American media entrepreneur Byron Allen has sold his entire stake in premium cable network Starz, walking away with just under $45 million only months after buying in, according to a regulatory filing.
Allen’s investment vehicle, Allen Family Capital, sold the 10.7% holding in a series of trades between August 7 and September 29, 2026, at prices ranging from about $21 to $26 a share. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
A quick $20 million gain
Allen bought the stake in March, acquiring 1,803,786 shares, about 10.7% of Starz Entertainment, from Liberty 77 Capital, the investment firm linked to former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. He paid $13.86 a share, or about $25 million in total.
That purchase made him Starz’s second-largest shareholder. Selling for close to $45 million means he made almost $20 million in profit, nearly doubling his money in about six months.
From takeover talk to cashing out
The exit is a sharp turn from Allen’s stated plans in March. At the time, he said he wanted to take control of Starz and run both a paid streaming service and a free, advertising-funded one through his other media assets.
Starz responded by adopting a so-called poison pill, a defence that would allow other shareholders to buy extra stock at a 50% discount if any person or group built a stake of 17.5% or more. The move made a hostile takeover far more expensive.
Allen has not publicly explained why he chose to sell instead of pushing ahead with his plans.
A growing media empire
Allen, who began his career as a stand-up comedian and host of late-night show Comics Unleashed, has built one of the largest Black-owned media companies in the United States.
He is chairman and chief executive of Allen Media Group, which owns 27 network-affiliated TV stations across 21 US markets and 10 cable networks, including The Weather Channel and the HBCU Go streaming platform.
Earlier this year he took a controlling 51% stake in BuzzFeed, which also owns HuffPost. BuzzFeed later cut about 35% of its staff in July. Allen also struck a deal with CBS to buy the late-night time slot formerly occupied by Stephen Colbert’s show.
Why it matters
The Starz deal shows Allen acting as much as an investor as an operator, buying into media companies when he sees value and selling when the price is right.
For Black entrepreneurs and investors in the US and across Africa, his rise remains a closely watched example of independent media ownership at a time when traditional television and cable companies are under pressure from streaming services and falling advertising revenue.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, AV Club, Blex Media, AfroTech, SEC filing.
