Byron Allen, the media mogul who acquired a 10.7% stake in STARZ Entertainment for roughly $25 million in early May, used a May 25 interview on "The Breakfast Club" to declare he will pursue full control of the streamer regardless of the poison-pill defense its board adopted in response. The pill caps any single non-board-approved shareholder at 17.5% — a structural barrier explicitly designed to keep Allen from accumulating further STARZ stock without negotiation. Allen's framing is that the defense is a delay, not a deterrent.
The Quotes
"We bought just under 11% — 10.7%. I like STARZ," Allen said. "STARZ says that they're going after the underserved. That's code for Black. If you're chasing us, we should own it." On the poison pill: "I've made it very clear I plan to buy the whole company. I want to control that company. My first preference would be to keep it public and to take 52% of it and just control it." When asked about the board's resistance: "That won't stop me. You'll just delay us, but we will eventually get what we want." And the contingency: "My preference is for it to stay public and for me to control it 51% or greater. But if I have to, I'll buy the whole company, fire everybody, fire the board — not the people working there."
The Allen Stack
The STARZ campaign is the second major Allen move in a month. He acquired a controlling 52% stake in BuzzFeed for $120 million in May and assumes the chairman and CEO role on closing. Allen Media Group also signed a CBS deal to put "Comics Unleashed" into the late-night slot vacated by the announced retirement of Stephen Colbert. Three swings — BuzzFeed, CBS late night, STARZ — inside one 30-day window for a Black-owned media holding company that previously made its name on weather networks and small cable assets. The STARZ play is the biggest of the three: STARZ has a market cap of roughly $240 million, an enterprise value closer to $700 million, and a subscriber base in the 18 million range.
The Significance of the Venue
The choice of "The Breakfast Club" — itself about to debut as Netflix's first daily live show on June 1 — is its own argument. Allen made the STARZ pitch on the platform that is, beginning next week, the largest Black-audience morning show in the world, broadcast globally on Netflix. The pitch lands directly to STARZ's own claimed demographic. The board's defense was structured to slow him down. The interview was structured to speed the public timeline. Whether STARZ's board engages on a buyout offer within the next 90 days will be the first read on whether the structural defense holds.
Source: Black Enterprise · Billionaires.Africa · Variety
Comments