(Corrects to say Ackman resigned from UMG board to focus on other investments in last paragraph)
By Gianluca Lo Nostro
June 4 (Reuters) – Universal Music Group said on Thursday it has repurchased some of the shares sold by Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square, after the billionaire investor’s takeover proposal for the music company was rejected.
Pershing Square was seeking to sell around 80.6 million UMG shares in an overnight placing, expecting to earn at least $600 million in profit from the investment, Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Pershing declined to comment.
Ackman’s exit marks the end of a five-year relationship that began with the billionaire hedge fund manager as a board ally and ended with a failed $64 billion bid.
UMG, the music label home to Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar, said it bought back more than 14 million ordinary shares as part of Pershing’s disposal for roughly €250 million ($290.6 million)at €17.66 apiece.
Shares of UMG, listed in Amsterdam, slid 4.9%, adding to a 17.9% loss in value since January.
Pershing had a 4.7% stake in UMG according to LSEG data.
The share sale follows an unsuccessful attempt by Ackman — known for his aggressive activist campaigns — to buy UMG in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about €55.75 billion, according to Reuters calculations. The unsolicited bid, announced in April, was rejected by UMG’s board last month on the grounds that it materially undervalued the company.
France’s billionaire Bolloré family, UMG’s largest shareholder with an 18% stake, had urged the board to decline the offer. CEO Cyrille Bolloré told his company’s annual shareholders meeting that “the price was not there at all.”
Ackman first invested in UMG in 2021 and joined its board in 2022, at first praising the company’s business and leadership. But over time, he became frustrated with UMG’s weak share price, Bolloré’s influence, and the company’s decision to postpone its U.S. listing plans. He resigned from the board in 2025, citing new executive and board responsibilities from recent investments.
($1 = 0.8601 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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