iWorld
Amazon Prime Video unveils trailer of ‘Four More Shots Please’
MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video is all ready to expand the Indian original content library at the beginning of the year only. Adding more spice to the existing library, the international OTT player is ready to launch a new series Four More Shots Please. The trailer of the 10-part series, which will start streaming on the platform on 25 January, has been unveiled.
“At Prime Video we are focused on serving a wide and diverse set of customers their daily dose of entertainment on our service. From reality shows for millennials to comedy for all, hard-hitting heartland story in Mirzapur to a psychological thriller in Breathe, we have something for everyone on Prime Video. We are excited to start this year with a female-centric, genre-defining, aspirational show that will take viewers on a larger than life journey into the urban women’s world. Let the celebrations begin – Four More Shots Please!” Amazon Prime Video India content director and head Vijay Subramaniam said.
The series has been created by Rangita Pritish Nandy, produced by Pritish Nandy Communications and directed by Anu Menon. The new Prime Original casts a spotlight on the strong bond of female friendship that serves as a lifeline for young women in urban India as they adapt, flourish and rebel in a rapidly evolving societal culture with changing gender roles. Helmed by a predominantly women cast and crew, the show has been written by Devika Bhagat, with dialogues from Ishita Moitra.
In the over-crowded Indian OTT market, the two rivals Amazon Prime Video and Netflix are heavily investing in local originals to woo consumers. Moreover, Amazon Prime Video comes bundled with the other facilities from Prime service which has brought it huge number of users. According to a recent study by technology research firm Comparitech, India has been found the cheapest place to watch Amazon Prime Video in a list of 28 countries.
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.
