Robert L. Johnson
Robert Louis Johnson (born April 8, 1946) is an American entrepreneur, media magnate, executive, philanthropist, and investor.[1][2][3][4][5][6] He is the co-founder of BET, which was acquired by Viacom in 2001.[2][3] He also founded RLJ Companies, a holding company that invests in various business sectors.[3][7] Johnson is the former majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.[8] He became the first black American billionaire in 2001.[9][1][10] Johnson's companies have counted among the most prominent black American businesses in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
For other people with similar names, see Robert Johnson (disambiguation).
Robert L. Johnson
Early life and education[edit]
Johnson was born in 1946 in Hickory, Mississippi, the ninth out of ten children to Edna and Archie Johnson.[3][4] His mother was a schoolteacher and his father was a farmer.[3] His parents moved the family to Freeport, Illinois, when he was a child.[3] He was an honors student in high school.[3][4] Johnson graduated from the University of Illinois in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in social studies.[3][4] While at the University of Illinois, Johnson became a member of the Beta chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.[4] He received a master's degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University in 1972.[3][4]
Philanthropy[edit]
In 2011, Johnson worked with Morgan Freeman to raise funds for hurricane preparedness in the Bahamas.[29] 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.[30]
In 2007, Johnson created the Liberia Enterprise Development Fund with a $30 million investment.[5][31][32] The fund provides credit for Liberian entrepreneurs.[5]
Political activity[edit]
Role in 2008 election[edit]
During the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Johnson was a prominent surrogate for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. During the campaign, he was a "HillRaiser", a term for a leading fundraiser for Clinton's campaign.[33] 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.[34]
Personal life[edit]
Johnson married Sheila Johnson in 1969.[3] They divorced in 2001 and have two children. She is CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts and owner of Salamander Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor. [45] 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.[46] They married in May 2016; Greg Mathis officiated,[47] and divorced in 2020.
