Sean “Diddy” Combs is the latest business mogul to express interest in buying BET Media Group as Paramount Global plans to sell a majority stake.
Variety A source close to Combs reported on Monday “exploring whether to buy BET as part of its strategy to build a global black-owned media powerhouse.”
Combs already owns the music-focused Revolt television network, which he founded in 2013.
A Monday story about the Revolt The website said Diddy “seeks to expand his empire in a way that will undoubtedly elevate culture and create wealth in the black community.”
Related story: Tyler Perry and Kelly Rowland team up for new Netflix movie ‘Mea Culpa’
BET Media Group includes BET, BET+, BET Her, BET Studios (BET’s production arm), BET Digital, and VH1, which was transferred to the group in a corporate shakeup in 2022.
Last week, reports surfaced in several trade publications that Paramount Global wanted to sell a majority stake in BET Media Group. As previously reported, selling the group would provide Paramount Global with cash to invest in programming for its Paramount+ streaming platform and the company’s free Pluto TV streaming service.
Tyler Perry and Byron Allen have also expressed interest in buying BET Media Group.
Perry, who already owns a minority stake in streaming platform BET+, has a long relationship with BET. Allen owns The Weather Channel.
BET was founded in 1980 by Bob Johnson and his wife Sheila Johnson. Paramount, then known as Viacom, acquired BET in 2001 for $2.3 billion.
Paramount Global also owns CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Showtime and Paramount Pictures. According to published reports, Paramount announced that its streaming business lost $575 million last quarter.