Diddy Looking to Nab Majority Stake in BET as Paramount Global Puts Network Up for Potential Sale

The WWE, which has been exploring a potential sale over the past few months, is in the process of being acquired by UFC parent Endeavor Group Holdings.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Bad Kids,” a hit series from Chinese streamer iQiyi, is to be remade as a Japanese feature film “Gold Boy.” The 12-episode gritty crime thriller depicts the troubles that arise after three children accidentally film a murder. The series was previously licensed to Japanese pay-TV group Wowow.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Tanya Giles is stepping down as chief programming officer for streaming at Paramount Global. Giles was promoted in June 2021 to help oversee all streaming content programming efforts for the media conglomerate that has invested heavily in its Paramount+ streaming platform. News of Giles’ departure was first reported by Deadline. The move comes as Paramount Global has been taking steps to further streamline its content, production and network operations under an increasingly smaller number of leaders. In late January, the company unveiled the plan to consolidate its stalwart pay TV cabler Showtime with the Paramount+ platform.

Paramount Global has named Kristin Southey EVP, Investor Relations, effective immediately. She succeedes Anthony DiClemente, who will remain with the media company through mid-April to ensure a smooth transition.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Republic Pictures, an historic movie label founded in 1935 and shuttered in 1967, has been revived by parent company Paramount Global. The banner will function as an acquisitions play, releasing titles acquired by Paramount Global Content Distribution. “We’ve chosen to revitalize the Republic banner given its storied history of delivering popular movies to a global audience, ” said Dan Cohen, Paramount chief content licensing officer and newly-named president of Republic Pictures. “With our best-in-class global distribution teams working to identify the best homes around the world, we aim to continue that legacy by offering audiences great entertainment across all genres.”

Shari Lynette Carpenter, Miko Lim and Oscar Rene Lozoya have been selected to participate in the 2023-2025 Paramount Directors Initiative, Paramount Global announced on Thursday.

Fremantle Acquires Majority Stake In Belguim’s A Team ProductionsFremantle has acquired a majority stake in A Team Productions (ATP). Based in Belgium, A Team Productions was founded in 2009 and is led by Kobe van Steenberghe and Hendrik Verthé. The company is behind the 2011 short film Land of the Heroes, which won the International Jury Prize at Berlin in 2011. A Team also produced the short Baghdad Messi, which was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2014. Other credits from the outfit include Patser (Gangsta) by filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. Later this year, A Team will release the feature-length film Baghdad Messi and the high-end fiction series Alter Ego. “I have long admired Kobe, Hendrik, and the whole ATP team’s work,” said Dave Heuten, CEO Fremantle Belgium. “I am excited to be going on this journey with them, finding synergies and developing new content together – I can’t wait to work with this brilliant team and achieve great things together.”

Bob Bakish, chief executive of Paramount Global, saw total compensation in 2022 of $32 million, up from $20 million the year before.

Paramount Global is shuffling its board of directors, including the addition of Dawn Ostroff, who will serve as an independent non-executive director, the company announced Friday. The filing also noted that Bob Bakish would be making $31.5 million.Ostoroff’s seat is pending a stockholder vote that will take place at Paramount’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders later this year. Bakish, who serves as Paramount Global’s president will be receiving a pay boost to $31.5 million as a result of $16 million stock awards grant.

William Earl Former Spotify, Conde Nast and CW executive Dawn Ostroff is set to join the board of directors for Paramount Global in May. Ostroff is poised to join the board as an independent director at Paramount Global’s annual meeting on May 8. Incumbent board members Candace Beinecke and Ronald Nelson will not stand for re-election at that meeting, which will bring the number of board members to 11, including Ostroff. “We are thrilled to welcome Dawn to Paramount’s Board at such an exciting moment in our evolution,” said Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone. “We believe her leadership, diverse expertise in content strategy and her long track record of driving transformation will prove invaluable as we seek to continue building on the success of Paramount’s global multiplatform strategy.”

Dawn Ostroff, a seasoned media executive who most recently served as chief content and advertising business officer at Spotify, will joining the Paramount Global board, the company announced today.

Diddy has reportedly teased that he wants to purchase BET, after commenting on the network and how he thinks it should be Black-owned.According to Variety, BET Media Group’s parent company, Paramount Global, wants to unload brands such as BET, BET+, BET Studios, and even VH1.A source, who is allegedly someone close to Diddy — real name Sean Combs — said the mogul is “exploring the opportunity to purchase BET as a part of his strategy to build a Black-owned global media powerhouse.”Combs’ recent Instagram post suggested that these claims can be true. He posted a video explaining the power of media and why Black people need a specific network by @earnyourlesuire.A post shared by LOVE (@diddy)“Media is the most powerful industry in the world but it’s the industry where we have the least amount of ownership, influence and control!” he wrote. “It’s time for @BET to be Black-owned again so we have the power to tell our own stories, control our own narrative! This is not about me it’s about WE!!!!”The caption concluded with Combs stating that he’s “building a team of leaders” to “pursue ownership in BET”.

Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday bolstered recently media reports that his is kicking the tires of BET Networks, which is in the early stages of being shopped by parent Paramount Global.

We all know there are production capacity issues with vinyl right now. What can you do as an artist? How about you buy your own pressing plant? That’s what Metallica have done and I don’t see why you can’t too.The band have acquired a majority stake in the Virginia-based Furnace Record Pressing, which they have been working with since 2014 – pressing up more than five million pieces of Metallica vinyl in that time.“Building Furnace into the dedicated and experienced family of experts that it is today has been a huge effort, but immensely gratifying”, says the company’s founder Eric Astor.

BET, joining fellow media moguls Tyler Perry and Byron Allen as they vie to purchase a majority stake of BET Media Group amid reports that owner Paramount Global is exploring a sale of the asset, Variety has confirmed. Run by CEO Scott Mills, BET Media Group includes BET, BET+, VH1 (which was moved under the group in a restructuring at Paramount last November) and BET’s production arm, BET Studios. A source close to Combs tells Variety that the global music icon and record executive turned multi-industry entrepreneur is “exploring the opportunity to purchase BET as a part of his strategy to build a Black-owned global media powerhouse.”

reported on Friday. The company was founded in 2021 by Travis Montaque, Richelieu Dennis and Bonin Bough and recently put in a bid of $400 million for Vice Media.

Lashan Browning and her Antoinette Media banner is going further into business with Paramount.

former Showtime leader David Nevins’ offer to buy the network for about $3 billion.“Yeah, we got an unsolicited offer for Showtime. We looked at it,” Bakish said. “And the reality is, it wasn’t that interesting to us.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish decided to, in his words, “cross the line” and address a recent bid the company received for Showtime.

Paramount Global today announced a new brand positioning and trade campaign around the tag ‘Popular is Paramount’ to reflect “the company’s indisputable strength in making popular content and content popular for every audience.”