Hindenburg Research, whose report battered Adani shares, to shut down: Founder
Hindenburg Research’s founder Nathan Anderson said he would disband the firm whose reports sparked heavy short-selling by investors and investigations by authorities, wiping billions from the market values of companies including India’s Adani Group and US-based Nikola.
Nathan Anderson, who started Hindenburg in 2017, cited the toll of the “rather intense, and at times, all-encompassing” nature of the work as the reason for his decision, in a website post published on Wednesday.
“There is not one specific thing — no particular threat, no health issue and no big personal issue,” Nathan Anderson wrote in a letter.
“The intensity and focus has come at the cost of missing a lot of the rest of the world and the people I care about. I now view Hindenburg as a chapter in my life, not a central thing that defines me,” he added.
Anderson, 40, made international waves in January 2023, publishing a report accusing Adani Group of Gautam Adani of “pulling the largest con in corporate history”. Gautam Adani ranked as the world’s fourth-richest person at the time, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In quick succession, the bear also published reports on Dorsey’s Block Inc. and Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises.
All three financiers and their businesses adamantly disputed Hindenburg’s assertions.
In the past, Gautam Adani said Hindenburg Research’s damning report against the Adani group was not just to destabilise the apples-to-airport conglomerate but to also politically defame India’s governance practices.
Still, that year the trio saw their collective wealth swoon by as much $99 billion while their publicly traded companies lost as much as $173 billion of market value, Bloomberg reported.
This month, Anderson went after Ernie Garcia III’s Carvana Co., accusing him and his father, Ernie Garcia II, of an “accounting grift for the ages.” The auto retailer promptly dismissed Hindenburg’s arguments as “intentionally misleading and inaccurate.” The stock soon recovered and is up more than 5% this month.
Before focusing on short-selling, Anderson worked a few below-the-radar jobs on Wall Street, then tried earning a living by submitting tips to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program, hoping to collect rewards. Yet he struggled to make ends meet.
What next for Nathan Anderson?
Anderson said he is winding up his firm as of Wednesday after working through the last of its ideas and handing off tips on suspected Ponzi schemes to regulators.
Over the next six months, he plans to work on a series of videos and materials on Hindenburg’s model, so others can learn how the firm conducted investigations.
“For now, I will be focused on making sure everyone on our team lands where they want to be next,” he said.