Bill Ackman: Last News

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Billionaire Bill Ackman said in a social media post on Friday that he will attempt to terminate the Amsterdam listings of Pershing Square Holdings and Universal Music Group and move UMG’s listing to the United States, following attacks on Israeli soccer fans in the city — and says the company has a “contractual right” to force Universal Music Group to be listed in the U.S. as well, although the company posted a statement on Saturday disputing that claim. UMG has been listed on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange since it went public in 2021.

Elon Musk is backing Nelson Peltz in the proxy battle for the future of Disney.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk this week angrily told big advertisers like Disney and Apple who have halted spending on X/Twitter to “go fuck yourself.” Bill Ackman, head of investment holding company Pershing Square Holdings and an investor in X, believes Musk has a point — opining that large marketers employ a double standard in reacting to Musk’s combative rhetoric and “free speech” stance. “I thought @elonmusk’s interview with @andrewrsorkin was one of the great interviews ever,” Ackman wrote in a post on X Thursday evening, referring to Musk’s appearance the New York Times’ DealBook Summit.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAmid the massive sell-off in Netflix stock triggered by the streamer’s Q1 stumble, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman liquidated his entire holdings in the company citing new uncertainty about Netflix’s long-term business.Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management had acquired about 3.1 million Netflix shares in January. On Thursday, the firm sold that stake — resulting in about a $400 million loss on the investment.In a letter to Pershing shareholders, Ackman cited Netflix’s plans to adopt a lower-cost, ad-supported streaming plan and to try to monetize on password-sharing users as introducing new X-factors that threw off his original analysis of the company’s prospects.

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Holdings, which made a high-profile purchase of Netflix shares in January after a dip in the stock price, said it sold the stake today, having “lost confidence in our ability to predict the company’s future prospects with a sufficient degree of certainty.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe Nasdaq Composite ended the trading day Monday down 9.49% from where it started at the beginning of January, marking its worst month since March 2020 — the start of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.The Nasdaq opened Jan. 3, the first trading day of 2022, at 15,732.50.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNetflix and Spotify shares both popped Monday after Citi analysts upgraded both stocks to buy ratings, saying the market is undervaluing their longer-term upside.Shares of both companies climbed in early trading Monday, with Netflix up more than 6% and Spotify up more than 5%.In the previous 30 days, Netflix shares had slumped 32% and Spotify dropped 26% on investor concerns over slowing streaming subscriber growth. The selloff “suggests prevailing equity values don’t assume material sub growth or improving subscriber economics beyond 2023,” the Citi team led by Jason Bazinet wrote in a research note in upgrading the stocks from “neutral” to “buy.”“While Netflix and Spotify may see more modest sub growth, we see other top-line vectors,” the analysts wrote.

Netflix Co-CEO Reed Hastings bought $20 million shares of the streaming giant after a big drop in the stock price following quarterly earnings.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNetflix shares — after dropping 30% over the past week — rose more than 4% in after-hours trading Wednesday after Bill Ackman, head of the Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund, disclosed that his firm had bought more than $1 billion worth of the streamer’s stock.Starting last Friday (Jan. 21) and over the next several days, Pershing acquired more than 3.1 million shares of Netflix, “making us a top-20 shareholder in the company,” Ackman wrote in a letter to the hedge fund’s investors.Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news, and more.The hedge fund scooped up the stake in Netflix after the stock took a nosedive following its fourth-quarter 2021 earnings report, in which it forecast a much smaller-than-expected subscriber gain in the first quarter of 2022 — fueling investor fears that the category leader was losing steam.