Oprah Sold Majority Control Of OWN to Discovery For $70 Million
LatestOprah has sold the majority of the Oprah Winfrey Network to Discovery Communications for $70 million, meaning the media company now has 75 percent ownership over the six-year-old brand. Maybe it was just time, but maybe there’s another reason. Stick with me on this one.
Prior to the sale, OWN was a 50-50 joint venture between Winfrey and Discovery, though she’ll continue to maintain her role as the network’s chief executive.
“Creating OWN and seeing it flourish, supported by Discovery and a rapidly growing group of the finest storytellers in film and television, is one of my proudest achievements,” Oprah said in a statement.
OWN was launched in 2011 and endured some early struggles, but the LA Times reports that it’s enjoyed a renaissance in recent years thanks to a relationships with power-house producers like Tyler Perry and Ava DuVernay.
The real reason I bring this up, however, is to point out that the timing coincides nicely with Tiffany Haddish telling Ellen DeGeneres about her very involved dream about co-owning a vegetable stand with Oprah. As transcribed by Vanity Fair:
“One of my goals, girl, is to meet Oprah Winfrey, right? And then she’d be my auntie. Auntie O. And then we’d both be gardening together and stuff, right? She got a good garden. She got yard. She got a whole lot of backyard to grow stuff. So, I meet her, right, and then we gonna start, like…a co-op, and then the next thing you know we gonna start our own little booth and we gonna go to, like, farmers’ markets together and stuff together and it’ll be Tiff and O’s Vegetables! And we’ll probably tour the country and we’ll sell out of vegetables and people will be eating vegetables and stuff because of me and Oprah.”
Obviously what I’m saying is that Oprah sold her stake in the company to go into business with Tiffany. Tell me I’m wrong. And tell me you wouldn’t hit up that vegetable stand.