Stake in UMG, home to Taylor Swift, could be sold to SPAC

Vivendi is in talks to sell 10 percent of UMG – home to Taylor Swift, Drake and Billie Eilish – to a blank-cheque firm backed by billionaire Bill Ackman.

Vivendi SE is in talks to sell 10% of Universal Music Group to a blank-check firm backed by billionaire Bill Ackman while it prepares to spin off most of the world’s biggest music company. The potential transaction would value the home of Taylor Swift, Drake and Billie Eilish at 35 billion euros ($42.4 billion) including debt, Vivendi said in a statement on Friday, above the 30 billion-euro valuation ascribed to the business in 2019 when China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. acquired a stake. Ackman’s special purpose acquisition company, called Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd., raised $4 billion in a July initial public offering — a record-setting amount for a SPAC. Such firms list their shares and then merge with a private company to take it public.