[Theoria]

Bill Ackman's Crusade to Crush Herbalife

'Any money he makes on this bet will go to charity, with $25 million slated for Sohn regardless of how it turns out.

'Why not make a ton of money and use just some of it for a good cause, as Ackman normally does? Because profiting from Herbalife’s alleged exploitation of its distributors feels like “blood money,” Ackman said. His goal: to let the Federal Trade Commission take this research and shut the company down. '

[shibumi]

This article more recently (by a year) casts the bet in a different light -

"ACKMAN STICKING WITH SHORT POSITION

" Ackman also said he was sticking by his $1 billion bet short selling Herbalife's stock which he made public a year ago and which has cost his $12 billion Pershing Square Capital Management as much as $700 million in losses, people familiar with the fund have estimated."