Paramount Cancels Plan To Sell BET For $3 Billion Asking Price
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Paramount Global has reportedly dropped its plan to sell its majority stake in BET Media Group, which includes BET Networks, BET+, and VH1, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The media conglomerate notified bidders on Wednesday (Aug. 16) that the sale was canceled because selling BET “wouldn’t result in any meaningful deleveraging of its balance sheet.” A source from Paramount reportedly told New York Post, “We made this decision because the benefits of maintaining a majority stake in BET Media Group creates more value for Paramount than any of the proposals we received.”
Bidders interested in purchasing the network and its subsidiaries included Tyler Perry, Byron Allen, Diddy, Kenya Barris, 50 Cent, and Shaquille O’Neal.
Paramount placed the asking price as high as $3 billion, but Perry “refused to raise his $2 billion bid,” according to the outlet.
Back in March, it was announced that Perry and Allen had expressed interest in buying BET when reports of the sale began to surface. The Madea franchise mogul is a minority stake holder in the company, helped launch BET’s streaming platform in 2019, and has a large portion of his shows like House of Payne, Sistas, Zatima, and a select number of Madea-led plays available across BET and BET+.
Diddy put his bid in for BET — days after Perry and Allen — as part of his plan to “build a Black-owned global media powerhouse” and expand his company, Combs Global. Two months later, 50, Shaq, and Barris joined forces to bid on BET as a collective with the help of CVC investment group.
However, Fif considered BET to be “Tyler Perry’s network.” He explained to Vulture, “He’s done enough work there to dominate that. And not even only dominate — I don’t think they’ve explored what it would be like not having a Tyler. And he’s created enough content that if they didn’t sell the company to him, he could go across the street and say, ‘I’m going to start my own.’”
Contrary to rumors that ran rampant on social media, Perry has never owned BET. However, “insiders” expect BET to be up for sale again once the market improves.
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