Paramount Reportedly In Talks To Sell BET For $1.6B Billion Buyout

Paramount Global is reportedly putting BET on the market again, but this time for a price ranging between $1.6-1.7 billion the exclusive price will be offered to “buyers that include” BET CEO Scott Mills and others. Mills joined BET in 1997 as senior VP of business development, before leading the company in 2018 and becoming CEO in 2021. He’s also led its Centric channel as COO and served as president of digital media. The 55-year-old has also held down the role of EVP and oversaw the launch of BET’s official website in the early 2000s. In the past, Tyler Perry, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Byron Allen were all prospective bidders of the longstanding Black Entertainment Television network. In 2023, Allen offered $3.5 billion for the network. However, Paramount withdrew BET from the market in August of last year because, “a sale wouldn’t result in any meaningful deleveraging of its balance sheet, A source from Paramount says “We made this decision because the benefits of maintaining a majority stake in BET Media Group creates more value for Paramount than any of the proposals we received. Now, Paramount Global’s Co-CEO’s have given BET a new appeal for acquisition which has included asset sales, streaming partnerships, and unfortunately job cuts. In addition of sales, Paramount sold its CBS’ New York headquarters for $760,000,000 million in 2021, as well as the CBS Studio Center lot for $1.85 billion. Additionally, Paramount Global sold Simon & Schuster for $1.62 billion to private equity firm KKR last October.

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