Diddy wants to buy Majority Stake in BET and believes it will be “better for the business, for the culture, and for building wealth in the Black community.” 

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Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that Paramount Global was interested in selling off BET Media Group, which includes the cable channels BET and VH1. Since then, media moguls Tyler Perry and Byron Allen, have both reportedly become interested in acquiring a majority stake in BET Media Group. Tyler Perry already owns a minority stake in BET+, BET’s streaming service. 

Now Sean “Diddy” Combs has thrown his hat in the ring as another Black mogul who wants to buy a majority stake in the network. A source close to Diddy tells Variety that the billionaire businessman believes purchasing BET will be “better for the business, for the culture, and for building wealth in the Black community.” 

BET was founded in 1980 by Robert Johnson and was the first national programming service primarily targeting Black viewers. Paramount Global, formerly Viacom, purchased BET in 2000 for $2.3 billion in stock.