Towards the beginning of this year, Paramount Global put Black Entertainment Television (BET) up for sale, and the leading bidder doesn’t seem willing to spend the $3 billion price. According to the New York Post, Tyler Perry has made his final offer, but it may be short of what Paramount wanted to sell the company for.
The deal for the BET Group reportedly includes the BET cable channel, BET+, and VH1. The actor already has a 25 percent stake in BET and BET+ since 2019. He helped bring BET to the streaming world by launching BET+, so he seems like the most qualified bidder to take over the BET Group. Tyler Perry also has the funds to follow through on his bid, partnering with a private equity firm.
“When this came up, I thought ‘Wow, this is meant to be’. What I can tell you is it’s worth a lot more with me than it is without me,” said Tyler Perry in an interview last March.
Tyler Perry has offered just around $2 billion for the BET Group. This is short of the $3 billion Paramount reportedly wants. In 2000, Paramount bought the channel from Viacom for only $2.7 billion. BET Group’s current Ebitda tally is $325 million, and Paramount wants “roughly ten times” that before accepting an offer.
Overall, Paramount Global reported $15.6 billion in combined debt last March. The company owns Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, MTV, CBS, and Simon & Schuster, a book publisher that’s also up for sale.
In March, Curtis Jackson (aka 50 Cent), Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Shaquille O’Neal also considered bidding for BET but have since backed out.
Now the question is will Paramount accept less for the BET Group or will they decide to keep the channels. This also raises the question about if Paramount will keep all the channels running if it fails to sell. What will the future of VH1 be for example?
For now, we will have to wait and see but this may be the final serious bid for the BET Group of channels and streaming services.