Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn told Ira Sohn Conference attendees on Wednesday that he's shorting Moody's...
Einhorn, whose Greenlight Capital managed $5 billion, said on Wednesday the parent of Moody's Investors Service squandered the value of its business after giving perfect AAA ratings to now-fallen giants like struggling insurer AIG (AIG.N), nationalized mortgage banker Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and bond insurer MBIA Inc (MBI.N).
"If your product is a stamp of approval where your highest rating is a curse to those that receive it, and is shunned by those who are supposed to use it, you have problems," Einhorn told some 1,200 hedge fund executives at the annual Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference.
"The truth is that nobody I know buys or uses Moody's credit ratings because they believe in the brand," he said at the conference, which raises funds for the treatment and cure of pediatric cancer. "They use it because it is part of a government-created oligopoly and, often, because they are require to by law."
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