iWorld
‘Bombay Velvet’ exclusive preview unveiled on Hotstar
MUMBAI: Stepping up on its film marketing initiatives by setting new precedents, Fox Star India has rolled out its third digital-first initiative on Hotstar in less than a month for its upcoming movie Bombay Velvet.
The studio unveiled an exclusive preview of the film to Hotstar’s 15-million-strong audience base on 10 May.
The Hotstar movie preview of Bombay Velvet comprises four minutes of handpicked scenes from the soon-to-be-released film. The preview was packaged with a specially shot sequence, which had Karan Johar introducing the movie’s stars Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma with their on-screen names of Johnny Balraj and Rosie Noronha, and inviting the audience to watch the exclusive footage that followed. It ended with the trio reminding the audience of the film’s release date, and inviting them to watch it in theatres on 15 May.
Fox Star Studios India CMO Shikha Kapur said, “We are delighted to be the first studio in India to introduce a series of Digital-first initiatives for film marketing on mobile, and that too with a huge multi-starrer like Bombay Velvet. While initially it was all about creating buzz, with the film now getting closer to its release date, we thought the audience would be excited to preview some of Bombay Velvet’s high-quality content, and hence the Movie Preview. This is a part of the build-up strategy which has worked very well so far. Hotstar is poised as the go to destination for digital content platform on mobile today, and we believe it will help us effectively fill the market gaps for movie promotions on digital, and through the innovations, set a precedent for film marketing not only in our country, but also in other world markets.”
This promotional activity came on the heels of a one-hour talk show featuring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap, which was shot for and premiered exclusively on Hotstar. This was preceded by yet another world-first initiative, the video premiere on Hotstar of the popular song, Mohabbat Buri Bimari, from Bombay Velvet.
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.
