Paramount Global Exploring Sale Of Majority Stake In BET
06.03.2023 - 22:21
/ deadline.com
Paramount Global is in early exploratory talks to sell a majority stake in BET Media.
The company has been pretty clear about its desire to explore opportunities to raise cash, including an attempt to sell publisher Simon & Shuster.
It’s move with BET Media was first reported in the Wall Street Journal. The company declined to comment.
The division includes the BET linear networks, BET+ (a 2019 venture with Tyler Perry), BET Studios, launched in 2021 with partners Kenya Barris, Rashida Jones and Aaron Rashon Thomas, and VHI, which was moved under the BET umbrella last year.
A person familiar with the situation said Paramount would maintain a minority stake as well as commercial agreements with BET for content across its platforms.
Given BET’s iconic status within Black culture and the Black creative community, it could potentially see interest from Black high-net worth individuals or minority-owned institutions.
BET, or Black Entertainment Television, was founded by Robert Johnson in 1980, the first cable channel to cater to Black audiences. It was acquired by Viacom in 2001 in a deal worth $3 billion.
Paramount’s $2.2 billion deal to sell book publisher Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House fell through on regulatory concerns but it has made clear that’s a noncore asset and remains on the block. In recent years, it sold the CBS NYC headquarters known as Black Rock, and website CNet. It declined offers for Showtime, announcing other plans for that asset, namely merging it with Paramount+ in streaming and linear TV.
As the parent pivots to streaming, like most big media companies it’s spending heavily on content and anticipates peak losses in that business this year.
The talks around BET come as M&A chatter is