Key Points
- Byron Allen closed his BuzzFeed acquisition May 27, 2026, taking ~51% control
- The deal is valued at $120 million: $20M cash plus a $100M five-year note
- Allen becomes chairman and CEO; Jonah Peretti moves to lead BuzzFeed AI
- Allen wants to turn BuzzFeed into a free-streaming video rival to YouTube
Byron Allen now controls BuzzFeed. On May 27, 2026, his family office closed a deal for roughly 51% of the company, installing Allen as chairman and CEO and making founder Jonah Peretti president of a new unit, BuzzFeed AI.
The terms
Allen Family Digital acquired 40 million shares at $3.00 each, a $120 million transaction. The structure is the tell: $20 million in cash at closing and a $100 million promissory note due in five years at 5% annual interest. Allen took majority control of a public internet brand with $20 million down.
Three deals in 30 days
BuzzFeed is one move in a fast sequence. In the same window Allen Media Group leased the 11:35 p.m. CBS slot vacated by Stephen Colbert for its own comedy block, and Allen went public with a campaign to take over STARZ despite a board poison pill. It is an aggressive month for a Black-owned holding company that built its base on the Weather Channel, local TV stations, theGrio, and Comedy.TV.
The play
Allen's stated goal is to push BuzzFeed and HuffPost into free-streaming video, audio, and user-generated content — in his words, to chase YouTube. BuzzFeed spent the last decade proving that ad-supported digital media is hard to keep profitable. Allen is betting that a syndicator who already sells his own ad inventory can run the same brands on a structure built for streaming rather than the open web.
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