A new update regarding the potential sale of BET has been revealed.
According to Bloomberg, Paramount is reportedly in talks with BET CEO Scott Mills and CC Capital Founder Chinh Chu, who are looking to buy the network. Bloomberg’s anonymous sources share that the group is aiming to offer $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion.
The outlet details that the new offer follows the group’s initial attempt to purchase BET in December 2023 for “a little under $2 billion” and also comes after Paramount’s proposed merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media fell through.
As previously shared by AFROTECH™, Byron Allen has shown avid interest in being a potential buyer of BET. So much so that he reportedly placed an offer of $3.5 billion that same month. The whopping offer marked the media mogul’s second attempt to lock in the opportunity to make BET Black-owned again.
“You are pursuing an inside sale at a below-market price with management that will not yield the highest price for the stockholders,” Allen wrote in an email to Paramount Global’s management and board, per Bloomberg. “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.”
Paramount reportedly being in talks with Mills and Chu is just the latest turn of events as in August 2023, the company shared it had ended its plan to sell a majority stake in BET Media Group, as AFROTECH™ previously told you. Paramount claimed that “a sale wouldn’t result in any meaningful deleveraging of its balance sheet.” Then, by December 2023, it went back to being in talks about BET.
After reportedly placing a $2 billion bid in October, Tyler Perry was outspoken on the bidding process and described it as “disrespectful.”
“Don’t try to get me to pay for something that’s not worth anywhere near the value,” the billionaire said during Bloomberg’s Equality Summit, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
