Byron Allen has sold his entire 10.7% stake in Starz Entertainment, just seven months after acquiring it. His investment arm, Allen Family Capital, sold the shares in tranches between August 7 and September 29, netting just under $45 million, according to an SEC filing disclosed Thursday and first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Allen originally acquired 1,803,786 shares in March for $25 million, paying $13.86 per share, through a private transaction with former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s Liberty 77 Capital. At the time, Allen Family Capital’s own language around the deal was notably cautious, describing the stake as acquired “for investment purposes” and stating that Allen would “review such investment on a continuing basis,” with the position subject to increase or decrease depending on “Starz’s performance and other market conditions.” In other words, the acquisition was always conditional, not a firm commitment.
That caution existed alongside much bolder public statements Allen made separately to reporters. He told TheWrap at the time, “When I’m ready to buy the company, I will buy the entire company,” and suggested he might even use his newly acquired stake in BuzzFeed to help fund a full Starz acquisition, adding, “one thing’s for sure, I will eventually control Starz.” Starz responded to the initial purchase by adopting a poison pill to guard against a hostile takeover.
Seven months later, the investment apparently stopped making sense. Allen sold the shares at between roughly $21 and $26 each, netting almost $20 million more than his original purchase price, a solid return, but a clear retreat from the “I will buy the entire company” framing he’d offered publicly.
The sale comes as Starz reported third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations, with total revenue up 0.5% to $322.4 million and net loss narrowing to $34.8 million, compared to a $189.4 million loss the previous quarter, driven in part by franchises like Power and Outlander.
Allen’s broader media holdings remain extensive. He’s chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, which owns 27 network affiliate stations across 21 markets and 10 television networks including The Weather Channel and HBCU Go. He also holds a controlling 51% stake in BuzzFeed, acquired earlier this year, under which the company laid off 35% of its staff in July.
With the official filing’s cautious “subject to market conditions” language turning out to be the more accurate signal than his public takeover talk, the sale suggests Allen’s Starz ambitions were always conditional on the numbers working, and when they stopped working, he walked away with a profit rather than doubling down.