iWorld
The Family Man season 3 steals the spotlight at star-studded Iffi gala
GOA: Spy-lights, camera, action! Prime Video’s The Family Man season 3 lit up the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa on 21 November, where the first episode of the much-loved thriller opened to roaring applause in a packed auditorium.
The gala premiere turned star-studded as Prime Video India head of hindi scripted series Sahira Nair, arrived alongside creator-writer-director duo Raj and DK, lead actors Manoj Bajpayee, Jaideep Ahlawat, Nimrat Kaur, and writer-director Suman Kumar, who helms the new season with Tusshar Seyth. The team was felicitated by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting additional secretary Shri Prabhat, before engaging fans in a lively conversation about the storyline, character arcs, and the season’s formidable new adversaries.
Raj and DK described their return to Iffi as “special,” reminiscing about earlier screenings of Go Goa Gone and The Family Man Season 2. “The overwhelming reception to episode one, combined with early love from fans and the press, has been incredible,” they said. “We’ve worked hard to make Season 3 bigger, better and endlessly entertaining.”
Manoj Bajpayee, who returns as the ever-relatable yet razor-sharp Srikant Tiwari, said the character’s popularity continues to amaze him. “This role has connected me with a wider audience than ever before. With Raj and DK’s vision and Prime Video’s support, the journey has been truly rewarding,” he added.
New antagonist Jaideep Ahlawat, who plays Rukma, said diving into a negative role opposite India’s favourite ‘family man’ was “an exciting challenge”. Nimrat Kaur, who joins the franchise as Meera, said she had long admired Raj and DK’s work. “Being part of such a beloved global franchise has been a thrill,” she noted.
Season 3 puts Srikant Tiwari on the back foot as he and his family find themselves on the run, not just from new foes Rukma and Meera, but also from Tasc, his own intelligence unit. With the hunter becoming the hunted, the series promises high-octane stakes wrapped in the trademark wit and unpredictability that fans relish.
Produced by D2R Films, the latest season is written by Raj, DK and Suman Kumar, with dialogues by Sumit Arora. Returning cast members include Sharib Hashmi, Priyamani, Ashlesha Thakur, Vedant Sinha, Shreya Dhanwanthary and Gul Panag.
The Family Man Season 3 is now streaming on Prime Video across India and in over 240 countries and territories worldwide.
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.
