Photo Credit: Bill Ackman by Adam Jeffery for CNBC
On the heels of its failed Universal Music Group (UMG) takeover attempt, Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square is reportedly preparing to sell off its remaining interest in the major label.
That’s according to an early release from Bank of America, which pointed to Pershing’s imminent divestment of approximately 80.6 million shares. Via various Pershing funds, Ackman possesses roughly 4.74% of Universal Music’s stock at present – or around 87 million shares, the appropriate investor-relations page shows.
The precise reason for the owned and to-be-sold shares’ discrepancy is unclear, and Pershing itself hasn’t yet commented on the rumored plans. DMN reached out to Pershing for details about the sale’s exact timing and size but didn’t immediately receive a response.
In any event, Bloomberg indicated that the shares would be priced at between €17.66 ($20.48) and €18.62 ($21.59) a pop – or, even on the high end, noticeably beneath the major label’s current per-share value of €19.20 ($22.27).
The prospective seller’s conspicuous silence aside, it doesn’t appear that Ackman and Pershing – meaning the newly listed multibillion-dollar entity that trades as NYSE: PS – intend to step away from the public eye.
Pershing yesterday revealed that Ackman would participate in a “live audio webcast and conference” as well as a follow-up “live Spaces Q&A event on X” following each quarterly earnings release.
“Pershing Square will announce the date for its second quarter 2026 earnings release, conference call and X Spaces event in due course,” the business continued.
And in the bigger picture, though Pershing’s unsuccessful $64 billion bid undoubtedly prompted the divestment, the underlying disagreement can be traced to at least 2024.
While the fact has receded into the background amid a rapid-fire news cycle and a propensity for brass-tacks coverage, 2024 is when Ackman called on Universal Music to shift its main stock listing from Amsterdam to the States.
(This proposed pivot was a key part of the $64 billion takeover offer as well.)
UMG pushed back, and evidently, the move didn’t materialize. Instead, Pershing distributed about 50 million Universal Music shares in early 2025 and sold additional shares soon thereafter.
May then saw Ackman step down from Universal Music’s board, and the major in March 2026 disclosed that it’d shelved plans for a Pershing-spearheaded secondary stock listing in the U.S.
In brief, the writing was on the wall well before Bolloré urged Universal Music to reject Pershing’s offer. Now, all eyes are on the stock sale itself – especially because a different activist investor, Independent Franchise Partners, quietly took a 3% stake in UMG closer to 2026’s beginning.
Furthermore, despite his clear-cut opposition to Pershing’s offer, Bolloré Group CEO Cyrille Bolloré did acknowledge a willingness to part with a few percent of Universal Music Group for the right price.
