iWorld
ALTBalaji associates with Amazon Pay, PayTM for cashback offers
MUMBAI: Keeping in mind the current situation and the ever-rising popularity for original content along with the viewers’ preference for convenient payment experiences, ALTBalaji, one of India’s leading homegrown OTT platforms, has associated with popular payment gateway Amazon Pay and Paytm. As part of the deal, Amazon Pay will offer 25 per cent cashback on ALTBalaji subscription whereas Paytm will offer a flat Rs 20 cashback on the subscription. The offers can be availed by android users in India. Using these gateways, customers can enjoy quick and easy checkouts with faster cashback.
To avail the offer via Amazon Pay, customers can go to the ALTBalaji website or android app, select the service of their choice and make the payment using Amazon Pay as the payment option. As a part of the deal, a cashback up to Rs 100 can be availed once per user on using Amazon Pay during the offer period. Valid from 1 April 2020 to 30 April 2020, the cashback will be credited instantly as Amazon Pay balance after completing the payment. Offer will be valid only on online orders made on the ALTBalaji website or android app using Amazon Pay.
On the other hand, Paytm’s flat Rs 20 cashback on the first Paytm wallet transaction is valid now till 7.59 pm on 7 April 2020. The offer can be availed once per user and will be received within 24 hours of completion of the transaction Also, the offer is applicable only on making payment on the ALTBalaji website or app by paying the entire amount using one’s Paytm Wallet.
On the association, Balaji Telefilms Group COO and ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya said, “Our collaboration with Amazon Pay and Paytm is a step towards strengthening our relationship during these testing times with the consumers. Amazon Pay and Paytm are two of the most preferred gateways for digital audiences across the country. Through this partnership, ALTBalaji’s extensive library of homegrown, original premium content will now be even more accessible and affordable to a wider and newer set of audiences.”
With ALTBalaji subscription, consumers will get access to 60 originals created for the masses. ALTBalaji has built a legacy of creating iconic shows, like Apharan, Mental Hood, Code M, Mission Over Mars, Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain, Home, Gandii Baat, The Test Case, Bose: Dead or Alive among others, which have been lauded by audiences.
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.
