Betting on Zero

Bill Ackman is a fund manager. He makes a claim about a company: Herbalife is not a nutrition business but a pyramid scheme. He states his case in a public presentation and takes a very large position betting that the shares will fall. That is, he profits if the company collapses. The documentary follows both sides. On one hand the fight on the market; another investor takes the opposite position and the two argue on television. On the other the sellers; most of them immigrants, out of money and reluctant to speak. Ted Braun directs. Bill Ackman, representatives of the company and former sellers speak. It is an American production. The matter it treats is multi level marketing; the documentary asks whether the income model rests on selling product or on recruiting members. It follows the community work set up by a former seller; the group brings together those who lost money. There is a difficulty: the man advancing the case profits from the company failing, and the documentary does not hide it. The film's financing and its relation with Ackman were argued over on release. At the end of the process a regulator reached a settlement with the company and it paid a fine; but it was not declared a pyramid scheme. Ackman closed his position years later. Its limit is viewpoint; the narrative is one sided and the opposing view gets limited room. Who it is for: anyone curious about financial documentary and investigations of companies. Who it is not for: it is partisan, the technical account dense, and the outcome not clear.