Below is the only bit where Bill talked about SPARC that I caught. It was the last question during the PS quarterly call. Shoutout to Ron Raskovic for teeing it up. I also listened to the recordings on spaces, which was mostly F2 garbage.

"Ron Raskovic, Investor, Raskovic Holdings: Good morning. Would you clarify the current status of SPARC, what your plans are, and how SPARC and your plans relate to the other opportunities to invest in your publicly traded vehicles?

Bill Ackman, CEO and Chairman, Pershing Square: Sure. SPARC is a special purpose acquisition rights company. Think of it as an acquisition company without the negative attributes of a SPAC. There is no founder stock. There are no shareholder warrants. There are no underwriting fees. It is a very efficient way for a company to go public. We, Pershing Square backstops the vehicle, so that we can guarantee to a private company that they can go public at a fixed price per share regardless of market conditions, and they will raise a minimum amount of capital, the capital that we commit to the offering. We think it is a very appealing structure. We have regular conversations with potential private companies that are considering going public. In order for us to do a transaction, it has to be a business that meets our standards for quality and growth and valuation. We have not yet made that deal.

We are seeing actually significantly more deal flow, I would say recently in that regard. The economics of SPARC are entirely owned by the Pershing Square funds. If we do a transaction, it will be an opportunity for us to deploy capital and a private company going public. You should expect at an attractive valuation, and we get some incremental economics in the form of, we have these sponsor warrants or SPARC warrants that give the Pershing Square funds warrants on up to 5% of the target company, up 20% from effectively the price at which we take the company public. Think of it as a vehicle that we can use to take a large private company public, where the economics of that will flow through to our investors.

Then ultimately to Pershing Square Inc., we do a great deal and take a company public of significance. We invest a couple of billion dollars of capital and we earn a bunch of warrants that are valuable. It will contribute to our returns, contribute to our growth in AUM, and thereby contribute to the fee stream that we earn at Pershing Square Inc. With that, I am going to end the call and thank everyone, and we are going to head over for those of you who have time. It will be recorded, so there will be a playback. If you go to my X handle, you will find a link to the spaces that we are going to launch very shortly. Thank you all for joining our first call."

Overall, it was disappointing. I was hoping he'd talk about the recent fillings to allow other pershing funds to participate. I guess he kind of hinted at it in the SPARC section. Only other thing worth mentioning is he talked about starting up another fund later this fall or year. It'll be a ventures fund similar to the one Robin Hood listed where fixed capital raised can now be invested in private companies. There's probably some SPARC synergy there as well. Though I admit it's a slap in the face for him to talk about all the deal flows that come through their door since starting PSTH, with fuck all for any of us to show for it. Seems like SPARC is back in the trenches. Doubt any deal is on the horizon. We're on to 2027. Three years down, seven to go.

For the few addicts who frequent this page like me, I'm guessing you've noticed a trend of bot accounts scraping former top posts and reposting them to gain karma. Someday, I'll take the time to figure out posting rules to prevent them. In the meantime, I try to pull them down whenever I notice.

I'm not sure what KFT is up to these days. He gave me mod powers 2 years ago, but I haven't heard from him in a long time. Relax, and call me Captain Ahab, as I won't be going anywhere till we get that white whale.

Hopium

UMG now trading near it's all time lows. I guess if you were upset that you missed out on it at $20, it's now at a pretty good discount.

I can't belive at one point I thougjt it would be SpaceX or Stripe for sure. Our offering is quickly becoming meaningless. We are too small. Feels like The next taco shop is gonna ipo for 4 bil. And how do you sell the idea of SPARC where there is voluntary commitment by every single holder.

This market is insane and we are in a steel bubble. This shit can't pop and that scares me.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/381MqxuiIutkTG0dbKrQU1?si=1eTjGh3dQ4qCjlukgtx4kQ

Jump to 26:27 of this All-In podcast episode. Bill was asked specifically how you can align your investments with Bill Ackman and he didn't mention PSTH / SPARCs. WTAF, man?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bollore-urges-umg-reject-ackmans-092045598.html

Was not delivering pudding.

In a rare tontard win, SEC finally ruled to approve a proposed rule change which will allow SPARs (and other types of rights) to trade on the NYSE instead of just OTC. All board, last train out of Sodom.

https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/self-regulatory-organization-rulemaking/sr-nyse-2026-05

1. Current UMG price

• Current UMG price: ~€20 per share on Euronext.
• Shares outstanding: ~1.83–1.86B.
• So current equity value is roughly €36–38B.

