Allen Media Group founder Byron Allen is making big moves to expand his media empire.
On Monday, the local TV affiliate station and Weather Channel owner took a 52% stake in BuzzFeed in a $120 million deal — $20 million of which will be paid up front while the remainder will come in the form of a $100 million promissory note due in five years.
The move comes as BuzzFeed has languished, with its shares down 96.6% in the past five years. In March, the company said it was exploring strategic options as it faced “legacy commitments that are burdening the business.”
In order to turn the company around, Allen is betting on bringing BuzzFeed and Huffington Post to living rooms through a free “super app,” which will combine the brands with AMG’s LocalNow, an aggregator of local news, weather, sports and traffic content, as well as over 30,000 movies and TV shows and nearly 1,000 FAST channels.
“BuzzFeed and Huffington Post are phenomenal brands with millions of dedicated users, but they don’t have this type of streaming, this type of super hyper-localization. I thought, if we put the two together, we have something special,” Allen told TheWrap in an interview. “I said, ‘Let’s grab BuzzFeed and HuffPost, let’s enable them and put them into the free streaming business and build on the foundation that’s already there. It’s additive.”
Allen sees the BuzzFeed deal as an opportunity to cross-promote and expand the audience of AMG content such as “Comics Unleashed,” which is gearing up to take over the time slot of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” starting next week. Allen also plans to “invest aggressively” in podcasts and use AI to help aggregate content in an initiative that will be led by BuzzFeed’s outgoing CEO and new AI president Jonah Peretti.
“He’s going to be out there innovating and implementing all of the ways we can use AI and, obviously, it’s infinite as to what we can do,” Allen said. “We’re able to aggregate and curate faster and better. Using proprietary software and AI, LocalNow is able to upload 500,000 pieces of content per day.”
At the same time, Allen emphasized that he would remain dedicated to human-made content, noting that he sees a future where BuzzFeed and HuffPost could have a syndicated show on cable.
“HuffPost has a huge opportunity to really go out there and grow its team. I’m a believer and I would be a supporter of that. Just show us the talent and let’s go,” he added. “I love human journalism and using software and AI to help support us as we grow that space.”
He also floated the idea of creating a revenue share model with creators, similar to YouTube.
“There will be tons of content creator billionaires and BuzzFeed, HuffPost, LocalNow and the Grio will just be platforms where creators can place their content and monetize it along with YouTube,” he said. “We will also be a great place for advertisers to have a place to go as well.”
Allen’s BuzzFeed deal and turnaround plan has understandably raised eyebrows given the already crowded field of competition in free and paid streaming, from YouTube and Netflix to Tubi and Pluto TV.
AMG has also faced its own challenges, including laying off staff in 2024 and exploring strategic alternatives to help reduce a debt load of about $1.5 billion as of June. But he had a simple message for his critics: “Just watch me.”
“I’ve had plenty of critics along the way and I continue to and [I] actually appreciate them. It doesn’t matter what they think. It only matters what I think. If they’re saying it’s a stretch for BuzzFeed to go into the streaming business, I would say that that’s not very good critical thinking. Video streaming is growing faster than anything in media,” he said. “I prefer people think that way, because when people think that way, it creates greater opportunity for me. I like when the pessimists believe something can’t be done because I’m optimistic and I can come along and capture the opportunity.”
Beyond BuzzFeed, Allen is also eyeing a takeover of Starz. In March, he amassed a 10.7% stake in a $12 million deal with former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Starz immediately responded by adopting a poison pill to defend itself against a hostile takeover. The plan, which will will expire on March 10, 2027, will be triggered if a person or group acquires 17.5% or more of the company’s outstanding shares. It can also be extended to March 10, 2029 or be terminated early.
“It was stupid. It’s not going to stop me. When I’m ready to buy the company, I will buy the entire company. I would like to keep the company public and invest more money into Starz,” he said. “But if they continue to try and stop me from making a greater investment and having a greater stake, I will just make an offer and buy all of the outstanding shares. I will take the company private and then I’ll come back around and take the company public. Who knows? I may use BuzzFeed to buy Starz. I have options. But one thing’s for sure, I will eventually control Starz.”
Though Allen says he’s discussed getting together with Starz management, he knocked them for not offering him Eagle Equity Partners chairman and CEO Harry Sloan’s board seat following news that he would not seek re-election.
“I said, ‘I’m the second largest stockholder and you don’t want to offer me the board seat? Okay, it’s not a problem, I’ll just buy the whole company and fire everyone on the board’,” he said. “So it’s going to be interesting. What I’ll say to everybody is strap yourselves in. It’s going to be a fun ride.”
Allen also isn’t ruling out the possibility of selling assets. In August, he sold a portion of his portfolio of 28 owned and operated ABC-NBC-CBS-Fox affiliate television stations in 21 U.S. markets to Gray Media for $172 million.
“We sold the stations at a 10.1 multiple. That’s the highest multiple for a group of television stations in nearly five years,” he said. “So we got a great deal on those stations and [Gray Media] got a great deal because they had another number of TV stations in those markets, so they’re able to run two or three stations with the staff of one. So it was a great deal for them and a great deal for us.”
Over the last six years, Allen Media Group has invested over $1 billion in acquiring television stations and has become one of the largest independent, privately held owners of Big 4 network-affiliated stations. Allen said he kept stations in states like Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin that “print political money,” while giving away stations in deep red and blue states that generate very little in political revenue.
“The Big Four network affiliate business is a great business. We did nearly $100 million in political advertising in the ’24 cycle and 93% of that political revenue came from the markets I’m keeping,” he said. “If I get a great multiple for the ones I’m still holding, I’ll sell them. If not, I’m happy to keep them, because every other year you have a political cycle. We’ll do quite well this year in political revenue and, in 2028, I wouldn’t be surprised if we did well over $100 million. So we’re well position and have the perfect stations in the perfect markets. So if somebody wants to pay us a premium that I’m comfortable with, I’m happy to sell them. If not, I’m happy to keep them.”
