Tyler Perry is ‘balking at the $3BILLION asking price’ for BET
Tyler Perry is reportedly becoming frustrated with the process of trying to buy Black Entertainment Television as the asking price is claimed to be $3billion.
The media mogul, 53, has expressed an interest in buying the BET Group which not only includes the cable channels BET, VH1 and the BET streaming service.
Byron Allen and Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs are also contenders.
Shaquille O’Neal, 50 Cent and Kenya Barris, are in a rival group that also wants to buy the media holdings, but have recently lost the private equity group they were teaming with and are looking elsewhere for deep pockets, according to the New York Post .
Perry is considered the frontrunner in the upcoming auction.
The Emmy winner already owns a 25-percent stake in BET and BET+ and has private equity providing the rest of the financing, according to an insider.
Perry also produces a large portion of the programming on the cable channel and streaming service which he helped launch in 2019.
‘He is used to getting his way and is frustrated,’ the source said.
Adding to the Ruthless creator’s frustration is an erroneous report last week by the entertainment website The Streamr that Perry had already won the auction.
However, Perry and other potential investors have balked at the $3 billion asking price by BET Group’s current owner, Paramount.
The problem appeared to be multi-pronged.
All of the major contenders have expressed an interest in returning the BET group to Black ownership.
Paramount wants roughly 10 times the BET Group’s current $325 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to sources.
Unfortunately, more and more viewers are leaving cable behind in favor of streaming services, which could jeopardize future earnings.
Paramount Global, the parent company for CBS, MTV, Paramount Pictures, the Paramount+ streaming service has $15.6 billion in long-term debt as of March, according to public findings, the outlet reported.
The insider said anything below the $3 billion price would not reduce Paramount Global’s debt.
Neither Perry nor Paramount has commented.
Diddy owns several media companies including Revolt, a network rooted in hip-hop culture.
Allen bought the floundering Black News Channel last August for $11 million and immediately rebranded it as theGrio.
In a statement released at the time, the Allen Media Group CEO said ‘Unfiltered African American voices are more needed today than ever before, and theGrio is one-thousand percent committed to amplifying our perspectives and culture worldwide.’
Credit: Daily Mail
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