Cyrille Bolloré, Chair and CEO of the Bolloré Group, has encouraged Universal Music Group (UMG) management to reject a $64.4B offer from Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square.

Speaking at the Bolloré Group AGM in Paris on Wednesday, Bolloré said he believed the offer undervalued the company and also questioned whether Ackman’s management style suited the music group.

The Bolloré Group can veto the deal. It owns an 18.4% stake in UMG, while Vivendi, in which the group has a 29.3% stake, owns 13.4% of the music group

“We believe the price is absolutely not high enough” said Bolloré, in the first public comments from the group since the Pershing Square offer was made in April.

“I don’t know whether he is compatible with the management of this society,” added Bolloré. “In any case, he is more abrupt, more rapid.”

Bolloré, who is the son of logistics and media mogul Vincent Bolloré, held a non-executive position on the UMG board until July 2026

He resigned the position to focus on the Bolloré Group, but said a release announcing his stepping down said that he remained supportive of UMG´s management team.

Bolloré’s comments will be a blow to Ackman’s bid to take control of the legendary music group. As he launched his bid in April, the billionaire hedge fund manager his first call had been to the Bolloré family ahead of announcing his offer.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran agent Ollie Fitzgerald has joined WME as Executive, Music for Visual Media. Based in London, he will report to Bradley Rainey, Head of Music for Visual Media at WME.

Fitzgerald joins from Cool Music, where he led the UK team, representing some of the UK’s most prominent composers in film, TV, and gaming, including Oscar winners Rachel Portman and Anne Dudley, Lorne Balfe, Jon Hopkins, Olafur Arnalds, Ben Salisbury, Martin Phipps, and many others. Prior to that, he led the promotion department in the music division of Oxford University Press, earlier in his career working at both Abbey Road Studios and IMG Management. Fitzgerald graduated from Brunel University, London, with a degree in music, specializing in composition and performance.

“Ollie has identified and elevated the careers of some of the most exciting emerging composers and artists working in visual media today,” WME’s Rainey told Deadline. “His addition to our team in London strengthens our footprint there and brings the kind of curatorial instinct and industry relationships that will have a real impact for our clients and team.”

WME’s Music for Visual Media roster also includes award-winners like Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Jonny Greenwood, Max Richter, Mica Levi, and Jerskin Fendrix, among many others. The department has represented seven of the Best Score Oscar winners out of the last eight years, including this year’s winner, Sinners’ Ludwig Göransson.

EXCLUSIVE: All3Media International‘s long-serving Australian sales exec Julie Dowding is set to retire.

Dowding has been with All3Media’s sales division in Sydney for a decade, most recently as Senior VP, Australia and New Zealand. Overall, she has more than four decades of experience in the industry.

All3Media, which is in the process of merging with Banijay, sells the likes of The Traitors, Googlebox, Squid Game: The Challenge, The Tourist, Race Across the World, Midsomer Murders and All Creatures Great and Small on the international market. Dowding shops the shows locally.

“Our wonderful colleague Julie Dowding will be retiring this time next week,” said Louise Pedersen, All3Media International CEO in a statement to Deadline. “I just want to say a huge thank you to Julie who has grown our Australia business massively over her 10 years with us, and has licensed over 1200 titles into the region.   

Before All3, Dowding had a long spell at BBC Studios predecessor BBC Worldwide before exiting in 2013. She later began consulting for All3’s Australia office and then joined full time in September 2016, taking her current post in January 2020.

Her retirement has in the works for some time now, and Pedersen said last year’s hire of former ITV Studios exec Micah Hewson kicked of a handover process. He now takes over her Australian duties and will work alongside Alex Euler on content distribution in New Zealand.

Hewsom and Euler report to Sabrina, who heads All3Media International’s Asia Pacific team as Executive Vice President.

“All of us at All3Media International wish Julie a fabulous new chapter – knowing she will be greatly missed,” added Pedersen.