Family-owned Johnson Publishing has sold its African American lifestyle publications,
Ebony
and
Jet,
to Clear View Group, a private equity firm based in Austin, Texas,
the
Chicago Tribune
reported.
Jet
is now a digital-only publication.
The selling price was not disclosed. The deal included the assumption of debt, the
Tribune
article said.
A
Chicago Business Journal
report
said Clear View is an African American-owned firm that, “by a Clear View principal’s own admission, has no previous history running media companies.”
Johnson Publishing will retain its Fashion Fair Cosmetics business and its
Ebony
photo archives. The
Ebony
archives have been for sale since January 2015, the
Tribune
article said.
Linda Johnson Rice, chairman of Johnson Publishing and the founder’s daughter, will be chairman emeritus of the new publishing entity under Clear View, which will be called Ebony Media Operations, the
Tribune
article said.
Desiree Rogers, the former social secretary for President Barack Obama who has been CEO of Johnson Publishing since 2010, will stay on, focusing on Johnson’s cosmetic business. Rogers and Linda Johnson Rice have been close friends for years, the
Chicago Business Journal
report noted.
The
Tribune
article said the cosmetics unit represented about half of Johnson’s total revenue.
“Under Rogers, Johnson Publishing made a number of moves in an effort to shore up finances,” the
Tribune
article said. “Those included taking on a minority partner in 2011, and taking the money-losing weekly digest
Jet
out of print circulation in 2014.” (Sources:
Chicago Tribune
, June 15, 2016;
Chicago Business Journal
, June 15, 2016.)
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