Robert l johnson biography founders online

Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. Robert L. HickoryMississippiU. Early Life and Education [ change change source ]. Personal life [ change change source ]. References [ change change source ]. Forbes Magazine. Archived from the original on December 15, Retrieved September 21, Robert Naify. John Hearst Jr. Daniel Snyder. Samuel Irving Newhouse.

Selena Gomez. Wally Amos. Early Life Robert L. Personal Life Johnson was married to Sheila Johnson from to Johnson founded Black Entertainment Television, the first cable network focusing on African Americans, with wife Sheila in InRobert L. Johnson became the first African-American billionaire. Johnson is the first Black individual to be named on one of Forbes' "world's richest" lists.

Johnson became first Black U. Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. In spite of phenomenal growth, by BET was still the smallest and least carried of all cable networks. The company also faced legal setbacks from competitors. Johnson began another cable venture inDistrict Cablevision Incorporated, intended to wire homes and serve the District of Columbia.

TCI owned 75 percent of the new company, however, and competitors filed suit to prevent a monopoly, causing more financial pressure. Bythe financial burden was eased, but BET did not pay back its investors until Although by then three other black firms had gone public with their stock, none had remained on the public market or had been listed by the NYSE.

Although the company lost some ground when investors questioned his subscriber count, BET sold some of its stock, clarified the number of subscribers, and later recovered some of its losses. Commenting on his financial progress, the Network Journal for June 30,quoted Johnson's statement to CNN: "Black people will become powerful in this country when they obtain power through control of economic wealth.

Internet Life magazine. BET also established a radio network in which provides news and music to urban stations nationwide. In April ofJohnson added a 50, square—foot film and video production facility, one of the largest of its kind on the east coast. In the Network Journal for June 30,Tony Chapelle cited Johnson's plans to become "the preeminent provider of information entertainment and direct marketing services to the Black community.

ByBET reached By the cable network, still the core of the company's holdings, had a children's literature hour, public affairs show, weekly show for teenagers, town hall meetings, and music videos.

Robert l johnson biography founders online

Johnson told the Los Angeles Sentinel for October 3,"What we're doing is something that's unique. We're branding movies that appeal to an audience that has demonstrated a tremendous amount of interest in viewing film entertainment. That venture is intended to develop and exhibit black—oriented feature—length films and expand pay—TV households in urban markets.

The company established BET Gospel in Decemberwhich features inspirational music and speakers. All told, the company was gaining twice the number of viewers Johnson had estimated, at about four million subscribers a year from — The BET. BET Interactive also owns the hiphop. In a Viacom press release, Johnson stated, "Viacom is the perfect home for BET, a healthy, profitable business and the dominant media brand serving the African—American consumer.

Combining the assets of BET with the global resources and brands of Viacom will create a platform that is even stronger and better positioned to deliver the wants and needs of BET's core audience. We will be able to continue to push programming to new heights, expand our distribution globally, and leverage the marketing resources of the best advertising—driven media company in the world.

The Viacom deal made Johnson the first black billionaire, ranking nd on The Forbes list of wealthiest Americans, and gave him a 1. Johnson has come under some criticism as a "sell—out" in the black community for the Viacom deal, especially after a much—publicized firing of BET talk show host Tavis Smiley. While BET is cherished by many as the only black entertainment channel, others complain of a lack of social consciousness and outdated images.

Johnson countered the criticism in Forbes saying, "We are the only black network in town, so everybody has poured their burdens and obligations on BET, but we can't solve everybody's desires for BET. We have to be focused on running this as a profit maximization business. But nobody will sing our praises.