When Wolves Bite - Two Billionaires, One Company, and an Epic Wall Street Battle

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From the publisher

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 beginning, and even farther from the end. Their feud became a years-long saga, complete with shifting allegiances, lawsuits, and financial roller coaster rides.

Wapner, who hosted that memorable TV show, has gained unprecedented access to all the players and unravels this remarkable war of egos, showing the extreme measures the participants were willing to take. When the Wolves Bite is both a rollicking business story and a cautionary tale about the power that lives in the hands of a precious few.

I had heard zero about this CNBC debate before reading this book – to be honest I got the book to review as I had hoped it would give some inside scoop on the weird death of top Herbalife seller John Peterson and the drinking binge death of chief executive Mark Hughes. (I am weird that way as these deaths were so reported on but nothing seems to have been clarified on those deaths in the 15+ years that have passed.

I watched the fight between Ackman and Icahn on Youtube before reading this book and wow…what a moment in business news television that comes off as a peeing contest between two men with huge egos and even bigger wallets. This lead to a very interesting read of a book that if written as fiction no one would believe that it actually happened in real life. Wow – those two men need to get a reality check and see how the other half lives as they are, in the words of my nephew “REE-DICK-YOU-LESS”!

Five solid stars for this ballsy book!!!