MW Bill Ackman says his stake in Universal Music has languished - and now he's come up with a $64 billion offer

By Nora Redmond

Universal Music Group is home to Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar.

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square has offered to buy Universal Music Group in a deal worth about EUR55 billion ($63.50 billion).

Under the terms of the proposal, the Dutch-American music company, whose artists include Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar, would merge with an acquisition vehicle set up by the hedge-fund billionaire to form a new corporation that would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Shareholders would receive EUR9.4 billion in cash and 0.77 in new shares for each share held in Universal Music (NL:UMG), valuing each one at EUR30.40 - a 78% increase to the April 2 closing price, Pershing Square said on Tuesday in the document outlining the planned transaction.

Universal Music's stock rose as much as 25% when trading opened in Amsterdam and has since settled at about a 10% climb. Shares have declined 25% from the time the recording label went public in September 2021.

"While business performance has been strong, UMG's share price has languished," Ackman said in a statement. He put the stock's "underperformance" down to a number of reasons, including the postponement of the group's U.S. listing, the lack of a publicly disclosed capital-allocation plan, and "suboptimal" shareholder communications and engagement.

Ackman also attributed the company's declining valuation to the Bolloré Group's 18% stake in the company. The Bolloré Group (FR:BOL), owned and controlled by Vincent Bolloré and his children, spun the company out from Vivendi, its former owner, in 2021.

"Notably, none of the above issues relate to the company's execution of its music business, and importantly, all of the above issues can be addressed in a merger transaction," Ackman added.

The cash portion of the proposed merger would be partially funded by the sale of Universal Music's shares in Spotify (SPOT), worth EUR1.5 billion after taxes and artists' share of the proceeds.

Spotify shares slipped 0.3% in premarket trading.

Sean Johnstone of Goldman Sachs called Pershing Square's proposal a "complicated offer" in a sales and trading desk note. "In essence this is the U.S. relisting and a share swap packaged up such that it could cause a technical squeeze (It's basically a SPAC relisting in the U.S.)," he said, referencing special-purpose acquisition vehicles. "So it's a buyback and a re-listing proposal, with a price marked at Pershing Square target price."

Universal Music Group did not immediately respond to MarketWatch's request for comment. The Bolloré Group could not be reached for comment.

-Nora Redmond

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April 15, 2026 10:18 ET (14:18 GMT)

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