*Tyler Perry is reportedly the frontrunner in an upcoming auction to buy Black Entertainment Television (BET).
Perry, however, is said to be unwilling to pay the $3 billion asking price, according to the Daily Mail. We reported previously that Perry and Byron Allen are interested in buying BET as Paramount Global explores a potential sale of the asset which includes BET, VH1, and the BET+ streaming service.
Perry is a longtime partner with BET which airs many of his shows. Meanwhile, Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group is the largest supplier of first-run syndicated programming for broadcast television stations.
BET was founded by Robert Johnson in 1980 and was acquired by Viacom in 2001 in a deal worth $3 billion. According to reports, Diddy is also vying to buy into the cable giant.
Perry owns 25% of BET and BET+ while private equity provides the remaining financing, according to an insider, per Daily Mail. Perry and other potential investors have balked at Paramount’s $3 billion asking price for BET Group.
“He is used to getting his way and is frustrated,” the source said.
Perry told ET’s Nischelle Turner … “I’ve been there for four years now and had tremendous success. I wasn’t expecting this to happen, so, yes — if that is possible … I’m gonna take as much of it as I can.”
Meanwhile, as Deadline reports, a spokesman for Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group previously said in a statement: “Byron Allen is interested in buying BET, and he will be pursuing the acquisition of the network,”
“Part of it is — and I’ve read about Byron Allen and Puffy and everybody wanting to bid and so on and so forth, and I think it’s really great,” Perry told ET in April. “This is what I love about it — when Bob Johnson sold it in 2000, I think it was, there wasn’t one black person who could buy it. So now, to see all of these black people, men and women, who are able to be in a position to buy it? Man, that makes me feel really, really excited.”
Shaquille O’Neal, 50 Cent, and Kenya Barris are also contenders looking to buy Paramount Global’s media holdings, according to Daily Mail.
READ MORE: Not So Fast! It Seems Tyler Perry Hasn’t Inked BET Takeover Deal, Despite Reports
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