Tyler Perry is calling out the way Paramount Global handled the bidding process for the potential majority stake sale of its BET enterprise.
In March, the company started a bidding war after announcing months back that it would be selling the media group, which includes VH1 and BET Studios, streamer BET+ and the BET channel. Several high-profile potential buyers stepped forward, including Perry, Weather Channel owner Byron Allen and REVOLT CEO, Sean “Diddy” Combs.
At the time, Diddy launched a campaign to help sway the public in his favor.
“Media is the most powerful industry in the world, but it’s the industry where we have the least ownership, influence, and control,” he tweeted. “It’s time for BET to be Black-owned again, so we have the power to tell our own stories and control our own narrative,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This is not about me, it’s about we! I’m building a team of leaders in the culture to pursue ownership in BET together! We have to unify our power and resources to create real change! #THETIMEISNOW.”
However, in August, Paramount Global reversed its decision to sell a majority stake in its BET Media Group despite receiving bids ranging from $2 billion to $3 billion.
“I was disappointed about it for a number of reasons,” he said during a Bloomberg Equality Summit, as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The way it happened was disrespectful in a lot of ways.”
Perry still owns a minority stake in the BET+ streaming service.
