Universal Music Shares Fall After Ackman Fund Offloads $1.5 Billion Stake

By Adria Calatayud

Universal Music Group shares fell after Bill Ackman's Pershing Square sold its stake valued at more than $1.5 billion, exiting the world's biggest music company five years after its initial investment.

Shares in Universal Music were down as much as 7.6% at 17.74 euros in European early morning trading Thursday, deepening their year-to-date loss to nearly 20%.

The billionaire's hedge-fund firm moved to offload its remaining stake in Universal Music shortly after a $65 billion takeover attempt was rebuffed. The stake amounted to around 80.6 million Universal Music shares valued at well over $1.5 billion and Pershing Square expected to make profits of at least $600 million from the move, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Universal Music, the company behind artists such as Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, separately said it bought back 250 million euros of its own stock from Pershing Square as part of an existing 500 million-euro repurchase program.

The shares, which represent a stake of about 0.8%, were bought at 17.66 euros apiece, Universal Music said. This represents an 8% discount to its closing price on Wednesday.

Ackman first invested in Universal Music in 2021, when the company was still owned by French media conglomerate Vivendi before its spinoff and listing on Euronext Amsterdam.

Pershing Square earlier this year made an offer to take over Universal Music, but the bid was rejected by Universal Music's board on the grounds that it undervalued the company. Universal Music's largest shareholder, France's Bollore Group, had voiced opposition to a deal.

While Pershing's move isn't a surprise after Universal Music rejected its offer, it is bad news for the company nevertheless, ING analysts David Vagman and Maxime Stranart said in a research note. "The exit by a fan with such high visibility sends a negative signal of its own," they said.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 04, 2026 04:01 ET (08:01 GMT)