Hindenburg Research

Hindenburg Research LLC is a U.S. investment research firm with a focus on activist short-selling founded by Nathan Anderson in 2017. Named after the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, which they characterize as a human-made avoidable disaster, the firm generates public reports via its website that allege corporate fraud and malfeasance. Companies that have been the subjects of their reports include Adani Group, Nikola, Clover Health, Block, Inc., Kandi, and Lordstown Motors. These reports also feature defenses of the practice of short-selling and explanations of how short-sells can "play a critical role in exposing fraud and protecting investors."
Operations
Hindenburg Research prepares an investigation report on a target company by going through its public records, internal corporate documents and by talking to its employees. The report is then circulated to Hindenburg's limited partners, who, together with Hindenburg, take a short position in the target company before publicly releasing the report. Hindenburg takes profits if the target company's share price declines.
Notable research
Nikola report
In September 2020, Hindenburg Research published a report on the Nikola Corporation that included allegations of the company being "an intricate fraud built on dozens of lies" and argued that its founder, Trevor Milton, was responsible for much of the fraudulent activities. Following the release of the report, Nikola’s stock dropped by 40% and a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inquiry was opened. While Milton initially disputed the allegations, he later resigned from his position as Executive Chairman and was eventually found guilty of wire and securities fraud. In November 2020, Nikola stated that they had "incurred significant expenses as a result of the regulatory and legal matters relating to the Hindenburg Report.”
Clover Health report and Chamath Palihapitiya
Hindenburg released a report about Medicare Advantage plan Clover Health in February 2021, claiming that the company neglected to inform investors about it being under investigation by the Department of Justice. The report also argued that billionaire stock promoter and entrepreneur Chamath Palihapitiya neglected his due diligence and misled investors as he took the company public via special purpose acquisition company. Hindenburg disclosed that it has no short or long positions in Clover. Immediately following its publishing, Clover Health dismissed the accusations in the report and also stated it received a notice from the SEC.
Adani Group report
In January 2023, Hindenburg revealed that it had short positions in India's Adani Group and flagged debt and accounting concerns. Concurrently, Hindenburg released a report claiming that Indian conglomerate Adani Group "has engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades." Soon after the report's release, Adani Group companies experienced an acute decline in their share prices. In a follow-up piece, The Guardian indicated that Hindenburg called on the Adani Group to sue if they believed the report was inaccurate. By the end of February 2023, the group lost $150 billion in value. Gautam Adani's personal net worth came down as he fell from 3rd richest in the world to 30th richest within a month after the report was published.
Adani Group responded by accusing Hindenburg Research of launching "a calculated attack" on India. In response, Hindenburg Research released a statement saying that Adani had dodged key questions raised by the firm's report and instead resorted to threats. The firm stated they stand by their statement and dared Adani group to sue.
Due to the allegations, American finance company MSCI cut the free-float status of four Adani firms and Moody's Investors Service downgraded the ratings outlook of four firms. Credit Suisse Group AG stopped accepting bonds of Adani companies as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients.
Icahn Enterprises report
In May 2023, Hindenburg released a report on Icahn Enterprises, which fell over 50% in the month after Hindenburg disclosed a short position against it. They classified the structure of Icahn Enterprises' dividend structure as 'ponzi-like', and noted Jefferies Group's research on Icahn Enterprises as being "one of the worst cases of sell-side research malpractice we’ve seen".
Other activities
Hindenburg has also issued reports concerning the online betting operator DraftKings, the geothermal power plants company Ormat Technologies, electric car company Mullen Technologies, and a Chinese blockchain and cryptomining firm named SOS
In October 2021, Hindenburg announced a $1 million reward for information on how the Tether cryptocurrency is pegged to the U.S. dollar and for knowledge on Tether's deposits. Hindenburg included that, at the time, they did not own positions in any cryptocurrency.
In May 2022, Hindenburg took a short position in Twitter, Inc. following the announcement of its acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk. After Musk's attempted termination of the deal, Hindenburg took a significant long position on Twitter, betting against Musk on the acquisition to close.
On March 23, 2023, Hindenburg released a report on Block, alleging overstated user counts, accounts being used for illegal activities, a potential investigation from the SEC, and failing to ban fraudsters from its platform. This led to a 22% drop in the company's shares before a partial recovery later in the day.
In June 2023, Hindenburg released a report on Dozy Mmobuosi's Tingo Group, where they accused the company of vast amounts of fraud, including misrepresentation of the founder's educational credentials and the existence of many aspects of the business. The report questioned the legitimacy of the company's financial reports and alleged that many of Tingo's claimed partners were not in fact partnered with Tingo. NASDAQ-listed shares in Tingo Group plunged in value after the report. The company denied the Hindenburg claims, which it said contained "errors of fact" and "misleading and libellous content", and appointed lawyers White & Case to review the claims.
In August 2023, Hindenburg released a report on Freedom Finance.
See also
Muddy Waters Research
References
External links
Hindenburg Twitter
Short selling
Research and analysis firms of the United States
Privately held companies based in New York City
Financial writers
Financial services companies established in 2017
2017 establishments in New York City
Financial services companies based in New York City