Who is Byron Allen, who just made a US$14 billion bid for Paramount? The former comedian pitched jokes to David Letterman as a teen, and has interviewed stars like J.Lo and Gary Oldman
Byron Allen has had a long and illustrious career in comedy and entertainment. He started his career when he was only in his teens, and has since built a media empire with his LA-based Allen Media Group.
Byron Allen had an early start in entertainment
Allen’s foray into the entertainment world began with his mother, Carolyn Folks. According to The Hollywood Reporter, sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s, she moved with her only son Allen from Detroit to Los Angeles. Allen was seven at the time. There, Folks enrolled in UCLA’s film department and eventually landed an internship at NBC, where she became a publicist. That meant Allen saw comedians daily at the Burbank Studios, and eventually this led to him deciding to pursue a career in comedy and, later, in entertainment more broadly.
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He appeared on The Tonight Show at age 18
Establishing his entertainment empire
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Eventually, CF Entertainment turned into the Allen Media Group, headquartered in LA. The company owns or operates 27 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations, including The Weather Channel, Comedy.tv and Pets.tv.
His biggest deals include acquiring the Weather Channel for US$300 million in 2018 and Bayou City Broadcasting for US$165 million, per Afrotech. Allen is also known for his numerous studio bids, including US$10 billion for Disney, US$8.5 billion for Tegna and US$14 billion for Paramount. However, many of his bids have ultimately failed to materialise, per CNBC.
Allen has also famously taken broadcasting giants to court over refusing to carry content from his shows, a move he claimed was based on racial bias and alleged violations of the 1966 Civil Rights Act, per Variety. “I realised that the greatest trade deficit in America is the trade deficit between white corporate America and Black America,” Allen told Variety. “And this is by design.”
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His impressive property portfolio
In 2022, he paid US$100 million for a home in Malibu – the most spent on a residential property by an African-American, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He’s married – and won numerous awards
The media entrepreneur is married to TV producer Jennifer Lucas, and he has three children.
His philanthropic work includes hosting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s annual Dinner of Champions.
Allen is also the recipient of numerous awards, including a Daytime Emmy for hosting Cars. TV., and was named one of the Bloomberg 50 in 2018. In 2023, he was awarded the USC McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative Champion Award in recognition of his leadership in media.
- Allen, at 14, was already pitching jokes to David Letterman and Jay Leno, and at 18, had been the youngest comedian to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
- His first show interviewed stars such as Gary Oldman, Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Love Hewitt and, in 2022, his US$100 million Malibu home was the most spent on a residence by an African-American