The saga of the sale for BET continues. On Dec. 20, things became a bit more interesting after Byron Allen offered $3.5 billion to Paramount for BET Media Group, according to reports by Bloomberg.
A potential sale would include BET cable channel, VH1, BET Studios and BET+, the streaming service. The offers is higher from the initial price of $2.7 billion submitted for BET earlier in 2023.
In an email reportedly sent by Allen to Paramount, the mogul wrote, “You are pursuing an inside sale at a below-market price with management that will not yield the highest price for the stockholders. We believe it would be an egregious breach of fiduciary duty by the Paramount Global management team and board of directors if BET is sold for anything less than the highest price, particularly, in order to provide a sweetheart deal to an insider at the expense of public shareholders.”
The report comes months after it was announced that the bidding process to purchase BET was over on Aug. 16.
Started by Bob Johnson in 1980, BET provided Black content in an era when minorities rarely got an opportunity to showcase work on network TV. In 2000, Johnson sold BET for $2.3 billion to Viacom. Viacom would eventually become Paramount.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Paramount was seeking to sale a majority stake in BET. Reported bidders included Tyler Perry, Byron Allen, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and 50 Cent.
Many believed that Perry would have the edge since he currently owns a minority stake in BET and produces content for BET and BET+. Allen was also viewed as a person who could make a significant run at ownership of BET due to his past success with ownership of The Weather Channel, multiple local affiliates of NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox, and his acquisition of Black News Channel.
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