Paramount Tells Bidders Possible Sale of BET Media Group Is Off

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Offers weren’t rich enough to offset unit’s value to company

Kid Capri performs onstage during the BET Awards 2023 at Microsoft Theater on June 25, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Kid Capri performs onstage at the 2023 BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Image credit: Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for BE)

Paramount Global has informed companies bidding for its BET Media Group that it is no longer interested in selling a majority stake in the unit.

Paramount received unsolicited interest in BET Media Group, which includes BET, BET Plus, BET Studios and VH1, earlier this year and retained financial advisers to evaluate offers, according to a source familiar with the process.

Interested parties reportedly included Tyler Perry, Byron Allen and Sean (Diddy) Combs.

Paramount and its advisers determined that the prices bidders were willing to pay wasn't enough to offset the benefits of owning a majority stake in BET Media Group. 

Paramount was reportedly looking for more than $3 billion for BET Media Group and none of the bids reached that price tag.

A sale would have enabled Paramount to reduce its debt and return BET to majority Black ownership.

Paramount had no comment on the situation, which was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.