UPDATED with deal close: Allen Family Digital, an affiliate of Byron Allen’s family office, has closed its deal to acquire to acquire a majority stake in digital media company Buzzfeed with Byron Allen becoming chairman and CEO.

Current chief executive and co-founder Jonah Peretti will transition to a newly created role as president of BuzzFeed AI.

Under the terms of the agreement, Allen Family Digital will acquire 40 million shares of publicly traded BuzzFeed at a price of $3 a share for a total purchase price of $120 million. The transaction was funded with $20 million in cash at closing and a $100 million promissory note due five years from closing, accruing interest at 5% annually. BuzzFeed has used $12.5 million of the cash proceeds to pay down debt.

Upon closing, Allen FamilyDigital will own about 52% of the company’s outstanding shares.

“Jonah is a great visionary and has done a phenomenal job. BuzzFeed and HuffPost have become two iconic global digital media brands with powerful audience reach and strong cultural importance,” said Allen. “Our vision is to build on the iconic foundation of BuzzFeed and HuffPost by expanding into free-streaming video, audio and user-generated content. As of this moment, with the power of AI, BuzzFeed is officially chasing YouTube to become another premier free-streaming video service.”

The idea is to leverage Allen’s portfolio — including Local Now, a free streaming platform for hyperlocal news, weather, traffic, sports, and entertainment; a network of 650 FAST channels; approximately 400 local broadcast affiliates; and 30,000 movies, TV shows, and documentaries — with BuzzFeed’s tens of millions of direct monthly visitors.

PREVIOUSLY: : Peretti said that the the digital company is planning significant changes under new management including cost reductions and, with the cash infusion, setting up BuzzFeed Studios, which produces vertical micro-dramas, animation, digital video and feature films, as a new independent entity.

Buzzfeed also owns The Huffington Post, which it acquired from Verizon Media in 2021.

Peretti co-founded the site in 2006 and took it public in a SPAC merger in 2021. The news division shuttered in 2023 amid downsizing.

“Byron’s vision, operational experience, and long-term commitment to premium content makes him exceptionally well-positioned to lead BuzzFeed and HuffPost into our next phase of growth,” Peretti said. “And personally, I’m thrilled Byron is taking over The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’s time slot, and highly confident that his relationships with talent will bring some incredible stars to the BuzzFeed platform.”

CBS in July announced it was canceling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after 11 years. The May 21 show last will be the last. The network is replacing it with Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen, which will move up to 11:35 p.m. from its 12:35 a.m. slot for the 2026-2027 season as part of an expanded time buy agreement. It will premiere its first episode in that slot Friday, May 22 and run two back-to-back half-hour episodes each night.

Peretti said that in his new role he will switch focus “to a more hands-on role developing products and technology that are only possible because of recent advances in AI. I’m convinced that AI will fundamentally transform the media industry and empower creative people to build in new ways, and I believe the opportunity is enormous.”

Allen said the goal is to expand into free-streaming video, audio and user-generated content. “As of this moment, with the power of AI, BuzzFeed is officially chasing YouTube to become another premiere free video streaming service.”

Under Peretti’s leadership, he said, “BuzzFeed became one of the defining digital media brands of a generation, pioneering social distribution, viral content, and AI-assisted publishing.”

Allen is the founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group which owns 13 TV stations, affiliates of ABC, CBS and NBC in 11 markets, as well 10 HD television networks including The Weather Channel, The Grio, Pets.TV and Comedy.TV. Allen owns a two-hour nightly comedy block on CBS Network and also produces, distributes, and sells advertising for 74 television programs, making him one of the largest independent producers/distributors of first-run syndicated television programming.

He’s been on the prowl for a deal, having pursued, among other targets, BET, Paramount and the NFL’s Denver Broncos. He recently acquired a big chunk of newly standalone Starz, prompting that company to put a one-year poison pill in place.

The sale news included Buzzfeed’s latest quarterly numbers. Revenue fell 12.4% to $31.6 million for the three months ended in March. Ad revenue dropped about 20%. Content revenue surged 69% to $7.5 million. Commerce and other revenue declined 32% year-over-year to $6.9 million.

Net losses widened to $15 million from $12.5 million.