Bill Ackman’s $64 billion Universal Music play is part of his strategy to become the next Warren Buffett

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman’s hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital, is planning to buy Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s largest music company, which represents artists including Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles. 

The $64 billion pitch announced Tuesday is Ackman’s latest move to turn Pershing into a “modern-day” Berkshire Hathaway and make him the next Warren Buffett. Pershing currently controls 4.6% of UMG shares. The deal would merge UMG and Ackman’s Pershing Square SPARC Holdings as a joint entity to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange by the end of the year. 

“The company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” Ackman said in a statement. “However, UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business, and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”

The move comes weeks after Pershing filed to be listed Read Entire Article