Hindenburg Research, Short-Seller Behind Adani Shares Sell-Off, Disbanded

Washington: Hindenburg Research, a US-based financial research firm known for short-selling and whose findings caused Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his firms to lose billions of dollars, announced on Wednesday that they are winding up.  

“As I’ve shared with family, friends and our team since late last year, I have made the decision to disband Hindenburg Research. The plan has been to wind up after we finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on. And as of the last Ponzi cases we just completed and are sharing with regulators, that day is today,” Anderson stated in his social media post.

Hindenburg Research had started a campaign against the Adani Group. Its findings, published since 2023, have resulted in billions of dollars of losses for the Indian millionaire. Adani and his firms rejected all of the claims. 

The sudden and surprising announcement by Anderson comes within days of a Republican Congressman, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, asking the Department of Justice to preserve all the documents and communications related to the investigations of Adani and his companies.

Anderson did not give a specific reason for disbanding his organization, which is less than a week before the end of the four-year term of the Biden Administration and the swearing-in of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States on January 20.

“So, why disband now? There is not one specific thing—no particular threat, no health issue, and no big personal issue. Someone once told me that at a certain point a successful career becomes a selfish act. Early on, I felt I needed to prove some things to myself. I have now finally found some comfort with myself, probably for the first time in my life,” he said.

“I probably could have had it all along had I let myself, but I needed to put myself through a bit of hell first. The intensity and focus has come at the cost of missing a lot of the rest of the world and the people I care about. I now view Hindenburg as a chapter in my life, not a central thing that defines me,” he said.

In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, Anderson said he looks forward to taking up hobbies, travelling and spending time with his fiancée and their child, adding that he has earned enough money to provide for them in the future. He said he plans to invest his money in index funds and other low-stress investments.

Anderson said for now, he will be focused on making sure everyone on his team lands where they want to be next.

“Some are going to start their own research firm, which I will strongly and publicly encourage, even as I will have no personal involvement. There are others on our team who are now free agents—so feel free to reach out to me if you have a need for anyone who is brilliant, focused, and easy to work with, as they all are,” he said. 

With Agency Inputs