'Adventure of a lifetime': Hindenburg Research, known for going after Adani, shuts down

Hindenburg Research, a US-based investment research firm, is being disbanded, founder Nathan Anderson announced in a blog post on Wednesday evening.

“We have days of bizarre, hilarious and ridiculous stories and we’ve had a lot of fun amidst the pressure and challenges. It has been the adventure of a lifetime,” Nathan Anderson, also known as Nate Anderson, wrote in the blog post.

“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 added.

The firm, known for targeting major corporations, shook the Adani Group in 2023, accusing it of orchestrating "the largest con in corporate history." Since then, Gautam Adani and his family have remained on Hindenburg's radar. In August 2024, the firm also alleged that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband held stakes in "obscure offshore entities linked to the Adani Group’s alleged money-siphoning scandal."

Both Adani and Buch have strongly denied any wrongdoing as alleged by Hindenburg Research. The short seller’s 2023 accusations against the Adani Group triggered a $150 billion rout in the conglomerate’s stock value.

The blog post revealed that the disbanding had been planned since late last year, with Anderson’s family, friends, and team already informed.

Nathan, a graduate of the University of Connecticut, began building his New York-based firm in 2018. Starting with the support of lawyer Bryan Wood, he gradually assembled a team of 11 people. “Nearly 100 individuals have been charged civilly or criminally by regulators, at least in part due to our work, including billionaires and oligarchs. We shook some empires that we felt needed shaking,” Anderson wrote in the post. To date, investigations by Hindenburg have led to SEC fraud charges against 65 individuals, Department of Justice criminal indictments against 24 individuals, and sanctions or fraud charges by foreign regulators against 7 individuals.

Addressing the reason for disbanding, Anderson wrote, “There is not one specific thing—no particular threat, no health issue, and no big personal issue.”

“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…I now view Hindenburg as a chapter in my life, not a central thing that defines me,” Anderson adds.

However, market expert Ajay Bagga has pointed out 5 possible reasons behind Hindenburg's shutting down. These include lack of profitability for the company, a way to avert probable penalties and regulatory actions.

What’s next?

Anderson shared that the plan is to create an investigations' manual for those who wish to build research firms in the future.

"Over the next 6 months or so, I plan to work on a series of materials and videos to open-source every aspect of our model and how we conduct our investigations," Anderson wrote.

“For now, I will be focused on making sure everyone on our team lands where they want to be next,” he added.