There’s one thing that Byron Allen wants to make clear. He says raising capital is easy, the trick is deploying it for a good deal.
For his latest move, the 65-year-old mogul went to the bargain bin, snapping up the majority stake in an ailing BuzzFeed as it languished on the Nasdaq for just $20 million in cash, plus the promise of $100 million five years from now.
The deal will add BuzzFeed and HuffPost to Allen properties that include Local Now, a free streaming app, the linear TV network of The Weather Channel (purchased for $300 million in 2018) as well as the network and website TheGrio, local TV stations in multiple cities, streaming service HBCU Go and branded properties like Cars.TV and Pets.TV.
The goal is transform his Allen Media Group so that, say, in five years it will be powered by a significant free advertising video on-demand platform (that’d be Local Now, fueled by BuzzFeed and HuffPost content).
But that’s only half the equation. He also covets a subscription video on-demand platform to pair with his assets. As he revealed to The Hollywood Reporter, his next target for a full takeover is Starz — and he’s taken a notable stake so far.
