World Music Views® understands that the bid for the ownership of black star power network (BET), the company founded by Bob Johnson via a loan from John Malone, could soon be owned by private equity firm HarbourView.
HarbourView’s founder Sherrese Clarke Soares, is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants who got $1bn from Apollo Global Management to invest in music asset acquisitions.
A representative for Soares told WMV that “The BET bid is still active.”
This development comes as reports suggested that Tyler Perry had won the bid for the majority stake in the black music based network and is now the owner. Soares, who grew bop in Queens, New York has been busy buying music catalogues with her private equity company. She recently expressed her excitement about the acquiring Nelly’s song book, stating, “This catalog has made an incredible impact on generations of fans. Works such as ‘Hot in Herre’ and ‘Shake Ya Tailfeather’ defined an era of music with a unique blend of hip-hop, R&B, and country music that is undeniable. We are thrilled to add these influential pieces to our repertoire and work with the team to continue supporting the artistry within our ecosystem.”
HarbourView, which has been operational for two years currently boasts a diverse catalog of approximately 20,000 songs, encompassing both master recordings and publishing income streams.
“The goal for HarbourView is to be a Private Equity enhancement management firm, focus on the things I know well, which is finance and culture,” Sherrese told World Music Views in an exclusive interview.
Soares says investing in music catalogs are worth the investment: “It is safe retirement dollars to really put to work,” she told the Financial Times in January last year.
The Wallstreet Journal Woman To Watch has already snatched up 37 catalogues through HarbourView-Apollo partnership. Other than Luis Fonsi’s song book her company spent $40 million to acquire Usher’s share of Justin Beibers catalogue. HarbourView also owns songs from rapper Tech N9ne, George Jones and Trey Songz and Wiz Khalifah.
With no direct reggae catalogue announcements, the second generation Jamaican she says, “I want to be the platform that sees the value in all these genres that live outside of legacy rock.”
CEO of BET Media Group Scott Mills speaking to Yahoo Finance in 2021, said that, “BET generated nearly 100% revenue growth in 2021 from BET+, a platform Perry had a 25% stake in and where he produced several programs resulting in a 50% subscriber growth over the same period,”.
