Olympics COVID outbreak, Bill Ackman’s deal with UMG fails, Ghosn’s escape accomplices get two years in prison

Julie Hyman breaks down Monday's business headlines, including: Bill Ackman's Pershing Square deal for a 10% stake of UMG falling apart, the Olympics facing added challenges as more athletes continue to test positive for COVID days before the opening ceremony, and Michael Taylor, an accomplice in Carlos Ghosn's escape from Japan receiving two years in prison.

Video transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Some other business headlines we're watching this hour, billionaire investor Bill Ackman has dropped plans for his SPAC to buy a 10% stake in Universal Music Group for $4 billion. The Securities and Exchange Commission said the deal did not meet the requirements for a SPAC. Instead, Ackman's going to use his investment firm, Pershing Square Tontine, to buy that stake.

The two Americans who helped former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn flee from Japan have been sentenced to prison there. Michael Taylor, a 60-year-old former Green Beret, was sentenced to two years, his 28-year-old son Michael, a year and eight months. They've already served 90 days of those sentences. Ghosn had been facing financial charges in Japan. He fled in December, 2019. He now lives in Lebanon and still denies wrongdoing.

More athletes are testing positive ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Coco Gauff, the 17-year-old US Tennis star, said on social media she has COVID and will miss the games. Two South African soccer players tested positive as well as a South Korean member of the International Olympic Committee. 55 people in total connected to the games have tested positive since July 1. This as top Olympic sponsor Toyota announced it's not going to be airing any Olympic-themed advertisements on Japanese television during the Tokyo games.

You guys, in particular, the Japanese public has been very skeptical of them going ahead and having the games because of the fear that there are going to be bigger outbreaks there as a result of all of these folks coming to the country. Myles, I know you and Sozzi both have been watching this closely. But even at this late date, it still feels like it's a touch-and-go situation.

MYLES UDLAND: Yeah. And look, we'll be talking about the Olympics for the next, well, I guess, three weeks now because it's a major global event. But I think for me, as you think about what is already going wrong and what is certainly going to go wrong as the games play out, which is more athletes, more spectators, more volunteers catch COVID and then can't participate and so on and so forth, what we're learning is that the Olympics, as was conceived in the '70s and '80s and '90s, this market your city, the world comes together, and you get some economic benefit, that's obviously not true.

How many cities do we have to see struggle with the popular perception of the games in their town, struggle with the public not being on board, struggle with funding the game, so on and so forth? And so I kind of feel like-- and we'll flesh this out at a different time. It kind of seems like the answer is going to be just have the games in LA or Chicago or something every four years.

The world can come together. We can do the events. Everyone likes track and swimming every four years and gymnastics and so on and so forth. But what the games evolved into, the veneer is off. This is mask-off. It's for a US-based telco to have a big event that they broadcast. And that's why the games are happening. It's not happening because of anything that the international community--

It's certainly not that the Japanese public wants to happen. And I feel like you really can't come back from this on the other side. There's no going back from-- it doesn't matter what your country thinks, this is a sovereign nation being told by NBC Universal, you have to put this event on because we paid for it. So I don't think there's any coming back from this. But we'll table that for another time.