Media mogul Byron Allen has sold his stake in Starz.
AFROTECH™ reported in March that the investor and businessman had purchased a stake in Starz through his private investment firm and family office Allen Family Capital. He acquired the 10.7% stake in Starz from former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s investment fund, Liberty 77, for $25 million with the purchase including 1,803,786 common shares, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The move came as Starz embraced streaming and one year after it began operating independently from Lionsgate.
“I want to control Starz — I am the second largest stockholder. I have a good relationship with Steve Mnuchin. He used to be my banker when he controlled OneWest Bank, and I saw that he owned 11 percent, called him up and asked him if he wanted to hold on to it cause I had interest. He said, ‘I’m not interested in selling at these prices.’ I said, ‘I didn’t give you a price, just tell me what you want.’ And he said, ‘I want $25 million.’ I said, ‘OK, I’ll take those shares for $25 million, and we bought them,’” Allen recounted to The Hollywood Reporter.
He later added, “I want two streaming platforms. One that’s SVOD, and one that’s AVOD. I’m the largest in what I believe is an AVOD platform, free streaming. That would be BuzzFeed and HuffPost. And I want an SVOD, so that’s Starz. I’m going to do whatever I need to do to control Starz.”
In October, however, Allen’s family office sold its entire stake in Starz, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The sale comes as Starz’s revenue grew and its losses declined in the third quarter, with the “Power” and “Outlander” franchises cited as contributing factors. Allen’s family office reportedly received just under $45 million from the sale.
Allen’s portfolio includes The Weather Channel and HBCU Go, as well as BuzzFeed, in which he acquired a controlling stake in 2026.