The Black community within the last few weeks has been rocked with the news that more successful black-owned businesses have been bought out or sold (however you want to see it) to White owned corporate giants: Essence magazine to Time Warner, Africana.com to be merged with AOL Black Voices (Africana.com had already been purchased by Time Warner [AOL's parent company] some time ago). Both of these businesses have enjoyed the patronage and support from their early beginnings and in many ways have become synonymous with Black culture.
Now I will be the first to admit to you when I first heard the news that Essence magazine was being sold to Time Warner, my first reaction was that of loss of something very valuable. Memories of Bob Johnson’s sale of BET could not help but to remind me of this “scary” trend.
As I began to analyze this whole trend a little closer, one obvious fact began to stand out very clear to me: We live in an economy that is based on capitalism. Capitalism can be defined as follows:
An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.
A simpler way of defining it is a follows:
an economic system based on private ownership of capital (emphasis mine)
Each day in America, businesses are bought and sold to individuals who not only see its great value, but can also see how to make it more profitable. In this economy, the only color that is most relevant is green. Ethnicity, although a factor depending on the target market of the business, is of lesser concern. If a person is able to start a company from the ground up with very little capital, and in a few years sell that company for a huge profit–in a capitalistic economy that is success!
With that being said, is it fair for us, the Black community to become critical to the point of almost outright rejection of the very people that we wanted to see successful in the first place. Does the overall image of Black Americans rest on the shoulders of successful Black businessmen and women? In order for us to be part of this “melting pot” (Better known as America), isn’t true that part of our own “self” is blended (or arguably “lost”) with the whole? As Black people, we never have a problem with millions of whites jam to the music that we produce. However, when one of us embrace what we consider to be “white music”, that person is treated as an outcast in most of our circles. In other words, that person is a sell-out.
The relationship between Blacks and the rest of America is like a marriage between a husband with a prior long history of great abuse, and a wife who had very little choice but to endure it. Over time, this “husband” (although not perfect–but again, show me a husband that is) has made great strides to rid himself of his abusive behavior. Now the “wife” (in this case, the black community) has one of two choices she can make: #1. Leave her husband, or #2. Accept the fact that although he will never be perfect (guess what, she will never be perfect either) they can always work on the imperfections over time as long as they are moving in a positive direction that is beneficial to both of them. An “abusive husband” can never improve a marriage neither will a “nagging wife” who always seem to find and exploit the faults of her “husband”. Let’s face it, the pendulum swings both ways! There is a huge difference between be considered “equals” versus being seen as “one”.
Now, when I think of Bob Johnson (founder of BET) and other successful Black entrepreneurs who have been able to make great contributions to our (the US) economy, I can’t help to realize that they are living the American dream that our ancestors died for.
And besides, Johnson isn’t the only “one”. There are others coming right behind him.
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One of the readers of Blackinformant.com sent in this comment that I found to be very interesting:
“Perhaps I am naïve about this issue but, as the founder stated, the magazine depended on the expansive resources of the Time-Warner conglomerate to infiltrate the market. Marketing, advertising and distribution are required for a magazine to succeed. A large corporation can provide this better than an independent, smaller company.
Here are some numbers found on the Internet regarding the 2003 circulation of some leading black and urban magazines (Vibe and Source have June 2004 numbers):
- O (Oprah) Magazine: 2.6 million
- Ebony: 1.8 million
- Essence: 1.07 million
- Jet: 912,000
- Vibe: 851,000
- Black Enterprise: 468,000
- Source: 454,000
- Upscale: 209,000
Earl Graves (Black Enterprise founder) comments about allowing another black company purchasing Essence would have had some financial problems with it since Time-Warner held a 49% stake in the Essence before purchasing the remaining share of the company. Also, if another organization purchased Essence, could they have increased the circulation? By the numbers above, Johnson Publishing, not Black Enterprise, *might have kept the circulation numbers.” (thanks Ed for this information!!!)
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*I emphasize “might” because Johnson Publishing company does not have the vast Internet or cable infrastructure behind it.
There is a bittersweet element to the Essence and Africana.com purchases. One the one hand, two black companies are being purchased by a predominately white company (Time-Warner). However, what this says about their founders is that they are well-run and respected businesses just as any other white-owned company. Isn’t that what we want, to be treated as equal?
I attempted to find out what happened to Madame Walker’s business after she died. Although well-run, her company didn’t seem to have any white corporations willing to purchase it. The stigma of black out-colored the green then.
Then I recalled an earlier posting, “Is ‘keepin’ it real’ keeping us backâ€Â. Could this be T-W’s Richard Parsons giving us the corporate wink?
I don’t know anybody who builds a company and sells later for a HUGE profit. The only thing I lament is the media that is produced and directed at the black community is now ultimatly controlled by people who mostly are not black. While the immediate decision makers may not have changed, if for some reason TW doesn’t like something Essence, or BET is doing they can pull the plug. This would not be so worry some to me if there where another BET, or another Essence, but there really isn’t.
Well if you really think about it, what would be said in “Black” media that the controlling white overseers (for lack of a better word)would disapprove of? I do not think that TW is in a big hurry to edit our music videos (about 98% of BET). As for the news, they get it from Viacom (which also owns CBS).
I think that most Black folk (I could be wrong on this one) pull their news information (for example) mostly from the major networks. Black news media is more supplemental. You do bring up a possible scenario, but if most of us are not reading (only about 31%), I do not see the value of “influencing” our media.
Off topic: As I type this, I am using Barnes and Noble’s wireless network. Pretty neat to have this kind of flexibility. Can’t wait until city-wide Wi-Fi is fully implemented (sorry, its the geek in me)
BH -
I recall Wally Amos (of ‘Famous Amos’
sold his venture. Not sure what consitutes a huge profit but if you start with nothing, isn’t anything a profit?
Most of the large software companies purchase other smaller companies. For example, Microsoft bought hotmail. the creator of hotmail could have made a fortune.
There should be no reason for T-W to strangle the goose. Essence won’t become the next Time or Field & Stream in the future. It should have a greater distribution and continue to grow.
This is an evloutinary process that allows us to move on to create more opportunities for our community as a whole its not selling out if we are continuing to grow and expand into new arenas of capitalism.
As an advertising and marketing executive my views on network purchases of African American corporations may vary from the norm. I see the purchases as a control tactic.The truth to the matter is that once BET, ESSENCE , Famous Amos, etc. were purchased the distribution did not truly expand. It’s about control. The corps. that make these glamouros purchases are simply controling our neighborhoods,
communities,..Since BET was purchased there has not been any changes in the quality of productions. In fact, many of the programs look low budget and far from the commercial quality found in network properties such as produced by NBC, CBS, or FOX. However, we as African American consumers must’n be upset and irrational. We must take the time to teach our children to purchase and own business’,inventions,real estate, stocks, etc. We must also teach our children that they can be a Walt Disney, Montgomery Wards, Nordstrom, Ford Motors, etc. As parents we have to start with our kids at home and teach them that ownership is not onbly about building wealth. It’s about building our community. When a community is built we can feed the poor, house the homeless, and protect the abused. It’s what we must do. I tend to be long winded. I hope my point is clear. I love you all!