Universal Music Is Going Public On The New York Stock Exchange

American billionaire Bill Ackman has revealed that he will transfer the Universal Music Group to the listing of its Amsterdam stock on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq at the end of 2025.

Pershing Square, the founder of UMG, has special privileges even for a profile shareholder, including the contractual right to force the company to rely on its large stock exchange.

Ackman also said he would move the primary public listing of his publicly traded company Pershing Square Holdings to the London Stock Exchange following a spate of anti-Semitic violence in Amsterdam.

Universal Music Group, home to stars including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Drake, will move its first public offering from the Netherlands to the United States following an anti-Semitic attack in Amsterdam this week, billionaire Bill Ackman said Friday.

Ackman wrote that its name is not listed on Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.

The Pershing Square founder and former activist also said he would like to list his publicly traded Pershing Square Holdings from Amsterdam’s Euronext to the London Stock Exchange.

“Events in Amsterdam during the last 24 hours provide an appropriate tipping point for this conclusion,” Ackman wrote.

Amsterdam authorities banned three days of protests Friday after an overnight attack on Israeli soccer fans by what the city’s mayor called “anti-Semitic commandos” and Israel said it would send many of the players home. Reuters reported.

Mayor Femke Halsema said Israeli soccer players had been “attacked, abused and set on fire” across the country. At least five people are being treated for injuries and 64 people have been arrested.

Ackman and Pershing Square are getting special privileges at Universal Music Group that allow them to force a re-IPO, the filing shows.

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UMG is splitting from Vivendi in 2021. Ackman acquired a 10% stake in UMG as part of the spin-off and is the company’s largest shareholder.

UMG’s stock has remained unchanged since the split, which Ackman says is part of the company’s ineligibility for inclusion in the S&P 500 and other U.S. stock indexes.

Pershing Square has the contractual right to enforce registration, as indicated in UMG’s prospectus. The company has 120 days to file a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission from the date of Pershing’s re-IPO application, according to the prospectus. Ackman said his ad campaign at Pershing Square has not done this right.

Credit: CNBC news