Tyler Perry‘s aspirations to be the new owner of BET have hit a snag as he’s now found out that his bid wasn’t anywhere near what the network’s current owners were looking for.
The New York Post has reported that Paramount — the media giant that owns the classic Black network, along with Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1, and other networks — refused to accept Perry’s offer of $2billion, especially since Paramount made clear that the opening auction bid was $3billion.
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Despite previously promising to go forward with the sale, Paramount officially announced its cancellation on Wednesday (August 16).
“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,” a source close to Paramount told the outlet.
While Paramount claimed that it wanted to return the ownership of BET to a Black man or woman and felt that Perry would be a “good steward” to oversee the operation, the final answer came down to a matter of dollars and cents.
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Tyler Perry first expressed interest in purchasing the iconic network back in March, though fellow media mogul Byron Allen of Allen Media Group has also expressed interest in the sale.
The Madea creator already owns a minority stake in the operation, of which VH1 also falls under the umbrella of, BET+ and BET Studios. He also has a long-standing relationship with the network, which may give him an advantage over Allen.
According to The Wall Street Journal, BET is being auctioned in an effort to put more resources into Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
Tyler Perry already has his own gigantic film studio in Atlanta, so real estate for the possible acquisition would have been seemingly a breeze. The property opened after a rebuild in 2019 with 12 sound stages and 60,000 square feet, which is approximately five times the size of his former studio facility in Atlanta.
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There’s no word on what the status will be of shows currently on BET’s slate once the sale goes through, regardless of who ultimately ends up owning the network. Mary J. Blige recently launched her talk show The Wine Down as part of a new deal with the network, where the singer has “raw, provocative, insightful and real” conversations with “the hottest, most outspoken” celebs in their respective fields over wine.
The show is part of a first-look non-scripted deal between the network and Blige’s Blue Butterfly media company that launched in 2019. And it’s quite likely the guests will be sipping on Mary’s Sun Goddess wine, which she launched with Italian winemaker Marco Fantinel in 2020.
