How did BETs boss become the United States richest African American?
Subject: Robert Johnson – How did BET’s boss become the United States’ off icial black tycoon? http://slate.msn.com/Assessment/00-11-10/Assessment.asp Robert Johnson Posted Friday, Nov. 10, 2000, at 10:00 a.m. PT Robert Johnson is having a spectacular year. Last week he sold his flagship cable network, Black Entertainment Television, and most of his other media properties to Viacom for $3 billion. Johnson banks $1.6 billion of that, making him the richest African-American in the United States. He sold out without selling out: He will keep control of BET for at least five years. The Viacom windfall is Johnson’s second sweetheart deal in six months. When United and US Airways announced their merger in the spring, they proposed giving Johnson US Airways’ lucrative franchise at Washington’s Reagan National Airport. If the deal goes through, Johnson’s “D.C. Air” would be the first major black-controlled American airline. Johnson’s success has magnified the usual complaint about him: that he
