BuzzFeed agreed Monday to sell a majority stake to Allen Family Digital, an affiliate of Byron Allen’s family office, in a deal that would put the media entrepreneur in control of the company by the end of May 2026. Under the transaction agreement, Allen Family Digital will buy 40 million BuzzFeed shares at $3 apiece, a $120 million purchase that is expected to leave it with about 52% of the company’s outstanding shares once the deal closes.

The purchase will be funded with $20 million in cash at closing and a $100 million promissory note due five years later, with interest set at 5% annually. When the transaction closes, Allen is expected to become chairman and CEO of BuzzFeed, while Jonah Peretti will move into a newly created role as president of BuzzFeed AI.

Peretti co-founded BuzzFeed in 2006, building it into a digital media brand that helped define the internet-era news and entertainment mix. Allen, who founded Allen Media Group in 1993, said the company wants to deepen BuzzFeed and HuffPost in free-streaming video, audio and user-generated content, and described the move as a bid to make BuzzFeed a free video streaming service that can compete with YouTube.

The deal gives Allen a larger stage for a media strategy he has already been pursuing across television and digital outlets. Allen Media Group is based in Los Angeles and owns 13 ABC, CBS and NBC affiliate stations in 11 U.S. markets, along with 10 HD television networks that reach nearly 275 million subscribers. He has also leased a two-hour nightly comedy block on CBS through the 2026-27 TV season.

BuzzFeed said the planned changes include cost reductions and the creation of BuzzFeed Studios and a separate Tasty entity, a sign that the company expects a sharper break from its current structure after the sale closes. The key unanswered question now is whether Allen can translate his broadcast reach and aggressive streaming pitch into a turnaround for a digital brand that has already spent years trying to find its next act.