US media mogul Byron Allen has agreed to pay $120 million for a majority stake in BuzzFeed, the digital media company said on Monday.
Allen Family Digital, an affiliate of Allen’s family office, is to acquire 40 million shares of BuzzFeed at a price of $3 per share, giving it about 52% of the company after the deal closes, BuzzFeed said.
The company said founder and chief executive Jonah Peretti is to step down and move into a newly created role as president of BuzzFeed AI.
Allen is set to become chairman and chief executive of BuzzFeed and will also take over HuffPost, which BuzzFeed owns.
He is the founder and chief executive of Allen Media Group, which owns the Weather Channel, US broadcast stations and streaming platforms.
"Byron Allen has built one of the world’s largest media companies and is one of the most accomplished media entrepreneurs in the industry," Peretti said in a statement, adding that Allen was "exceptionally well-positioned" to lead BuzzFeed and HuffPost, the website formerly known as The Huffington Post acquired by BuzzFeed in 2020.
Allen said he wants to expand BuzzFeed "into free-streaming video, audio and user-generated content," adding that the company is "officially chasing YouTube to become another premiere free video streaming service."
The deal is expected to close by the end of May, the company said.
BuzzFeed said Allen would fund $20 million of the purchase in cash, with the remaining $100 million financed through a promissory note due in five years.
BuzzFeed, launched in 2006, became a social media sensation in its heyday with viral listicles, quizzes and funny videos. It later expanded into news and won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 2021, but struggled as tech platforms such as Facebook and Google came to dominate digital advertising.
