Betting on Zero (2016) Reviews

• A Perfect Expose

  gavin69422017-06-15

  Writer/director Ted Braun follows controversial hedge fund titan Bill Ackman as he puts a billion dollars on the line in his crusade to expose Herbalife as the largest pyramid scheme in history. This is just about as perfect as a documentary can get. The very moment I was introduced to Herbalife in the early 2000s, I knew it was a pyramid scheme. But obviously others do not see that, as the business continued to be profitable and thriving. This documentary not only explores the pyramid nature of the business, but explains how people fall for it. In some cases, it is because they are unsophisticated immigrants. Other times, they had the business misrepresented to them. But it is not just stupid or ignorant people who fall for it. Without giving anything away, this story will have you cheering on Ackman. He may be one of the very few Wall Street investors who is actually hoping the little guy will win.

• Entertaining, educational, with a dose of humanity.

  jdesando2017-04-10

  William Ackman, quietly charismatic investor and producer of Inside Job, has made a short bet on Herbalife, which he claims is a pyramid scheme benefiting the rich at the top and stealing from the poor at the bottom. Betting on Zero is the fascinating documentary about the battle between equally charismatic Herbalife CEO, William Johnson, and Ackman. The ambiguity comes on two levels: Is Johnson a con man or a brilliant business man? Is Ackman in this game to bring down the price of Herbalife's stock and cause the company to close, or is he looking to make a huge profit (he promises to spread his profit to the poor, mainly Latinos, who bought into the pyramid)? This doc is not as pro-Ackman as you might expect. By tracking him coming to a meeting like a rock star out of a black SUV and increasing skepticism about his motives, it seems to support a balanced view. Yes, Johnson has been part of a management that has made the company worth over $50 billion and many at that high level, millionaires, yet the evidence is that the need for more and more managers merely means more people in the lower levels will never make a buck. As with The Big Short and Margin Call, both about the bad mortgage game, the tension is ripe even though we know the outcome of a potentially nerdy story. However, these stories are all fraught with human drama and educational enlightenment for those of us not versed in financial language and events. These real-life stars carry the moral ambiguity of Shakespearean tragic characters, which, in this case, appear to honor and protect the consumers who buy their products. You will leave the theater with a better understanding of shorting and more than that, a wariness about door-to- door products and slick purveyors.

• The American Dream (or was it Nightmare?)

  kosmasp2018-02-09

  I had heard of Herballife before, but I never really looked into it. I have to admit that only by name and the vague promise of healthy living/eating, I'd say I would be interested in that product. But having watched the movie and having checked online for other sources, I wouldn't do it in hindsight. The Pyramid thing of selling, is something I despised from the moment someone tried to sell it to me. Back then I got introduced into the life insurance business. Where when you got people signing a contract, you got a percentage. But you could also get other people involved, lean back and let them do the hard work. Obviously, the most money would land with the people at the top ... all those below would get a smaller amount ... all the way to the crumbs at the bottom. The movie portrays different sides and gives voice or offers perspective from Herballife too. There are more than a couple of warning signs. But if someone promises you riches and a lot of money ... well some people do fall for that. Intriguing and compelling editing does the rest

• A good watch for those interested in investment science. For others, less so.

  laszlo-057002017-10-04

  As of October, 2017 - a few months after the premier of this documentary - Herbalife stock price peacefully sits at ~67 USD. I just wanted to start the review with this statement to let everyone know the company is still well and thriving. None should look at this production as the documentary that exposes the dirty cheats that may run a corporation bankrupt or earn them the most thorough federal investigations of all time. My law teacher once told me: everyday people think that courts provide justice for the mass, but it isn't true. What they provide is law. This applies to Herbalife a lot: the way an MLM company operates is clearly unfair and unjust, but none was able to prove so far that it is completely against the law. There may be illegal operations behind the curtain we don't know of yet or 'Betting on Zero' was unable to bring to light, but as far as they are considered clean by the regulators, they go on. However I must praise the documentary for the financial approach. It gives very good explanation on basic terms like shorting, provides a good view of the hedge fund world and reveals why the efficient market theory is far-far away from reality. So in case you want to be the next George Soros, this is a must-watch for you. If you are looking for a documentary where the little men fight to get revenge on big money, then just skip this - Mexican immigrants praying with attorneys will hardly provide you any useful information.

• Should Have Focused on Herbalife's Victims, Not Ackman

  tylerwoodrownichols2018-06-30

  I've been interested in multi-level marketing (MLM), AKA legal pyramid schemes, for a while now, so when I heard about this film I knew I needed to watch it. There's a lot to like about it, but there's also a lot to hate. I would have loved for it to focus more on Herbalife itself and its victims. There's a decent amount of information about Herbalife (which is nothing but despicable) and a kind of sub-plot about a group of Latino immigrants who are trying to sue the company for taking advantage of their community. There would probably be more than enough going on there to make for a decent documentary, but instead it focuses too much on the stereotypical "wolf of Wall Street" opportunist (oh wait, my mistake,"activist investor") Bill Ackman and his bid to get rich(er) off of ruining Herbalife's stock. It's clear to me that he's just a sociopath himself who doesn't really care about Herbalife's victims at all, but just sees a situation to exploit for his own financial gain. On one level, I get it. It makes for a very juicy story and everybody wants a "hero" to root for. However, I would rather that hero to have been the actual underdog here, Herbalife's victims. I do think that there is a valuable lesson in the childish quibble between Ackman and his nemesis, fellow Wall Street scum Carl Icahn, about why using the stock market as an indicator of how the economy is doing is basically meaningless for the average person: in reality it's little more than a playground for the ultra-rich, men who are so out of touch with reality or basic human empathy that they put their own egos (oh, and money, did I mention money?) above everything else. It's well-made and will surely keep you entertained, but ultimately it feels hollow and left me hoping for a better documentary about MLM itself, not ego-measuring contests between reprehensible "activist investors".