Music and media mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is reportedly interested in tossing his hat into the ring of parties interested in buying stakes in BET.
Director Tyler Perry has already been reported to be in talks to purchase a majority stake in the company, and now Combs is interested as well. Variety reported that the record executive and media mogul is interested in buying stakes in BET to “build a Black-owned global media powerhouse.”
BET has not been black-owned since it was sold for $2.3 billion to ViacomCBS Inc. in 2000 before the company merged with Paramount in 2022. Perry — who has been in partnership with BET for six years — is reportedly already in discussions with the network to buy a majority stake.
The network also has a longtime relationship with the “Madea” creator and helped to fund his first film in 2005, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” He also has several shows currently airing on the network, including “Sisters,” and “The Oval.”
Combs also has competition from the owner of TheGrio, media mogul Byron Allen. Allen has also recently acquired multiple Fox, ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates across the country and is now interested in BET.
“Byron Allen is interested in buying BET, and he will be pursuing the acquisition of the network,” said a representative for Allen, who also owns the Black News Channel and The Weather Channel.
Combs first entered the media world when he founded his music-oriented digital cable television network Revolt back in 2013.
A source told Variety that the music mogul is interested in buying BET, but he is not yet in talks with Paramount. They also claimed the network isn’t in talks with anyone yet, but that several parties were interested in buying BET.
Fans had mixed reactions to the news that Combs could buy BET.
“Hope Diddy buys BET and brings alot of music back to it,” noted one fan. Another fan thought it would be a good idea for Combs, Perry, and Allen to buy the company together, but then conceded that the three powerful men may not get along in such a scenario.
“Tyler Perry, Byron Allen, & Diddy would be a great conglomerate to buy BET as a cohesive unit. But the amount of egos amongst them could never work.”
Another fan did not believe that Combs would follow through with his interest in the company and wrote, “Diddy is notorious for abandoning projects, tyler perry is gonna turn it into TPN instead of BET … I see Byron as the best choice.”
Diddy has a long history of allegedly mismanaging his former artists and mishandling their funds. Members of former Bad Boy singing group Danity Kane have publicly accused Diddy of stealing their money.
Lead singer Aubrey O’Day previously accused her former boss of not paying the group, claiming he has “mismanaged artists & stolen money his whole career.”
Other groups formerly signed under his label include Making The Band and Day26. All three groups were created through MTV’s hit series, “Making the Band,” which ran from 2002 to 2009. Participants worldwide would competitively audition to sing or rap in a supergroup put together by Diddy himself. They would live together in a house for weeks or months at a time, going through artist development, working on an album, and bonding as group members.
Making the Band the group disbanded in 2003, while Danity Kane parted ways in early 2009 after downsizing from a five-member singing group to a trio.
By 2012, Day26 members had broken up numerous times to release solo albums. They reunited two years later for the 10th anniversary of their formation on Making The Band’s fourth season.
There has also been speculation about Diddy’s bad artist deals. In 2020, the former rapper turned pastor Ma$e claimed he signed a bad business deal with Diddy as a teenager that he was still navigating around as an adult.
After years of rumors and allegations, Diddy denied stealing money from anyone in an interview on “The Breakfast Club” last October, where he claimed that Ma$E owed him $3 million.
