Byron Allen makes $14.3B offer for Paramount Global

Media entrepreneur Byron Allen has made a bid for Paramount Global, offering $14.3 billion.

Allen, 62, who began his career as a standup comedian and was then a television host for “Real People” in 1979-80, made his latest offer on Tuesday when he texted and emailed several members of the board and management of Paramount, The Wall Street Journal reported.

His Allen Media Group has made bids to buy Disney’s ABC and Paramount’s BET Media Group in less than a year, according to the newspaper.

Media entrepreneur Byron Allen made a $14.3 billion offer for Paramount Global, joining the race to buy the owner of CBS and the Paramount Hollywood studio https://t.co/QFevvoXK4t https://t.co/QFevvoXK4t
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) January 31, 2024

Allen, the founder and CEO of a media group that owns dozens of television networks nationwide, offered $30 billion for all of Paramount’s outstanding shares, CNBC reported. That figure includes all of the company’s debt and equity.

According to Tuesday’s offer letter, Allen Media Group offered $28.58 for each voting share of Paramount and $21.53 for each nonvoting share, The Wall Street Journal reported. The offer is about 50% higher than the 90-day average of both classes of shares, the letter said.

Allen made a bigger offer in April 2023, when he bid about $18.5 billion for the company, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Allen completed a $300 million deal for The Weather Channel in 2018, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Three years later he bought seven Gray divestiture television stations for a reported $380 million. In 2022, he bought the Black News Channel -- which was merged into the Grio -- for $11 million.

Allen told CNBC that his group had the cash to complete a deal for Paramount.

“We have more than enough capital available to us. The real challenge is certainty of close,” Allen told the news outlet. “This deal lives or dies at the (Federal Communications Commission).”

In a statement, the Allen Media Group said its offer “is the best solution for all of the Paramount Global shareholders, and the bid should be taken seriously and pursued,” CNBC reported.