Viacom/BET Networks Buys Back BET.com From MSFT, News Corp, Liberty Media and IAC

Updated: Viacom owned 42 percent of BET.com prior to this transaction, according to Viacom’s latest 10-K.
The news: BET Networks, owned by Viacom, has bought back full stake in its website BET.com, six years after starting its interactive efforts. It did a cash buyout of its original investment group consisting of Microsoft, News Corporation, Liberty Media and IAC/InterActive Corp and the former investors from 360HipHop.com, led by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.
BET.com launched in early 2000, with $35 million in funding from these investors…some more info on that in this Salon.com story from late 1999. Back then, the money was pumped with the intent to spin out the venture and do an IPO. Of course, the timing was bad: crash came two months after BET.com launched and you know the rest of the story.
The company says BET.com is one of the biggest urban site, with 3 million registered users and 2.6 million unique visitors per month.
Would be interesting to know how much Viacom paid to buy back the stake…we’ll find out and let you know.

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