← B.E. 40th ANNIVERSARY COVER GALLERY

nd-2007-JUNE

By Alfred Edmond, Jr. | Published August 8, 2010 | Full size is 500 × 320 pixels

Our June 2007 cover subject Robert Johnson is an entrepreneur in perpetual motion: He founded Black Entertainment Television, the first black cable network, in 1980 and took it public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1991 – another historic feat. After buying all the shares of BET, he took it private in 1998 and then sold the network to Viacom for $3 billion, making him the first black billionaire. The cover story explored his second act: the acquisition of the controlling interest of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats – the first African American to own a major sports franchise – and development of a series of deals that would create BE 100s companies on the industrial/service, auto dealers, banks and private equity lists.

Our June 2007 cover subject Robert Johnson is an entrepreneur in perpetual motion: He founded…