Billionaire activist investor Bill Ackman today said that Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc – a company he is a major investor in – has terrible Public Relations, and named major PR firm Sard Verbinnen as having done a “horrible job.”
During a four hour conference call, Ackman said one of the reasons the company’s stock is at a two-year low is “They need help on the PR side,” and the company needs to spend more on PR.
Ackman continued that Sard Verbinnen has done a “fabulous job” for Herbalife and a “horrible” job representing Valeant. Ackman added they may be “too distracted” by Herbalife.
Notably, the campaign Sard runs for Herbalife is against New York based Ackman, of Pershing Square Capital who has called Herbalife a pyramid scheme. In that campaign, Ackman is represented by Global Strategy Group and Edelman.
As Vanity Fair noted, “ On March 12, The Wall Street Journal reported that both the F.B.I. and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York were looking into whether “people, including some hired by Mr. Ackman” had made “false statements” about Herbalife and its business in order to “spur investigations” into the company and to lower its stock price.”
Ackman’s dispute with Sard Verbinnen started well before today’s conference call – which has already been covered by Bloomberg, Business Insider and others.