Bloomberg<\/em> also reported that Morgan Stanley is working on the share sale.<\/p>\n In a statement published on X <\/a>earlier today, Ackman said: “We decided to sell a portion of our UMG position today.”<\/p>\n Added Ackman: “UMG has substantially outperformed the rest of our portfolio (other than the GSEs) year to date in light of its extremely strong recent results.<\/p>\n “UMG was our largest position going into the day at more than ~27% of our capital. After the sale, it will still be our largest position at about ~17% of the portfolio.”<\/p>\n Ackman’s statement on X continued: “[Sir Lucian Grainge] and the UMG team have done a superb job growing the company. We believe UMG is one of the best businesses we have ever owned.<\/p>\n “Late last year, we exercised our registration rights in order that UMG obtains a listing on a major U.S. exchange later this year, which we believe will be extremely beneficial to the company.<\/p>\n “In a world of uncertainty, owning a royalty on music with the best management team in the industry is a blissfully comfortable and profitable place to be.”<\/p>\n Universal Music Group, which is listed on the Euronext in Amsterdam, saw its share price close at \u20ac27.90 on Thursday.<\/p>\n UMG published its Q4 and FY 2024 results on last week, posting overall revenues in FY 2024 (across recorded music, publishing, and more) of EUR \u20ac11.834 billion (USD $12.81bn)<\/strong>, up\u00a07.6% YoY<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n The company\u2019s recorded music subscription revenues, meanwhile, hit\u00a0EUR \u20ac4.624 billion<\/strong>\u00a0annually, up\u00a09.1% YoY,\u00a0<\/strong>which\u00a0represented the equivalent of\u00a0USD $5.00 billion<\/strong>, according to average exchange rates for the year\u00a0as per IRS data.<\/p>\n The firm\u2019s adjusted EBITDA hit\u00a0\u20ac2.661 billion ($2.88bn)<\/strong>, up\u00a013.8% YoY<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In January we reported that Ackman\u2019s Pershing Square Capital Management (PSCM) was closing out an investment fund that held a stake in Universal Music Group<\/a> and was distributing 47 million shares of the music company to the fund\u2019s co-investors.<\/p>\n The news came the same day that\u00a0Pershing Square Holdings<\/strong>, a closed-ended fund owned by PSCM, announced it had received regulatory approval to delist from the Amsterdam Euronext stock exchange.<\/p>\n Pershing Square Holdings\u00a0controlled\u00a010.25%<\/strong>\u00a0of UMG\u2019s stock<\/a>\u00a0at the end of 2023, according to UMG\u2019s annual report for the year.<\/p>\n The\u00a047 million<\/strong> shares that Pershing Square distributed in January amounted to 2.6%<\/strong> of UMG\u2019s outstanding shares. After the distribution, the investment company still held 140 million<\/strong>\u00a0shares, or\u00a07.6%<\/strong> of UMG, Pershing Square said in a statement in January.<\/p>\n \u201cThe PSVII funds have elected to distribute UMG stock to their limited partners rather than cash because we believe that UMG stock is substantially undervalued at its current share price, and the tax-free stock distribution enables our limited partners to continue to own UMG shares,\u201d Pershing Square said at the time.<\/p>\n Pershing Square acquired its 10% stake in UMG in the summer of 2021 through a\u00a0series<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0transactions<\/a>.<\/p>\n As noted by Ackman in his statement published to X today, late last year, Pershing Square requested a secondary listing of UMG on a US stock exchange.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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