iWorld
China’s LeEco makes India debut; partners ErosNow & YuppTV
MUMBAI: Internet and technology company and one of the largest online video companies in China LeEco has forayed into the Indian smartphone market with the launch of LeEco Max smartphone. What’s more, the company has inked content partnerships with over-the-top (OTT) players ErosNow and YuppTV.
LeEco has launched their flagship superphones, Le Max & Le1s, in the Indian market. As their partner, ErosNow will be integrated within the Le ecosystem of internet enabled smartphones and smart televisions, showcasing ErosNow’s Bollywood films, music and Originals. Devices will include a one-year premium subscription to ErosNow service pre-bundled with the purchase of the phones.
On the other hand, YuppTV will provide 250 live channels across 12 languages, offering entertainment, news, movies, music, kids, lifestyle and spiritual content.
With a focus on maximum user engagement and satisfaction, the ErosNow service will be seamlessly integrated into the user interface of Le devices purchased in India.
Eros International group CEO and MD Jyoti Deshpande said, “Content consumption is surging across consumers with patterns changing rapidly and internet entertainment networks becoming increasingly popular. Our partnership with LeEco is part of our philosophy to provide consumers entertainment whenever and wherever they want it.”
“When content owners and platforms come together like Eros and LeEco, we provide a compelling consumer proposition. We are confident the LeEco range will be able establish its success in the attractive Indian market bundled with our premium content that consumers will love,” she added.
LeEco Asia Pacific CEO Tin Mok said, “We are excited to be entering the attractive and vibrant Indian market and partner with some great companies here like Eros who is a proven market leader in Indian entertainment. We sold four million phones in China last year and our target this year is 15 million and we hope to replicate that success in India and wow the Indian consumer with our super phones and televisions packed with features. We are pioneers and innovators in the technology world and creating a seamless ecosystem has worked for us very well in China. We believe the Indian consumer will get great value and user experience from our cool phones at compelling prices with annual subscription of ErosNow built into the price.”
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.
