After several stops and starts, Paramount Global appears to be renewing its effort to sell off its BET Media Group assets.
The Shari Redstone-controlled media company is in talks with CC Capital chief Chinh Chu, whose private equity firm is backing BET president Scott Mills in a bid for the BET assets, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. A rep for Paramount declined to comment and CC Capital did not reply for comment.
The unit — comprising the BET channel, streamer BET+ as well as VH1 and BET Studios — has been up for sale multiple times in the past several years as Paramount has reevaluated which properties to keep or sell as it navigates changing corporate strategies and executive turnover. Mills, who joined BET in 1997, has served in numerous leadership roles at its parent company and gained oversight of VH1 in 2022.
Paramount’s Bob Bakish-led “slim down to scale up” era, in which it sold off non-core assets like publisher Simon & Schuster, news site CNET and real estate like CBS’ Black Rock headquarters, appears to be at its end as streaming losses mount for its flagship Paramount+ service. Bakish, who was ousted in April, was replaced by “the office of the CEO” — a trio of co-chiefs in Brian Robbins, Chris McCarthy and George Cheeks, to steady the ship amid tough economic and M&A headwinds.
Last year, moguls Tyler Perry and Byron Allen had both thrown their hats in the ring to acquire the BET assets but did not emerge with a figure that Paramount leadership would agree to. The company has faced a dilemma with what to do with linear TV assets like BET, Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central as well as CBS and premium cabler Showtime. Those linear brands have been tied to a cratering pay TV landscape beset by consumers cutting the cord from cable and satellite operators.
The move to resume talks with interested suitors was expected after Paramount leaders hosted a town hall on June 25 and confirmed that the company had hired bankers to assist with sales of unspecified assets.
Co-CEO Cheeks told employees at the time, “We’re looking at selling certain Paramount-owned assets — in fact we’ve already hired bankers to assist us in this process — and we’ll use the proceeds to help pay down debt and strengthen our balance sheet.”
BET has been part of the conglomerate since 2000, when Sumner Redstone’s Viacom acquired Black Entertainment Television for $2.3 billion in stock and $570 million in debt. Now Paramount, comprised of both CBS and Viacom assets, is looking to shave $500 million in costs annually as it awaits word from Shari Redstone on the direction of the company.
Last month, Redstone decided against accepting an offer from David Ellison’s Skydance Media to effectively take over Paramount. Skydance, along with investment firms RedBird Capital and KKR, aimed for a potential deal in which that group would take over Redstone’s National Amusements, which controls Paramount, and merge the company with Skydance.
Paramount stock climbed 5 percent on Tuesday to close at $10.72 a share amid BET sales talks chatter.