Byron Allen closes majority investment deal for Buzzfeed, officially takes over as CEO

The deal, previously announced on May 11, gives Allen ownership of both BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post, which BuzzFeed acquired in 2021.

Byron Allen’s Allen Family Digital has officially closed on a deal to acquire a majority investment in Buzzfeed.

On Wednesday, upon the deal’s closure, Allen ascended to become Buzzfeed’s new chairman and CEO. Jonah Peretti, the digital group’s co-founder and former chief executive officer, will transition to a new role as head of Buzzfeed AI. With the deal now complete, Allen’s Allen Family Digital now owns around 52 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.

“Jonah is a great visionary and has done a phenomenal job. BuzzFeed and HuffPost have become two iconic global digital media brands with powerful audience reach and strong cultural importance,” Allen said. “Our vision is to build on the iconic foundation of BuzzFeed and HuffPost by expanding into free-streaming video, audio and user-generated content. As of this moment, with the power of AI, BuzzFeed is officially chasing YouTube to become another premiere free video streaming service.”

The deal was first announced on May 11, with Allen looking to leverage his portfolio with BuzzFeed’s tens of millions of direct monthly visitors. Allen also owns Local Now, a free streaming platform for hyperlocal news, weather, traffic, sports and entertainment; The Weather Channel, a network of 650 FAST channels, nearly 400 local broadcast affiliates, and 30,000 movies, TV shows and documentaries.

Last week, Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” officially took over the CBS timeslot previously held by “The Late Show Starring Stephen Colbert.”

The BuzzFeed acquisition is the latest in Allen’s acquisitions. Along with adding the Huffington Post to his portfolio, he’s looking to add the premium cable network Starz. In March, he spent $25 million to acquire an 11 percent stake in the network previously owned by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Even after the company added a “poison pill” to the contract, Allen remains firm in his belief that he will acquire the network outright.

“When I decide to buy the whole company — I will buy the whole company — I do plan on controlling Starz,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I want two streaming platforms. One that’s SVOD (subscription video on-demand), and one that’s AVOD (advertising video on-demand). I’m the largest in what I believe is an AVOD platform, free streaming. That would be BuzzFeed and HuffPost. And I want an SVOD, so that’s Starz. I’m going to do whatever I need to do to control Starz.”