes you realize how unfair the world can be. If you are interested I highly recommend it, especially if you are getting into the world of business.

A long but engaging and extremely even-handed documentary, and it's engaging in large part because it doesn't take obvious sides. You really don't know which way things will go, nor is anyone portrayed as a purely good guy or bad guy, and different parties are given equal opportunities to speak. I liked it.

I started to watch the document mainly because I was curious about Mr. Ackman's investment style.

But, at the end, I got to learn and think about a lot more things than it.

The document stitches well different facts, people, struggles, and battles surrounding Herbal Life, a controversial but quite successful U. S. company.

Yes, it's about Ackman's challenging investment journey of shorting on the company's shares for multiple reasons (including humanitarian ones).

But it's about innocent people lured into businesses where they are mostly destined to lose and fail. This part was sad as they were real people rather than abstract numbers on excel sheets or legal documents.

It's also about flaws and loopholes in our economic, political, and legal systems (not only in the U. S. but across the world): Nearly imposed damages not being dealt because they are not illegal; controversial entities/people flourishing through connections and lobbying.

I don't want to go far by making too big an analogy. But I now keep thinking about this pyramid scheme. Maybe many more companies and societies (than the focal company) may work on similar mechanisms to a less controversial and subtler extent, or maybe not!

Writer/director Ted Braun follows controversial hedge fund titan Bill Ackman as he puts a billion dollars on the line in his crusade to expose Herbalife as the largest pyramid scheme in history.

This is just about as perfect as a documentary can get. The very moment I was introduced to Herbalife in the early 2000s, I knew it was a pyramid scheme. But obviously others do not see that, as the business continued to be profitable and thriving.

This documentary not only explores the pyramid nature of the business, but explains how people fall for it. In some cases, it is because they are unsophisticated immigrants. Other times, they had the business misrepresented to them. But it is not just stupid or ignorant people who fall for it.

Without giving anything away, this story will have you cheering on Ackman. He may be one of the very few Wall Street investors who is actually hoping the little guy will win.