The World's Greatest Short Seller Weighs In On The Herbalife Hedge Fund War

The world's greatest short-seller Jim Chanos, the founder of Kynikos Associates, weighed in on the hedge fund war between Bill Ackman (Pershing Square) and Daniel Loeb (Third Point) over Herbalife in an interview with ReutersTV.

Ackman revealed last month that he's shorting more than 20 million shares of Herbalife calling it a "pyramid scheme." He has a price target of zero and believes the company is going to fail.

Loeb's Third Point recently disclosed a 8.24% stake in Herbalife. In a letter to investors Loeb called Ackman's pyramid scheme allegation "preposterous."

"I think that at the end of the day the Herbalife bull-bear battle will result on who can prove the fact of whether or not the business proposition is good," Chanos said in an interview with Reuters TV.

"Now, I know there are a number of bulls in the company who think 'this is nothing more than a glorified 12-Step program or it's a way for weight loss,' but I'm a little skeptical about that argument as well because there are so many competing venues for weight loss not the least of which are companies like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig and others that don't have the multi-level marketing aspect," he added.

Chanos hasn't publicly commented on Herbalife. He declined to say if he will do so at some point, but he did say that he's studied the MLM industry.

Check out this video with Reuters TV:

Herbalife's stock is now trading above the pre-Ackman short levels.

Since December 18, the trading session before Ackman confirmed his short, shares of Herbalife have moved up more than 6%. On December 24, the stock hit a 52-week low of $24.24 a share and have since rallied back.

The stock was last trading down more than 1% today.

SEE: 14 Quotes From Jim Chanos That Show Why He's The Most Successful Short Seller In The World >