Pershing Square bids for Universal Music Group
Bill Ackman's Pershing Square has offered to acquire Universal Music Group for more than $63 billion, a move that would take the Amsterdam-listed music major private before relisting it in New York.
Under the terms proposed by Pershing Square, UMG would be restructured as a Nevada corporation and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, shifting the company's primary public market from Euronext Amsterdam to the United States.
The offer price reported varies slightly across sources, with the Wall Street Journal citing a figure of more than $63 billion and Reuters placing the valuation at nearly $65 billion. The gap may reflect differences in treatment of debt or minority interests, though the sources do not elaborate.
Ackman has maintained a long-running interest in UMG. Pershing Square previously attempted to structure a blank-check vehicle to acquire a stake in the company before that effort was abandoned in 2021. Pershing Square subsequently built a direct holding in UMG around the time of its Amsterdam listing.
UMG, whose catalogue spans Republic Records, Interscope, and Island Records and whose artist roster includes Taylor Swift and Drake, represents the largest of the three major recorded-music groups. A successful transaction would be one of the largest take-privates in recent memory and would concentrate a significant portion of the global music rights market under a single US-listed vehicle controlled by a single activist manager.
