Successful Black moguls Tyler Perry and Byron Allen are toe-to-toe for acquiring the majority stake in BET Media Group.
According to Variety, Paramount Global is looking to sell the asset, which Perry and Allen are in the run.
Unsurprisingly, Perry would want the majority stake since he not only owns a minority stake but has been doing business with the network since BET financially had a hand in his first-ever Madea movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005). Six years ago, the Good Deeds actor entered a successful TV deal with Paramount, and now his shows like House of Payne, Sistas, The Oval, Zatima and Assisted Living are still running and available on BET and BET+.
Plus, Perry sits with a net worth of $1 billion.
However, Allen is no stranger to the media world. He owns Allen Media Group, The Weather Channel, The Black News Channel, TheGrio, HBCU GO, Local Now, 27 ABC, NBC, CBS and several Fox companies.
Additionally, Allen has a net worth of $800 million.
Both men own companies that cater to the Black audience, so the decision may not be easy.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the decision to sell the stake came as the company announced it was trying to lower costs. One move they made was to fold Showtime into the Paramount+ service. While Paramount would do the same with BET+, executives know Perry wouldn’t let that slide as a minority stakeholder, nor would Black users.
Perry isn’t the only producer to have a minority stake. Producers Kenya Barris, Rashida Jones and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas also have minority stakes.
The company’s best bet is to sell it. Once sold, Parmound still plans on maintaining a relationship with BET.
Whether Allen gets the majority stake or Perry, it would still be nice to see Black people seizing ownership of BET.
