iWorld
nexGTV ropes in Saavn’s Abhesh Verma as COO
NEW DELHI: Subscription-driven video entertainment App nexGTV has appointed Abhesh Verma as chief operating officer (COO).
Verma joins nexGTV with over 16 years of experience across several industries such as entertainment, e-commerce, SEO, advertisement, venture capital and real estate. He was previously associated with the digital entertainment portal Saavn and Saavn Interactive as chief growth officer and CEO. In his new role at nexGTV, he will be spearheading executive decision-making and long-term strategic planning for the organisation.
Despite having chiefly operated from the US, Verma has developed, implemented and managed many India-centric digital media and advertisement solutions to great success for the organisations he has been associated with. ShopClassic.com, with him at the helm as its president, was driving e-commerce way back in 2000 as a website that allowed Indians to purchase and deliver gifts to each other within India. He was also instrumental in transforming Saavn’s business approach from a B2B to B2C model. He also oversaw the integration of new site acquisitions into the Saavn Interactive aegis, and was also responsible for end-to-end management and integration of new features.
Digivive Services director and CEO G.D. Singh said, “Abhesh has had a highly successful career in digital media and internet-based entrepreneurship, as can be seen by the list of professional achievements he has garnered over the years. His in-depth practical proficiency in the digital entertainment sector is one of the prime reasons why he has been chosen to spearhead nexGTV at this critical juncture of its business journey. We are confident that his on-boarding will help spur nexGTV into its next era of growth.”
Verma added, “Having worked in the digital entertainment and media industry for so long, I wanted to be associated with a novel idea that can allow me to optimally leverage the insights I’ve gained during my career so far. Joining nexGTV, which has already established itself as one of the most promising digital entertainment brands in India, gives me a chance to do exactly that. I will be looking to optimally leverage my experience with internet-based entertainment and advertisement services to further the brand’s value proposition and firmly secure its position as a frontrunner in the Indian digital entertainment ecosystem.”
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.
