Америкалық миллиардер кәсіпкер Роберт Л. Джонсон

American billionaire businessman

Robert Louis Johnson (born April 8, 1946) is an American entrepreneur, media magnate, executive, philanthropist, and investor. He is the co founder of BET, which was acquired by Viacom in 2001. Johnson is the former majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. He became the first black American billionaire in 2001. Johnson's companies have counted among the most prominent black American businesses in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries.

Johnson was born in 1946 in Hickory, Mississippi, the ninth out of ten children to Edna and Archie Johnson. Johnson worked as a press secretary for Congressman Walter E. Fauntroy. He later became vice president of government relations at the National Cable and Television Association (NCTA). When the network launched in 1980, it only aired for two hours on Friday night. This purchase gave Johnson 42% of the company. The RLJ Companies is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. By January 2009, Ion Media had another subchannel network, Urban TV, in the works with him targeted to black Americans. Axiom Bank N. A. Maitland, Florida, was founded by Robert Johnson, who also founded the Black Entertainment Network (BET). As of 2013, Johnson was a member of the board of directors for RLJ Lodging Trust, RLJ Entertainment, Inc., KB Home, Lowe's Companies, Inc., Strayer Education, Think Finance, Inc., NBA Board of Governors, The Business Council, and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture. Johnson has also served as a member of the board of directors for several other companies and organizations, including US Airways, Hilton Hotels, General Mills, the United Negro College Fund, and Deutsche Bank's Americas Advisory Board. Johnson became the first black American majority club owner of a major American sports league team with his 2002 purchase of the Charlotte Bobcats. In 2010, Johnson sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Bobcats to Michael Jordan. In 2016, Johnson finalized a partnership agreement with AMC Networks through his RLJ Company after launching his own video on demand streaming service Urban Movie Channel in 2014. According to the agreement, AMC will use its programming and distribution clout to benefit Acorn and UMC. Additionally, the RLJ AMC partnership will allow for greater investment in content from black American creatives, Johnson emphasized. The agreement called for AMC to provide RLJ with a $60 million loan on a seven year term and $5 million on a one year term. AMC has received warrants to purchase at least 20 million shares or the equivalent of 50.1% of the company. The time frame for exercising those warrants is open ended, AMC said.

In 2011, Johnson worked with Morgan Freeman to raise funds for hurricane preparedness in the Bahamas. Johnson released a neckwear line in coordination with PVH and The Ella Rose Collection, the RLJ Ella Rose Africa Tie Collection, in 2012 to benefit the charitable organization Malaria No More. In 2007, Johnson created the Liberia Enterprise Development Fund with a $30 million investment. The fund provides credit for Liberian entrepreneurs. Following her defeat in the primary, Johnson wrote to members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), where he urged representatives to lobby Obama to select Clinton as his running mate.

Following Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election, Johnson met with the then president elect for a meeting at Trump International Golf Club. Johnson stated in a CNBC interview that he had known Trump personally for years, and urged Black Americans to give Trump a chance. Johnson argued that Black voters should not be wedded to either party in the American two party system, stating that overwhelming Black support for the Democratic Party means "we are locked into one party which undoubtedly limits and dilutes our voting power". In 2019, Johnson praised Trump's economic policies, stating that he "[gives] the president a lot of credit for moving the economy in a positive direction that’s benefiting a large amount of Americans". He argued that tax cuts implemented under Trump helped stimulate the economy and inspire confidence among businesspeople. He stated that the Democratic Party moved too far to the left, and indicated he did not have a "particular candidate" he supported in the 2020 Democratic primary. In September 2020, during the 2020 general election, Johnson made comments that were interpreted as him indicating a preference for Trump's reelection candidacy over Joe Biden's campaign. However, CNBC noted that "Johnson, when pressed, refused to outright endorse Trump". During the interview, Johnson stated that "[w]here I come out as a businessman, I will take the devil I know over the devil I don't know anytime of the week."

Johnson married Sheila Johnson in 1969. Johnson began dating Lauren Wooden, who is 33 years his junior, in 2010. As of 2016, Wooden was pursuing an international business management doctorate in Paris. They married in May 2016; Greg Mathis officiated, and divorced in 2020.