When the Wolves Bite

The inside story of the clash of two of Wall Street's biggest, richest, toughest, most aggressive players—Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman—and the little company caught in the middle.With their unprecedented amounts of capital and their savvy understanding of business, activist investors Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman have the ability to move markets and change the fortunes of investors, workers, and even large companies with the flick of a wrist. But what happens when they run into the one thing in business they can't control: each other?On January 25, 2013, Scott Wapner, the host of CNBC's The Halftime Report, found out firsthand. Ackman and Icahn engaged in an uninterrupted, twenty-seven-minute televised war of accusations and insults over a company called Herbalife, on which they had opposing views—and opposing financial bets. The story quickly went viral and was called "the best business television ever" by Jim Cramer.It was far from the...