Brandon Schneider
Mod F
Mr. Gorsky
IDEA Hn
11/10/15
Successful Entrepreneurs: What Makes Them Special
Robert L. Johnson born on April 8th, 1946, in Hickory, Missisippi, founded one of television’s biggest networks; BET (Black Entertainment Television). His spent his childhood in Freeport, Illinois. As a kid he learned from his father and mother’s work ethic were that education was the only way to succeed. He told the Black Collegian, “Going to college is a statement of your determination to get engaged in being exposed to information and how important knowledge is.” He knew his family couldn’t support him for college so he amped up his academic skills. After succeeding academically he received scholarships and ended up going to college. He …show more content…
Johnson saw other people needing support for a cable start up and saw a concept that would work for African Americans in the media field .The program would focus on African American entertainment, culture, and lifestyles. Johnson confronted and spoke with John Malone (A board member of NCTA) to invest in his idea. Malone sometime agreed. On January 25, 1980, BET aired on cable television.
The beginning of BET consisted of films from the 1940s and 1950s and Blaxploitation films. Later than expanding to television shows. Then news about the African American community. Later on music to the general population. Today reaching viewers across the world to 88,255,000 American …show more content…
Within all of his companies he owns or holds interest in hotel real estate, private equity, financial services, asset management, automobile dealerships, sports and entertainment, and video lottery terminal. Robert headed in the right direction from his beginning to his present career. He owns RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust, RLJ Equity Partners that was founded together with The Carlyle Group which specializes in middle-market leveraged buy-outs, RLJE which is a premier independent owner, developer, licensee, and distributor of entertainment content and programming in primarily North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia and lastly RLJ Financial which was his initiative to “end payday lending as we know it today” and to reshape the current lending climate. He has over 15 companies in his portfolio that are viewable to
Mod F
Mr. Gorsky
IDEA Hn
11/10/15
Successful Entrepreneurs: What Makes Them Special
Robert L. Johnson born on April 8th, 1946, in Hickory, Missisippi, founded one of television’s biggest networks; BET (Black Entertainment Television). His spent his childhood in Freeport, Illinois. As a kid he learned from his father and mother’s work ethic were that education was the only way to succeed. He told the Black Collegian, “Going to college is a statement of your determination to get engaged in being exposed to information and how important knowledge is.” He knew his family couldn’t support him for college so he amped up his academic skills. After succeeding academically he received scholarships and ended up going to college. He …show more content…
Johnson saw other people needing support for a cable start up and saw a concept that would work for African Americans in the media field .The program would focus on African American entertainment, culture, and lifestyles. Johnson confronted and spoke with John Malone (A board member of NCTA) to invest in his idea. Malone sometime agreed. On January 25, 1980, BET aired on cable television.
The beginning of BET consisted of films from the 1940s and 1950s and Blaxploitation films. Later than expanding to television shows. Then news about the African American community. Later on music to the general population. Today reaching viewers across the world to 88,255,000 American …show more content…
Within all of his companies he owns or holds interest in hotel real estate, private equity, financial services, asset management, automobile dealerships, sports and entertainment, and video lottery terminal. Robert headed in the right direction from his beginning to his present career. He owns RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust, RLJ Equity Partners that was founded together with The Carlyle Group which specializes in middle-market leveraged buy-outs, RLJE which is a premier independent owner, developer, licensee, and distributor of entertainment content and programming in primarily North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia and lastly RLJ Financial which was his initiative to “end payday lending as we know it today” and to reshape the current lending climate. He has over 15 companies in his portfolio that are viewable to