Billionaire Bill Ackman’s $64 billion bid to acquire record label Universal Music Group was dealt a blow on Wednesday, as Cyrille Bolloré, CEO of major shareholder Bolloré Group, said Ackman’s price isn’t high enough and questioned “whether he is compatible” with the company.
Ackman made an offer valued at $64 billion to purchase Universal Music Group in April. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Bolloré, son of French media mogul and billionaire Vincent Bolloré, slammed Ackman’s offer on Wednesday in his first public comments since Ackman offered to purchase the label for $64 billion in April.
“We believe the price is absolutely not high enough,” Bolloré said, speaking at a Bolloré Group shareholder meeting, urging UMG’s management to reject Ackman’s bid.
Bolloré said he does not know whether Ackman is “compatible with the management" of the business adding, “In any case, he is more abrupt, more rapid.”
Ackman, who has expressed interest in acquiring the label for years, made a $64 billion offer in April to purchase UMG, which houses artists like Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar and Billie Eilish.
Bolloré’s comments are a major blow to Ackman’s bid, as Vincent Bolloré owns 18% of UMG and Vivendi, in which he owns a major stake, owns 13% of the company (Ackman’s Pershing Square owns 4.5% of UMG shares).
Ackman claimed in April the Bolloré Group was “intrigued” by his deal, but said without Bolloré’s backing, “we don't have a transaction.”
Ackman announced his bid to acquire the record label in April, saying the company’s “stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business.” Ackman’s transaction would merge the record label with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, move UMG’s primary stock listing from Amsterdam to the New York Stock Exchange and would value the company at about $35.13 per share. Upon the announcement of his bid, UMG’s shares surged about 10%. Ackman said the cash portion of the transaction would be funded with about $2.9 billion in cash from Pershing Square, $6.2 billion in debt financing and $1.7 billion from selling UMG’s stake in Spotify. Some analysts, though, doubted Ackman’s offer would go far. Nicolas Marmurek, an analyst at Square Global, told Bloomberg in April the proposal “looks very much dead from the start” without Bolloré’s backing, saying he doubted Bolloré would accept Ackman’s terms.
Ackman expressed interest in UMG as early as 2021, announcing his intention to purchase a 10% stake in the company. He initially said he would buy a 10% stake through his SPAC, but then purchased the stake through Pershing Square after pushback from regulators. Ackman sat on the company’s board of directors until he resigned in 2025, citing other commitments. While on the board, he pushed for UMG to move its stock listing to New York, saying it “trades at a large discount to its intrinsic value with limited liquidity in significant part due to it not having its primary listing” in the United States.
Ackman is worth $9 billion, according to Forbes estimates. He is the founder of Pershing Square, a hedge fund with $20 billion in assets under management. Vincent Bolloré and family are worth $10.7 billion, according to Forbes estimates. The Bolloré Group was founded in 1822 as a paper manufacturer.
Universal Music Group Shares Surge After Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Offers To Purchase Label (Forbes)
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