Bill Ackman has gotten under Herbalife’s skin.
The nutritional supplements company that Ackman dissed as a “pyramid scheme” has purchased three domain names related to the hedge fund tycoon.
Herbalife has owned “therealbillackman.com,” “billackman.net” and “therealackman.net” since Jan. 18, according to Go Daddy’s database of registered domain names. So far, the sites are inactive.
The domain names appear to be part of a bigger Internet and social media campaign kicked off after Ackman’s paid search engine ad “factsaboutherbalife.com” topped Google’s search rankings about the company.
That Web site details Ackman’s case against the company. The hedge fund honcho announced Dec. 19 that he made a $1 billion short bet against the company because he thinks it’s a pyramid scheme that will be shut down by regulators. Herbalife has called his claims “bogus.”
Not wanting the top search result to be what analyst Tim Ramey calls a “slam Web site,” Herbalife likely paid up to have its own search engine ad top Ackman’s.
“I’m sure they’re getting lots of creative advice on how to control the message,” said Ramey of DA Davidson. Herbalife has also been posting paid announcements on Twitter.
Herbalife’s shares are down 54 cents, or 1.35 percent, at $39.48.
Neither Herbalife nor Ackman could be reached for comment.
mcelarier@nypost.com