Photo by Michael Kovac/WireImage
What a time to be a black entrepreneur! Byron Allen‘s company, Entertainment Studios, has just reached a $300 million deal to acquire The Weather Channel from Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Comcast-NBCUniversal, according to the New York Daily News.
“The Weather Channel is one of the most trusted and extremely important cable networks, with information vitally important to the safety and protection of our lives,” Allen said in a statement.“We welcome the Weather Channel, which has been seen in American households for nearly four decades, to our cable television networks division. The acquisition of the Weather Channel is strategic, as we begin our process of investing billions of dollars over the next five years to acquire some of the best media assets around the world.”
Allen founded his company 25 years ago and has since built it into the empire it is today, that not only operates eight cable TV channels (including Pets.TV, Comedy.TV, Recipe.TV, Cars.TV, ES.TV, MyDestination.TV and JusticeCentral.TV), but also has released independent films. The media mogul does not plan on stopping anytime soon and wants to make his newly owned entity a worldwide endeavor.
“We’re just honored to be able to own and take it to the next level,” said Allen. “This is really a digital play, which gives us a global footprint. Now for the very first time we can be local, national and global.”
The stand-up comedian joins the list of black entrepreneurs making major moves this year including JAY-Z and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs who are currently working on app together to highlight black businesses! Also on that list is Melissa Butler whose lipstick line, The Lip Bar, became the first black-owned vegan brand sold at Target. This has been an incredible year for black entrepreneurship so far, and we know there is only more success in the future for Allen’s emerging media conglomerate.
TELL US: Before this article, had you even heard of Byron Allen?
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