Oprah Winfrey has just sold the majority of her stake in OWN cable network to Discovery Inc.
Discovery Inc. previously owned 73 percent of the media giant’s company and now owns 95 percent, Bloomberg reports.
As part of Winfrey’s company Harpo Inc.’s deal with Discovery Inc., the talk show host now has $36 million Discovery stock.
Harpo Inc. has since filed to sell half of the 1.34 million shares it gained in the deal, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Dec. 22.
“Oprah Winfrey has voting and dispositive power over the shares of Series A Common Stock owned by Harpo,” it was stated in the regulatory filing, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Despite only owning 5 percent of OWN, Winfrey, 66, still serves as the network’s CEO and creative content officer.
The television host has slowly been selling her stake of OWN to Discovery Inc. since its launch in 2011. Their last deal was in 2017.
In 2017, Discovery Inc. bought a 24.5 percent additional stake in OWN for $70 million, bringing its total stake in the company to 73 percent, THR reported.
The new transaction comes as Winfrey’s network has most likely is past its peak in viewership in an age of streaming platforms becoming the preferred source for television and movie lovers.
Winfrey herself made a multiyear deal with Apple in 2018 and has brought exclusive content to Apple TV+ since its launch in 2019, including “The Oprah Conversation,” “Oprah’s Book Club,” “Oprah Talks COVID-19,” and “SuperSoul Sunday.”
Discovery Inc. plans to be in direct competition with streaming services such as Apple TV+ in January 2021 with the launch of Discovery+.
The company reportedly is expected to release some of the OWN content on its new streaming platform, including some of her shows that were produced by Tyler Perry.
