The American investigative firm Hindenburg Research has announced its closure.

The American company Hindenburg Research, known for its investigative reports on large corporations, has announced its closure. Founder Nate Anderson shared this news without specifying particular reasons.

This was mentioned in his statement, posted on the company's website.

“Someone once told me that at some point, a successful career becomes a selfish act. In the early stages, I felt the need to prove something to myself. Now, I have finally found some peace in this regard, perhaps for the first time in my life. I could have had it all along if I had allowed myself, but first, I had to go through something akin to hell. This intensity and focus on work came at the cost of missing out on much of the rest of the world and the lives of those I hold dear. Now, I see Hindenburg as a chapter in my life, but not as the central thing that defines me,” Anderson wrote.

Hindenburg, which he founded in 2017, did not manage other people's money but shared its investments with other funds for a share of the profits from the deals. The firm claimed that the companies it scrutinized were overvalued for various reasons, including accounting manipulations and other frauds. One of the first major “victims” of Hindenburg was the maker of eco-friendly trucks, Nikola. In 2023, its founder Gautam Adani faced allegations of securities fraud in India. Enterprises fell by 30%, and Nikola's shares nearly lost all their value, according to the WSJ.

“We really made an impact—more than I could have imagined at the very beginning. Nearly 100 individuals, including billionaires and ‘oligarchs,’ were brought to civil or criminal accountability at least in part thanks to our work. We shook up a few empires that we felt needed it,” Anderson wrote in his address.

Not all of Hindenburg's attacks were successful. Shares of the children's gaming platform Roblox rose by about 50% since October when Hindenburg claimed that it was inflating user numbers and that children—users of the platform—were exposed to inappropriate content due to insufficient moderation and accusations. As a result, Roblox added parental control features to the platform.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Anderson complained about the constant stress at work. According to him, he now plans to spend time with his family, travel, and engage in hobbies. As the publication notes, he has earned enough money to secure his family's future and plans to invest his capital in index funds and other low-risk instruments.

As reported by WSJ, Anderson was one of the traders who not only bet against the stocks of companies but also disseminated his research online in an attempt to sway market sentiment against his “victims.”

Background. Previously, Mind reported that the subjects of the "research" included Adani Group, Nikola Corp. (Nasdaq: NKLA), Clover Health (Nasdaq: CLOV), Block, Inc., Kandi, Lordstown Motors, and others. Reports are circulated among Hindenburg's limited partners, who collectively take short positions in the target company before the report is released. This means that the target company's shares are borrowed and sold, and after the report is published, they are bought back at (expectedly) a lower price. The difference becomes profit. If the target company indeed has a questionable market valuation, this tactic can yield significant gains—as the market is forced to realize the “fair” value of the shares downward. In a sense, Hindenburg's analysts perform a noble task by “opening the eyes” of other investors.