The Bolloré Group, which holds nearly one-third of Universal Music Group’s shares, recommended that the company’s management reject Bill Ackman’s proposal to acquire the music giant. Cyrille Bolloré, CEO of the Bolloré Group, declared during the annual shareholders meeting that the offer price fell significantly short of expectations and warned that the bid relied on company funds rather than Ackman’s own capital.

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management, which owns about 10% of Universal Music’s stock, made a non-binding bid exceeding $60 billion to acquire the firm and merge it with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings. The deal also included plans to relocate Universal Music’s headquarters from Amsterdam to Nevada and switch its stock listing from Euronext Amsterdam to the New York Stock Exchange — a move Ackman proposed following an incident involving fans of an Israeli soccer team in Amsterdam.

With the Bolloré Group controlling approximately 18.4% of Universal Music and the Bolloré family holding a further stake via Vivendi SE (which owns another 13.4%), their combined influence approaches 32%. Since approval of Ackman’s bid requires a two-thirds shareholder majority, securing Bolloré’s support was critical. Cyrille Bolloré explicitly urged company management to reject the offer, indicating he considered the proposal effectively dismissed.

Cyrille Bolloré stepped down as Universal Music’s board chairman the previous year to concentrate on his group’s business amid regulatory challenges in France. Ackman’s Pershing Square entered Universal Music’s shareholder ranks in 2021. He has argued that the company’s stock underperforms due to market uncertainty around the Bolloré Group’s stake, despite strong operational performance under CEO Lucian Grainge.

Ackman, who formerly held a 4.7% stake and was a board member until last May, saw Universal Music shares rally by over 8.5% when news of his bid broke. However, the stock subsequently retreated slightly. Universal Music’s recent earnings report showed flat year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter, though the company expects cost savings from its acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings in the near future.