iWorld
PM Modi, Sonu Sood & Kunal Kamra top Twitter engagement in Oct 2020
NEW DELHI: Social media analytics firm Twitteet has released its October analytics report. Leading their respective fields in terms of engagement were prime minister Narendra Modi, actor Sonu Sood, and comedian Kunal Kamra, all of whom accounted for a total of over one crore impressions on Twitter in the month of October.
Key highlights of the first report include the remarkable rise of Tejashwi Yadav, who clocked over 1.24 million engagements in October, overshadowing incumbent Bihar CM Nitish Kumar who managed only 133,879 engagements. PM Narendra Modi topped the overall Indian Twitter engagement rankings with over 7.2 million impressions.
Sonu Sood, who was dubbed ‘messiah of migrants’ at the peak of the Covid2019 pandemic, topped Twitter engagement among Bollywood stars with a phenomenal 2.4 million engagements. Shah Rukh Khan was at second position with 7.3 lakh engagements. Akshay Kumar with 6.72 lakh engagements was in third place, and Anupam Kher with 4.74 lakh engagements came in fourth. Former Maharashtra CM, the late Vilasrao Deshmukh’s actor-son Riteish Deshmukh was at fifth position with 4.2 lakh engagements. Pooja Hegde was the surprise entrant into the top 10 with 2.51 lakh engagements.
Controversial stand-up comic Kunal Kamra topped the list of comedians with 1.1 million engagements. Kamra, a frequent and favourite target of brickbats from certain sections of social media, is active on Twitter where he posts his frank takes on hot-button issues, often laced with his signature pithy humour. Recently, he was in the news for a series of tweets taking aim at the Supreme Court and the bench of judges who granted bail to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in an abetment to suicide case.
The IPL was the flavour of the season for cricketers and it comes as no surprise that India captain and expectant father Virat Kohli scored the highest Twitter engagement, with 2.4 million impressions. Suresh Raina was at second position with 1.9 million engagements. Former stars Sachin Tendulkar at third position, Harbhajan Singh at fifth position, and Virendra Sehwag at sixth position, actively engage with fans and followers on Twitter with 1.5 million; 6.8 lakh and 6.3 lakh engagements. Aakash Chopra, now a commentator, is also hugely popular and ranked in the fourth place with over 9.65 lakh engagements on Twitter in October. Perennial favourite Mahendra Singh Dhoni was completely inactive on Twitter in October despite more than 8.1 million followers.
In the intensively competitive journalists category, News Nation’s Deepak Chaurasia topped Twitter engagement with a whopping 1.88 million engagements. AajTak’s Rohit Sardana was at second position with 1.1 million engagement, followed by Sushant Sinha with 1.05 million impressions. Veteran journalist and India Today’s consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai came in at number eight with 6.6 lakh engagements, and Rana Ayyub was at sixth position with 7.6 lakh engagements.
In the business leaders category, Anand Mahindra towered over others with over 4 lakh engagements. RPG Groups chief Harsh Goenka was at second position with 2.2 lakh engagements. Chinese mobile phone brands India CEO’s Manu Kumar Jain of Xiaomi and RealMe’s Madhav Sheth were at third and fourth position respectively with 1.5 lakh and 1.1 lakh engagements. Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji with 49,000 engagements was at fifth position, Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw with 41,000 engagements at sixth position, Marico’s Harsh Mariwala with 24,000 engagements is at seventh position, Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma with 19,000 engagements at eight position and chairman of JSPL and former MP, Naveen Jindal with 16,000 engagements is at ninth position. Google’s Global CEO Sundar Pichai with 15,000 engagements is at tenth position.
This is the first time social media analytics for Twitter engagement across 20 categories have been done on a daily, monthly basis in a transparent manner. The categories whose Twitter engagement have been analysed include politicians (party-wise), journalists, business leaders (founders & investors), sportspersons (cricket and other sports), movie stars (Bollywood and regional), authors, chefs, and comedians.
Here are the winners from some key categories:
1. Politicians – Narendra Modi – 72,15,913 Twitter engagements
2. Bollywood – Sonu Sood – 24,36,601 Twitter engagements
3. Business Head – Anand Mahindra – 4,08,882 Twitter engagements
4. Cricketer – Virat Kohli – 24,65,918 Twitter engagements
5. Sports Star (non-cricket) – Vijender Singh – 4,27,006 Twitter engagements
6. TV Star – Sidharth Shukla – 3,90,901 Twitter engagements
7. Journalist – Deepak Chaurasia – 18,88,720 Twitter engagements
8. Founders – Kunal Shah – 60,093 Twitter engagements
9. Comedians – Kunal Kamra – 11,46,111 Twitter engagements
10. Regional Cinema Star – Mahesh Babu – 7,32,964 Twitter engagements
11. Authors – Anand Ranganathan – 5,36,874 Twitter engagements
12. Investor – Mohandas Pai – 99,741 Twitter engagements
Said Twitteet co-founder Sandeep Amar: “Our social monitoring and actionable insights to the leaders across various domains and also to businesses and marketers. We run daily analysis of all engagements – which are the total of likes and retweets, collate these every month, across categories; and then slice and dice them to mine actionable insights. At some level, a leader's Twitter engagement gives one sense of his connect with his constituents and what are the key issues that matter. We hope to sharpen this data over time and broad base our offerings to other social platforms and geographies.”
iWorld
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square makes $64 billion bid to acquire Universal Music Group
Ackman pitches NYSE relisting plan as UMG board weighs unsolicited offer
The hedge fund has proposed a business combination that values UMG at €30.40 per share, representing a hefty 78 per cent premium to its current trading price. The offer includes €9.4 billion in cash alongside stock in a newly formed entity, with shareholders set to receive €5.05 per share in cash and 0.77 shares in the new company for each UMG share they hold.
Under the proposal, UMG would merge with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings Ltd and re-emerge as a Nevada-based entity listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The move is designed to boost investor visibility and potentially secure inclusion in major indices such as the S&P 500.
Pershing Square Capital Management ceo Bill Ackman argued that while UMG’s operational performance remains strong, its market valuation has lagged due to external factors. “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business,” Ackman said, pointing to concerns ranging from shareholder overhang to delayed US listing plans.
Ackman also flagged what he sees as untapped potential in UMG’s balance sheet and a lack of clear capital allocation strategy. He added that the market has not fully recognised the value of UMG’s €2.7 billion stake in Spotify, alongside gaps in investor communication.
The proposed transaction would also result in the cancellation of around 17 per cent of UMG’s outstanding shares, while maintaining its investment-grade balance sheet. Pershing Square has said it will fully backstop the equity financing, with debt commitments secured at signing. The deal is targeted for completion by the end of the year.
UMG, however, has struck a measured tone. The company confirmed that its board has received the non-binding proposal and will review it with advisers. It reiterated confidence in its current strategy and leadership under Lucian Grainge, signalling no immediate shift in stance.
The proposal comes at a time when global music companies are navigating evolving investor expectations, streaming economics and capital allocation pressures. For Pershing Square, the bet is clear: sharpen the financial story, relist in the US, and let the music play louder in the markets.
Whether UMG’s board is ready to change the tune remains to be seen, but the spotlight on its valuation just got a lot brighter.