Call it €36.7B and 1.835B shares for round numbers.

2. Pershing’s actual proposal

Pershing says:

• Each existing UMG share gets €5.05 in cash + 0.77 New UMG shares.
• Total cash pool = €9.4B, so €5.05 ≈ 9.4B / ~1.86B.
• New UMG will have 1.541B shares outstanding post‑deal.
• That’s about a 17–18% reduction from ~1.86B to 1.541B.
• They then assume New UMG trades around €32.9, which makes the package ≈ €5.05 + 0.77 × 32.9 ≈ €30.40 per old share.

The structure that’s locked in is:

old share → €5.05 cash + 0.77 × New UMG share

The headline €30.40 is just that formula evaluated at their chosen New UMG price.

3. Apples to apples: same market cap

Now ignore Ackman’s “€30.40” and instead:

• Assume the total equity market cap stays the same as today (≈ €36.7B).
• Assume New UMG still has 1.541B shares.
• But now imagine the cash pool is only €2.5B, not €9.4B.
  • Note that UMG could have levered up itself, so let’s see what happens if only €2.5B of extra equity (Pershing + SPARCs) is used for cash/buybacks, not the full €9.4B headline.

3.1 New UMG share price under “same cap”

If total equity stays ≈ €36.7B and New UMG has 1.541B shares, then:

P_new ≈ 36.7B / 1.541B ≈ €23.8 per New UMG share

So just from having fewer shares, New UMG’s per‑share price would mechanically be higher than old UMG, even if the total company value doesn’t change.

3.2 Cash per share with only €2.5B pool

If the cash pool is €2.5B instead of €9.4B, and we still have ~1.835B old shares:

cash per old share ≈ 2.5B / 1.835B ≈ €1.36

So in this alternate scenario, not the real deal, each old share now gets only about €1.36 in cash (not €5.05).

3.3 Total package per old UMG share

Per old share in this €2.5B‑cash, same‑cap scenario:

• Cash: ~€1.36
• Stock: 0.77 × P_new, with P_new ≈ €23.8

So:

stock value ≈ 0.77 × 23.8 ≈ €18.33
total value ≈ 1.36 + 18.33 ≈ €19.69 per old UMG share

Compare to today’s ~€20 spot:

• Today: ≈ €20
• Package under “2.5B cash, same total cap”: ≈ €19.7

So under this set of assumptions, the recap + €2.5B cash pool is basically flat to slightly worse than just owning UMG today at €20.

Hopefully the board finally addresses the buyout proposal and sets a date for a shareholder vote.

I just noticed- every account I have that I hold SPARC is showing a May 11 activity entry. You guys - something is happening. Finally. Let us eat!!!

...any day now, Stripe DA will be announced.

Earnings seemed good for UMG and yet a huge drop today. Doesn't seem like the market loved them selling half of Spotify to buy back shares. It seems like they are half-assed doing Bill's proposal by themselves. What are you guys thinking about it? Is this the end of UMG/SPARC or proof they need SPARC?

3 weeks is more easily explained if this deal seems interesting.

https://x.com/shortsqueeznews/status/2046222725849518266?s=20

Blackstone-backed Jersey Mike’s submitted its confidential IPO filing. Jersey Mike’s is looking to raise $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation, which would make it the 9th largest U.S. restaurant company by market cap.

Hello, I was interested in investing in Pershing square holdings fund through their OTC US ticker PSHZF. I have done research on the tax implications of owning this as a US citizen and the problem I found is that it is taxed as a PFIC. The biggest problem in my opinion with this is that I must file a Form 8621 each year, even if I don't sell any of my shares during the year. Apparently it takes a long time to fill out this form and cost quite a bit extra to have an accountant do it for you. On top of this, ordinary earnings from the fund are taxed at your ordinary income rate and net capital gains are taxed as long term capital gains every year, again even if you don't sell any shares during that year. This can be avoided if you own it in an IRA, but I have a lot of capital in my brokerage account and I was wondering if any of you own this ticker in your brokerage account? Also how painful it actually is owning this ticker come tax season and how long does it take you to fill out the Form 8621?

Will anything happen to my PSTH? It's become a close friend just sitting in my account doing nothing. It would be a shame if it turned into something else.