Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs wishes to team up with Byron Allen, Tyler Perry for Black media conglomerate
Combs said he and his fellow Black moguls must "unite" in order to compete with other networks and media moguls.
Sean “Diddy” Combs intended to buy majority stakes in BET earlier this, as did Byron Allen and Tyler Perry. With BET staying with Paramount Global, Combs wishes to join forces with Allen and Perry to create a Black-owned media powerhouse.
Combs discussed his desired collaboration with Allen and Perry in a recent Billboard Magazine cover story. He spoke about how he intended to build a “Black-owned media conglomerate” when he and his media company Revolt looked to purchase BET stakes from Paramount. He called BET the “originator of Black media” and stated that teaming up with people like Allen and Perry is necessary to compete with other media moguls and networks.
“We’re not going to be able to reach our highest level of success in the media world, like a Rupert Murdoch, if we don’t unify,” Combs told Billboard. “Like me, Tyler Perry and Byron Allen. We have a responsibility because it’s like 15 of us getting money, but 10 billion people in the world.”
In March, reports revealed Paramount considered selling its majority stakes in BET to pour more resources and funding into its Paramount+ streaming services. Combs, via Revolt, put his hat in the ring to purchase the BET stakes, as did Allen, CEO of Allen Media Group and owner of theGrio, and Perry.
Paramount Global announced last month that BET is no longer for sale. The company, formerly Viacom, bought BET from founder Robert Johnson in 2000. Its stake in BET Media Group includes the BET cable network, the BET+ streaming service, and the VH1 cable network.
Allen spoke of his push to purchase BET last March. “As African Americans, we are very much underrepresented,” he said. “So I think it’s important we lean in; we control our platforms — we own them, that way we control the narrative. We control how we’re produced, how we’re depicted and how we’re seen around the world.”
Last April, Perry said he was thrilled that Combs and Allen were also in the running to buy the BET stakes. He said that no Black person could purchase BET from Johnson, who sold it to Viacom for $3 billion at the time. “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,” he said.
For nearly six years, Perry has partnered with Paramount. Through his deal, Perry has produced series for BET and BET+, including “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” and “The Oval.”
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