Robert L. Johnson

Robert L. Johnson (born April 8, 1946) is an American businessman and the founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), and is its former chairman and chief executive officer. Johnson is the chairman and founder of RLJ Development, and, with rapper Nelly and NBA legend Michael Jordan, a founder and majority-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, a National Basketball Association franchise. Johnson was the first African American billionaire. [ [http://www.factmonster.com/spot/bhmfirsts.html Famous Firsts by African Americans — FactMonster.com ] ]

Biography

Johnson was born in Hickory, Mississippi on April 8, 1946, but spent almost all of his childhood in Freeport, Illinois. He was the ninth of 10 children born to Edna Johnson and Archie Johnson. Johnson graduated from Freeport High School in 1964. He studied history at the University of Illinois and graduated in 1968 with a bachelor's degree. While at the University of Illinois, Johnson was a member of the Beta chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He earned a master's degree in International Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1972. He is the father of two children, daughter Paige and son Brett.

Black Entertainment Television

In 1979, he left NCTA to create Black Entertainment Television, the first cable television network aimed at Black Americans. It was launched in January 1980, initially broadcasting for two hours a week.

Eleven years later, BET became the first black-controlled company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As of 2007, BET reaches more than 65 million U.S. homesFact|date=January 2008 and expanded into other BET-related television channels that make up the BET Networks: BETJ, and digital cable channels BET Hip-Hop and BET Gospel.

In 1998, Johnson took the company private, buying back all of its publicly traded stock. In 1999, Viacom bought BET for $3 billion. Johnson's 63% stake made him worth over a billion dollars after taxes, making him the richest black person until surrendering the title to Oprah Winfrey, when then-wife Sheila Johnson claimed much of his billion in divorce. Johnson continued to be the company's chairman and CEO for six years. In 2005, Johnson turned over the titles of President and Chief Operating Officer of BET to Debra L. Lee, a former BET vice president.

Other ventures

Johnson also serves on the boards of General Mills. He is the first Black American to be the principal owner of a North American major-league sports franchise: He and Michael Jordan led the group that acquired the Charlotte Bobcats NBA expansion franchise, which began play in the fall of 2004. Until December 2006, he also owned the Charlotte Sting of the WNBA. However, he gave up his ownership of the Sting; when the WNBA was unable to find a buyer, the team folded on January 3, 2007. Johnson is also the founder and chairman of RLJ Companies Inc.

In 2006, Johnson became a staunch advocate of phasing-out the Estate tax. He went so far as to call the tax racist, although relatively few black people will have to pay this tax. [ [http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/08/estate-tax-bob-johnson/ Think Progress » Blog Archive » Ultra-Rich Claim Estate Tax is ‘Racist,’ Only 59 Blacks Will Pay This Year ] ]

In late 2006, Johnson founded Our Stories Films, a Los Angeles-based film company. His partner is Harvey Weinstein, whose own new enterprise, the Weinstein Company, will serve as his distributor. JPMorgan Chase invested $175 million into Our Stories. His private equity fund is financed partly by the Washington-based Carlyle Group, while his hedge fund has backing from Deutsche Bank.cite news|url=http://www.blackenterprise.com/cms/exclusivesopen.aspx?id=1769&p=0 |title=Robert Johnson Gets the Green Light |accessdate=2007-05-11 |first=Joyce |last=Jones |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=2006-07-19 |year= |month= |format= |work=Black Enterprise |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ]

In 2007, Johnson was so inspired by new Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf that he and a delegation of several Black-American leaders toured Liberia and committed to revitalizing the historic relationship between Black-Americans and the war-torn country. This led to the creation of the $30 million Liberia Enterprise Development Fund. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/13/AR2007051301123.html "The Washington Post" May 13, 2007] ] Months later Johnson wrote a controversial letter to the Washington Post advocating that the new AFRICOM Military Command be based in Liberia. Johnson has also called for "African-Americans to support Liberia like Jewish-Americans support Israel".He was inducted into Junior Achievement's U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2008.

Controversy

In January, 2008, Johnson became the target of criticism for remarks he made to supporters of Hillary Clinton about Barack Obama. Johnson taunted Obama about his self-confessed past cocaine use. The Clinton campaign denied this, submitting that the comments were referring to Obama's work as a community organizer. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/13/clinton.obama/index.html Drugs, race raised in Clinton-Obama fight] ] In subsequent days, Johnson was roundly criticized for his comments as hypocritical given the prodigious glorification of drug use and sale by artists prominently featured on BET [ [http://www.alternet.org/stories/74753/ The Hypocrisy of BET's Bob Johnson's Obama Smears] ] .

On January 17, 2008, Johnson sent Obama the following apology: "I'm writing to apologize to you and your family personally for the un-called-for comments I made at a recent Clinton event. In my zeal to support Senator Clinton, I made some very inappropriate remarks for which I am truly sorry. I hope that you will accept this apology. Good luck on the campaign trail." [http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/Robert+L.+Johnson+Issues+a+Statement+of+Apology+to+Barack+Obama/3272641.html "RLJ Development, LLC" January 17, 2008] ]

On April 14, 2008, Johnson made comments to the effect that Obama would not be the Democratic Party's leading candidate if he were not black, in support of the prior statement made by Geraldine Ferraro. He also went on to say "I make a joke about Obama doing drugs (and it's) `Oh my God, a black man tearing down another black man.'" [ [http://www.charlotte.com/171/story/581394.html Johnson cites race in Obama's surge] ]

ee also

*List of African-American firsts

Footnotes