Jun 3, 2026
The comic-turned entrepreneur Byron Allen’s enthusiasm for snapping up new assets has extended to a ski estate in Aspen, Colorado.
The Wall Street Journal reviewed property records that showed Allen bought a sprawling 13,000 foot home for $91.3 million in the famous ski town. The seller was an entity connected to Andrew Lessman, founder of the vitamin and supplements company ProCaps Laboratories. Lessman originally bought the property for $10.5 million in 2007, and the estate was built five years later.
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Allen is the chief executive of Allen Media Group, a news and entertainment company that owns the Weather Channel and nearly 30 NBC, ABC, Fox and CBS affiliates across the country. His programming recently replaced “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in CBS’ late-night lineup.
This is not the first time Allen has owned property in Aspen. In 2024, Allen sold a 9,000 square-foot mansion in the ski town for $60 million, more than double what he originally paid for it, the Journal reported at the time.
Despite the massive sale amount, Allen’s new purchase didn’t set an Aspen real estate record. That is held by a $108 million sale of another mansion in 2024 to casino mogul Steve Wynn and Wall Street financier Thomas Peterffy.
Allen’s other recent deals
Allen hasn’t let up in his deal-making fervor. Last month, Buzzfeed announced that Allen bought a controlling stake in the digital media company for $120 million.
He has grand ambitions to remake the company that was once the envy of media executives into a streaming service that can compete against YouTube. Buzzfeed faltered once algorithms eroded its traffic dominance in the 2010s.
“Anybody who’s putting up content, they can put it up at YouTube. And now, pretty soon, they’re going to also be able to put it up at BuzzFeed,” Allen recently told the Washington Post. “The one thing I do know is this world loves the word ‘free’ and they love streaming.”
Allen also made a $30 billion bid to take over Paramount Global in 2024. The effort fell flat with Paramount’s board, who ended up deciding to sell the company to media executive David Ellison a year later.
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Allen’s new CBS hosting gig
Allen is also back on the airwaves with a new CBS late-night program called “Comics Unleashed,” a comedy talk program he’s long hosted. It debuted in Colbert’s old time slot on May 22 with 1.1 million viewers. “The Late Show” averaged around 2.7 million viewers in its final season, The Hollywood Reporter notes. CBS expects Allen’s show to be profitable because his company bought the time slot and is handling all production costs.
“Comics Unleashed” initially ran for 10 years through 2016 in syndication. Allen has said he will steer clear of the political humor that set Colbert apart from his late-night competitors.
“I’m not trying to replace Colbert. I don’t think anybody can replace Colbert. I think he’s phenomenal,” he told the Guardian. “This is a show we’ve been doing for 20 years. And there’s nothing like it on TV right now where you have five comedians sitting around with one purpose: making people laugh.”
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Joseph Zeballos-Roig is a policy and politics journalist based in Washington D.C with a focus on economics. He is experienced in connecting the significance of events in the capital to the lives of everyday Americans whether its taxes, tariffs, interest rates or federal programs.
