iWorld
Ayaz Memon Joins 1 Play Sports
MUMBAI: Sports media narrowcasting startup in the Asia Pacific 1 Play Sports has brought sports journalist Ayaz Memon onboard as consulting editor-in-chief, India from May 2020.
Memon, a media veteran with over 40 years’ experience, will lead the thrust for 1 Play Sports to deepen its roots and expand its operations in the Indian sports media market. He and his team will develop sports-related content to maximize audience reach and optimise strategic benefit to the company.
Memon has worked as a sports writer, editor and columnist with several newspapers such as Mid-Day, Bombay Times, DNA, Times of India, Hindustan Times, and Deccan Chronicle. He has also been a TV commentator/analyst at various times with Star Sports and Sony Sports, apart from news channels Times Now, NewsX, and Network18. Memon has reported live ten Cricket World Cups, over 250 test matches and 400 ODIs One Day Internationals, the 1988 and 2012 Olympics, 1998 and 2010 Commonwealth Games, 1990 Asian Games, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 1991 and 1993 Wimbledon Championships among several international events.
He has also authored four books on cricket and co-authored one on independent India's golden jubilee, India 50 – The Making of a Nation.
1 Play Sports CEO-founder Mohit Lalvani expressed delight at this association with Memon. “Ayaz’s contribution to Indian sports is gigantic, his depth of knowledge is only matched by his breadth of content understanding and I take great pleasure in welcoming him to the 1 Play Sports team. We are confident this will enable us to scale into India as we have done in Southeast Asian countries”, said Lalvani.
1 Play Sports began its operations in India roping in Neha S Warrier (ex-Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific) as country manager and since then has successfully streamed LIVE national and Asian tournaments expanding its footprint in the region.
“As we expand our viewer base in India, we are delighted to welcome aboard a veteran like Memon to 1 Play Sports and gain from his vast knowledge and experience”, said Neha Warrier.
1 Play Sports Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based sports media narrowcasting start-up, was founded in December 2018, that produces and streams community, grassroots level, school, special needs, and private events at national and international levels. Within a year since its inception, 1 Play Sports has streamed more than 2100 hours of sports content from events held in Southeast Asia and India.
In addition to international events such as World Pencak Silat Championships 2018, Netball Nation’s Cup 2019, Merlion Cup 2019, ASEAN Schools Games 2019, SEA Games 2019, and Dubai Intercontinental Cup 2020, 1 Play Sports has also produced and streamed India-centric events such as Track Asia Cup 2019, National Open Athletics Championship 2019, Weightlifting Championship 2019, Bodog Roots Premier League, National Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet 2019, Mountain Bike Challenge 2019 and many more. 1 Play Sports has over 500,000 followers and operates in Singapore, the Philippines, India, and Africa with further expansion plans in the Asian market in 2020.
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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.
