ACKMAN: 'If Carl sells, it can accelerate the demise of the company'

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn was recently in talks to sell his stake in nutritional supplement maker Herbalife Ltd to a group that included hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Investment bank Jefferies Group has been on the hunt for about a month to find buyers for Icahn's 18.3 percent stake in Herbalife, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. 

Icahn and Ackman had placed opposing bets on the Los Angeles-based company. Ackman for years has been betting against the company, accusing it of running a pyramid scheme.

The duo even became embroiled in a public war of words, with Icahn famously calling Ackman a "liar" and a "crybaby" in a CNBC interview in 2013. They have since made up.

In an interview with CNBC on Friday morning, Ackman said that he was approached about buying Icahn's stake and agreed to if there were other buyers.

Ackman said that he believed the FTC's recent statement on Herbalife was bad news for the company and would eventually lead to its demise. Icahn's large backing, Ackman said to CNBC, was supporting the fortune of the firm especially since Icahn has five people on the board of directors. Thus, without Icahn's backing, investors and even distributors would lose faith in the firm.

"This is a confidence game," said Ackman to CNBC. "If Carl sells, it can accelerate the demise of a company."

Ackman also told CNBC that he considered buying the stake in order to accelerate this decline. According to Ackman, if he were to purchase Icahn's stock, it would most likely lose him money, but it would be worth it.

"I would spend $30 million to get Carl out, probably more," said Ackman.

He also cited other shareholders such as Dan Loeb and George Soros selling out of the company as examples of large investors losing interest and confidence in the stock.

Herbalife in mid-July agreed to pay $200 million and change the way it does business to avoid being labeled a pyramid scheme by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Following the settlement, the company said its board had cleared the way for Icahn to boost his stake in the company to as much as 35 percent.

Check out part of the Ackman's exchange with CNBC here: