iWorld
HomeShop18 launches ‘18 Shringaar’ a revolutionary makeover show
MUMBAI: Its new, it’s revolutionary and it is the first time ever on any television shopping channel in India. HomeShop18, India’s first comprehensive television shopping channel also available on the web and mobile, is all set to create history yet again with the launch of ‘18 Shringaar’, a makeover show for women. The products featured during this show will give a complete new look to women this festive season. This ‘not to be missed’ new lifestyle show will be launched on 12th Oct ’15, 1 PM onwards is all set to inspire today’s women to adorn themselves with the latest products and trends to get that perfect look they’ve always wanted.
The show aptly called ‘18 Shringaar’ will feature three products that will offer one complete look in a single show, an innovative concept, for 6 days a week. Hence, 18 products in a week or 6 makeovers or complete new looks. This first ever ‘makeover show’ by any television shopping will guarantee an extra tinge of glamour to the wardrobe of shoppers.
Speaking on the show, Homeshop18 chief operating officer Vikrant Khanna said, “HomeShop18 has always been at the forefront of innovation. With the launch of 18 Shringaar, we maintain our pioneering status by launching the first ever makeover show on any Indian television shopping channel. The show is poised to bring another wave of disruption in the Indian television shopping segment and alter the way Indian consumers perceive virtual retail. The show targeted at women, our core customers will offer products that are specially designed to fulfil an aspirational look with respect to their personal style statements.”
“With the onset of the festive season 18 Shringaar focuses on the latest fashion and trends that our customers across India can replicate to get a new dazzling look,” added Khanna.
Products available on 18 Shringaar will be centred around a particular theme every day and will feature categories such as apparel, jewellery, beauty and footwear. Every show will have a central theme that will focus on a particular look for that day and all products will be in-line with that theme. The looks curated during the shows will range from Bollywood Diva to College Look to Office and many more.
So if you have been waiting for the right opportunity to give yourself a stylish makeover without burdening your wallet, here’s your chance. Tune into Homeshop18 12th October, 1pm onward and gift yourself a completely new look this festive season!
iWorld
Bill Ackman makes a $64bn bid for Universal Music Group
The hedge fund boss wants to list the world’s biggest record label in New York and thinks he knows exactly what ails it
NEW YORK: Bill Ackman wants to buy the world’s biggest record label. Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund run by the billionaire investor, submitted a non-binding proposal on Tuesday to acquire all outstanding shares of Universal Music Group in a business combination transaction worth roughly $64.4 billion (around 55.8 billion euros).
Under the terms of the offer, UMG shareholders would receive 9.4 billion euros in cash, equivalent to 5.05 euros per share, plus 0.77 shares of a newly created company, dubbed New UMG, for each share held. Pershing Square values the total package at 30.40 euros per share, a 78 per cent premium to UMG’s closing price on April 2.
The deal would see UMG merge with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, with the combined entity incorporating as a Nevada corporation and listing on the New York Stock Exchange. New UMG would publish financial statements under US GAAP and become eligible for S&P 500 index inclusion. Pershing Square says the transaction is expected to close by year-end, with all equity financing backstopped by Ackman’s firm and its affiliates, and all debt financing committed at signing. The transaction would cancel 17 per cent of UMG’s outstanding shares, leaving New UMG with 1.541 billion shares outstanding.
Ackman has a long history with UMG. Pershing Square first bought approximately 10 per cent of the company from Vivendi in the summer of 2021 for around $4 billion, around the time of UMG’s listing on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. He has since trimmed that position, raising around $1.4 billion from the sale of a 2.7 per cent stake in March 2025, and resigned from UMG’s board in May 2025, citing new executive and board obligations arising from recent investments.
His diagnosis of UMG’s troubles is blunt. The company’s stock has fallen around 33 per cent over the past twelve months on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange, and Ackman lays out six reasons why. These include uncertainty around the Bolloré Group’s 18 per cent stake in the company, the postponement of UMG’s US listing, the underutilisation of UMG’s balance sheet, the absence of a publicly disclosed capital allocation plan and earnings algorithm, a failure to reflect UMG’s 2.7 billion euro stake in Spotify in its valuation, and what Ackman calls suboptimal shareholder investor relations, communications and engagement.
The Bolloré stake has long cast a shadow over the company. Cyrille Bolloré stepped down from UMG’s board in July 2025 as the Bolloré Group battled the French financial markets regulator over its stake in Vivendi, which holds a further capital interest in UMG. UMG had confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2025 for a proposed secondary listing in America, but put those plans on hold in March 2026, citing market conditions.
Ackman has kind words for UMG’s management, at least. “Since UMG’s listing, Lucian Grainge and the company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” he said. But he made his diagnosis plain: “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”
In other words, Ackman believes UMG is a great business trapped inside a broken structure. If the board agrees, he intends to fix that, loudly and in New York.
