Amid personal and business turmoil arising from “Me & U” singer Cassie Ventura’s sexual assault lawsuit against him, Sean “Diddy” Combs has seen his fortunes take a tumble. In addition to stepping down as Chairman of his company Revolt Media (and its television network, Revolt TV) and relinquishing his ownership of DeLeón Tequila, he also sold all his shares in Revolt to an undisclosed buyer earlier this week.
It didn’t take long for the buyer’s identity to be revealed, though; according to Page Six, Essence magazine owner Richelieu Dennis is the new owner of the network founded by Diddy in 2013. Dennis was recently profiled in Forbes as “the Godfather of Black business” after selling his company Sundial Brands, LLC — the parent company of SheaMoisture — to Unilever in 2017 and bought Essence the next year. In the interview, he talked about being “bullish on media” in response to rumors he wanted to buy Vice or BET.
He’s been a controversial figure since those splashy moves, with AfroTech noting that some Black culture critics view him as a “sellout” for selling SheaMoisture to the British consumer goods giant. Meanwhile, last year, Business Insider published a report detailing a “dehumanizing” culture at Essence after speaking with twenty then-current and former employees about the brand’s “extremely unhealthy work culture.”
