iWorld
Ackman walks away from Universal Music after $64 billion bid collapses
Pershing Square cashes out its stake as UMG buys back shares; five years of boardroom romance ends in a bitter split
NETHERLANDS: Bill Ackman is out. After five years, a failed $64 billion takeover bid and a very public falling-out with one of the world’s most powerful media families, the billionaire hedge fund manager has sold his stake in Universal Music Group and moved on.
Pershing Square, Ackman’s investment vehicle, sold around 80.6 million UMG shares in an overnight placing, netting at least $600 million in profit from the investment, according to Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal. Pershing declined to comment.
UMG said it bought back more than 14 million of those ordinary shares for roughly €250 million ($290.6 million), paying €17.66 apiece. UMG’s shares, listed in Amsterdam, slid 4.9 per cent on the news, compounding a 17.9 per cent loss in value since January.
The exit caps a messy divorce. Ackman, known for his aggressive activist campaigns, had launched an unsolicited cash-and-stock offer worth about €55.75 billion for the music label that counts Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar among its artists. UMG’s board rejected the April bid last month, calling it a material undervaluation of the company.
The fatal blow came from the Bolloré family, UMG’s largest shareholder with an 18 per cent stake, who urged the board to turn Ackman away. Cyrille Bolloré, the chief executive, was unsparing at the annual shareholders meeting: “The price was not there at all.”
It had not always been so hostile. Ackman first invested in UMG in 2021 and joined its board in 2022, initially full of praise for the company’s business and its leadership. But frustration set in. A weak share price, the Bolloré family’s grip on the company and UMG’s decision in March to shelve its American listing plans soured his enthusiasm. He resigned from the board in 2025, citing new executive and board responsibilities from other investments.
Pershing held a 4.7 per cent stake in UMG, according to LSEG data, before the disposal.
For UMG, the soap opera is over. For Ackman, the profit is banked and the next target is already being circled.
