Bill Ackman’s first call before launching his $64 billion bid for Universal Music Group this week was to French billionaire Vincent Bollor, a US hedge fund manager said.

Ackman later told investors that Universal’s largest shareholder’s response to his overture was “music to my ears”, adding that Bollor’s camp was “intrigued” by his proposal.

“Without Bollor, we wouldn’t have a transaction,” the 74-year-old said of the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, which directly and indirectly controls less than 32% of the estates of Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar.

Bollor, who has remained active in the business even after officially retiring, has effective blocking power over any deal through his direct shareholdings and indirect stakes through his family group ⁠ and his holdings in French media group Vivendi.

Bollor’s Paris-listed holding group did not respond to requests for comment on Ackman’s offer, which some see as a test of the French tycoon’s approach to business.

Aikman did not respond to a request for comment. Universal, which has said its board of directors is reviewing Pershing’s “unsolicited and non-binding proposal,” declined to comment.

After turning around the fortunes of his centuries-old family business, Bollor began building his empire in the 1990s through a series of opportunistic stake-building forays, notably into construction-to-media conglomerate Boygs.

He then refined that playbook with his takeover of advertising group Havas in the early 2000s, establishing the model of “creeping control” he later deployed in media and gaining a reputation for his hands-on approach.

Universal, where CEO Lucian Grange has operated with considerable autonomy, has so far proved a notable exception.

Bollor’s exposure to the world’s biggest music company, which he acquired through Vivendi’s 2021 spin-off business and its Amsterdam listing, is widely seen as one of his most successful moves.

Bollor gradually exerted his influence over Vivendi, installing colleagues on the board and strengthening his hold.

“He always knew how to unlock value, and he did it in a really shocking way with Vivendi’s assets, which brought out the real wealth within that conglomerate,” said Vincent Beaufils, author of Bollor’s biography.

Complex owned by Bollor Group

While he has reshaped France’s media landscape, culminating in Vivendi’s takeover of Lagardere and the sale of its logistics arm to CMA CGM, not all of Bollor’s bets have paid off.

Vivendi’s Telecom Italia (TIM) investment wiped out billions of euros, while a foray into Mediaset triggered a backlash and legal disputes with Silvio Berlusconi’s family, and a full takeover at Ubisoft stalled after pressure was resisted.

Forbes estimates Bollor and his family’s net worth to grow from $5.2 billion in 2017 to $9.8 billion in 2026.

Ackman, which owns 4.7% of Universal and was a member of its board until May last year, offered Bollor and other shareholders the option to exchange their stock for cash or a stake in a new US-listed entity.

“He would look at it very coldly and analytically,” said one person who worked with Bollor. Meanwhile, two industry executives who have dealt with him in the past said Bollor’s decisions can be difficult to predict.

JPMorgan analysts are among those who are unconvinced that Ackman will get the response he wants, saying Universal would struggle to recommend a proposal that “materially undervalues” the group.

A key factor shaping Bollor’s thinking is his group’s highly complex ownership structure, they said in a note on Friday, adding that they expect him to reject Pershing’s bid.

“He does not need cash; he is a buyer, not a seller, of UMG shares; he is unlikely to sell at a discount to fair value; he will not want to dilute his influence; and he has historically favored a European listing and domicile for UMG”.

Bollor’s group said it had a net cash position of about 5.6 billion euros ($6.55 billion) at the end of last year.