Byron Allen To Replace Co-Founder Jonah Peretti As Chairman & CEO Of BuzzFeed

Byron Allen will take over as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BuzzFeed from Co-Founder Jonah Peretti. Allen is set to acquire a 52% stake in BuzzFeed for USD 120 million. Peretti will move to the newly created role of President of BuzzFeed AI.

Allen is an American businessman, comedian, and television producer who founded Allen Media Group in 1993. The company operates television networks, broadcast stations, and film distribution businesses across the United States. He began his career in stand-up comedy in Los Angeles and became one of the youngest comedians to appear on The Tonight Show in 1979. He later launched and hosted Comics Unleashed. His media holdings include The Weather Channel, acquired in 2018, and TheGrio. Allen has also expanded into television broadcasting through Allen Media Broadcasting, which owns multiple network-affiliated stations across the United States.

Peretti is an American internet entrepreneur best known as the Founder of BuzzFeed and Co-Founder of HuffPost. He launched BuzzFeed in 2006 as a platform focused on how information spreads online and later expanded it into a digital media company covering news, entertainment, and food content through brands such as Tasty. Peretti previously worked as a Teacher in New Orleans and later served as Director of Research and Development at Eyebeam. He holds a degree in Environmental Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a master’s degree from the MIT Media Lab.