50 Cent wants a cut of the ownership pie over at BET. So, the burgeoning television mogul has teamed up with “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris and four-time NBA Championship winner Shaquille O’Neal. According to TMZ, the three men have teamed up in hopes of solidifying a deal to secure majority ownership of BET Media Group.
The “I Get Money” rapper confirmed reports that he is eyeing the massive purchase on Instagram. On Friday (May 5), he posted a screenshot of a Wall Street Journal story about the hopeful acquisition. In the caption, 50 wrote, “GLG. Green Light Gang, you know I don’t miss. Let’s play let’s make a deal!” Neither Barris nor O’Neal has taken to social media to add commentary on the business endeavor. But according to the entertainment outlet, the trio were spotted at Paramount offices in New York earlier this week. “It’s not a done deal, but they’re deep in it,” a source told TMZ about their plans to make a deal with the help of investment management company CVC.
As previously reported by REVOLT, BET was purchased by Viacom, which later became Paramount, in 2000 for $2.3 billion. Now, the company is looking to cut a deal that will allow it to retain a minority ownership stake and secure cash to expand its streaming service, Paramount+. Moguls Byron Allen, Tyler Perry, and Sean “Diddy” Combs have all thrown their names into the pool of bidders ready to make BET Black-owned again. Thus far, numbers pertaining to negotiations have not leaked, so there is no indication of the status of a possible bidding war.
50 Cent’s fans speculated that he was up to something major when he cleared his entire Instagram feed. His first major announcement following the red herring was “The Final Lap Tour,” which celebrates the 20th anniversary of his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Last week, the “Power” executive celebrated a huge milestone with the purchase of a 985,000-square-foot facility that will be the future home of G-Unit Film & Television. Whether he, Barris, and O’Neal secure stakes in BET or not, it is clear that 50 is definitely in his winning season.