All posts tagged: Bill Ackman

UMG Issues Statement on Bill Ackman Acquisition Proposal

UMG Issues Statement on Bill Ackman Acquisition Proposal

Universal Music Group issued a brief statement Monday addressing Bill Ackman‘s proposal to acquire the record company, stating that the company’s board of directors and advisors “will review the proposal in accordance with its fiduciary duties and analyze its implications for shareholders, employees, artists, songwriters and other stakeholders.” “The Board of Directors has complete confidence in UMG’s strategy and the leadership of Sir Lucian Grainge and the Company’s management team,” the company said. “UMG will have no further comment on the proposal until the Board of Directors completes its review.” Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management had unveiled its proposal late Monday, in a takeover bid worth about $63 billion. Ackman argued UMG’s stock is undervalued despite its status as the world’s largest music company, citing several factors including a delay to get UMG listed on the U.S. stock market (the company is currently traded out of Euronext and Ackman had pushed to get a U.S. listing too), as well as “suboptimal shareholder investor relations, communications, and engagement.” “Since UMG’s [stock market] listing, [UMG chairman and CEO] Sir …

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Offers to Buy Universal Music Group

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Offers to Buy Universal Music Group

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management unveiled a non-binding proposal to the board of directors of music giant Universal Music Group (UMG), the musical home of such stars as Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar, to acquire all of its outstanding shares in a mega-transaction valued at around $63.5 billion, “together with a value creation plan designed to deliver significant benefits to UMG stakeholders.” Pershing, which has owned a stake in the music major since 2021, said its offer values each share of UMG at €30.40, putting the total value of UMG under the overall deal at about €55 billion, or $63.5 billion. “Since UMG’s [stock market] listing, [UMG chairman and CEO] Sir 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,” said Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman. “However, 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 …

Trump calls for one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%

Trump calls for one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%

A shopper pays with a credit card at the farmer’s market in San Francisco on March 27, 2025. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was calling for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10% starting on Jan. 20, but he did not provide details on how his plan would come to fruition or how he planned to make companies comply. Trump also made the pledge during the 2024 campaign, which he won, but analysts dismissed it at the time, saying such a step required congressional approval. Lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties have raised concerns about high rates and have called for those to be addressed. Republicans currently hold a narrow majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. There have been some legislative efforts in Congress to pursue such a proposal but they are yet to become law and in his post Trump did not offer explicit support to any specific bill. Opposition lawmakers have criticized Trump, a Republican, …