Icahn Says Ackman Is 'Just Dead Wrong' On Herbalife

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square hedge fund is having a rough year given its heavy losses in Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX and its short thesis on Herbalife Ltd. HLF, which has risen 110 percent since initiating a short position back in December 2012.

The last thing Ackman needs right now is to be kicked while he is down .

Icahn did exactly that when he was a guest on CNBC Thursday.

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The billionaire investor said in an interview that Ackman was "completely and totally wrong" on Herbalife. He followed up with another kick that Ackman was "just dead wrong."

"This company [Herbalife] creates work for a lot of people," Icahn said. "And to say it doesn't is ridiculous."

Icahn did acknowledge Ackman is a "smart guy" even though he previously described him as a "crybaby in the schoolyard" back in 2014. Since then, the billionaire investors settled their feud and hugged it out at CNBC's 2014 Delivering Alpha Conference.

Shares of Herbalife were trading lower by around 0.50 percent Tuesday at $61.35, but are higher by nearly 15 percent since the start of 2016.