When the Checks Stop Coming In: Ebony Mag is Up for Sale

End of Days, News, Pay Yo Bills, Uncategorized, When The Checks Stop Coming In

September 28th, 2009

Posted by Bossip Staff

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Johnson publishing has had a rough time with keeping their publications a float during the recession and now it seems their most prized possession Ebony Magazine is seeking investors to keep the mag from shutting down.

Linda Johnson Rice the current CEO and daughter of late Founder John H. Johnson, has had a rough year of layoffs, cutbacks and hard decisions in order to keep the multi-publishing company afloat. Yet with all the cutbacks and layoffs, Rice is still facing the closure of Ebony Magazine, if she can’t find enough investors to invest in the magazine. According to sources, Rice has sought out investments from Time Inc., Viacom, and private investors. Time Inc., the world’s largest periodical publisher which already owns Essence and Viacom which is home to MTV, BET and other major networks, declined comment.

Sources say that Rice is definitely trying to keep the publication in-house because of its historical roots in the black community and she would rather get investors than put the magazine up for sale. With Ebony’s advertising taking a decline for the past three consecutive years, the hope of keeping the magazine apart of Johnson Publishing may be a far reach.

We hope we can hold on to Ebony because too many African-American magazines have already bitten the dust.

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Comments

31 Responses to “When the Checks Stop Coming In: Ebony Mag is Up for Sale”

No u can't be boyfriend #2!

9/28/09, 10:54:am

GOLD!

charlotte

9/28/09, 10:54:am

To lose Ebony or Jet will be a great loss. Now I wish I never stopped by subscriptions

No u can't be boyfriend #2!

9/28/09, 10:55:am

Damn…there goes another magazine gone under!

S*****citee

9/28/09, 10:57:am

I worked at Johnson publishing company for approx. 5 months and it deserves to be closed down!

Poookie

9/28/09, 10:57:am

Whoa @ the cover

Angee

9/28/09, 11:03:am

This was her (Linda Johnson Rice) father’s legacy, and is such strong place in African-American history. I really hope they can keep the magazine going.

I'm Just Me: KEEPING IT REAL SINCE 1983

9/28/09, 11:17:am

I hope they can. We lost King, Vibe is done but supposedly being revamped (we’ll see). I actually like this magazine. I hope it can be saved.

Miss Kesha86

9/28/09, 11:19:am

Wow, I really hope they can do something. We subscribed to Ebony for years, it’s such a great magazine.

BastetsMeow

9/28/09, 11:20:am

Let’s face it, Ebony/Jet have been going down the tubes for a few years now. The quality of their articles just were not the same say like 10-12 years ago (same goes for Essence). If they revamped the magazine to be similar to a combination of Elle/Time = New York Magazine (Black version). Then I would buy for real. 10 or so years ago, there was Honey magazine. They were pretty great but then they got cancelled. Now there’s Jewel magazine, which I like very much.

Forshame

drenk

9/28/09, 11:34:am

just another paper print media going the way of the dodo

Jay the Real One

9/28/09, 11:35:am

Wow not Ebony…

resurrected

9/28/09, 11:55:am

Man I really like to look at Ebony, see it like everything is falling apart… People are still trying to do what use to work and now there is a new game in town and all of these businesses are learning the hard way… Very Sad..

Unbought_and_Unafraid

9/28/09, 11:55:am

These people need to upgrade THE WHOLE COMPANY — it’s not 1959, and *****ody needs THEM to tell the rest of us who the “100 most important (fill in the blank) blacks” are — always including the damn heads of the black greek organizations, which is LAUGHABLE.

Stop promoting hyperconsumption and deifying a bunch of athletes and entertainers.

Ms. T.

9/28/09, 11:56:am

Wow! I can’t imagine not having Ebony and Jet. Do any of you guys remember Ebony Jr.? Loved it.

bobby

9/28/09, 12:08:pm

smh at the headlines on the cover: “Why Black Men die younger”, and “Are Black athletes naturally superior?”

coi

9/28/09, 12:17:pm

@bobby
smh at the headlines on the cover: “Why Black Men die younger”, and “Are Black athletes naturally superior?”
***************************************************
lmao those headlines could actually be on their covers now, i swear i’ve read articles in ebony recently that were very similar…

damn in 1975 it was only 75 cents?!

lydia

9/28/09, 12:18:pm

aww that’s a cute jackson family pciture

Jermaine

9/28/09, 12:18:pm

“A float?”

You just keep on keepin’ it real, Bossip.

Pepstreptococcus

9/28/09, 12:38:pm

I used to love the “old” Ebony Magazine…over the years it started to take a sleazy slide downwards like that damn Cosmo. I mean, we can talk about things like sex and health…but be cl*****y about it. There’s nothing cl*****y about that magazine Cosmo!!!

mj is king,so invincible

9/28/09, 14:18:pm

HAS ANYONE CHECKED OUT THE SIGNATURES ON MICHAEL JACKSONS WILL NONE THEM ARE THE SAME AND THE CHILDRENS NAMES ON THE WILL AND THEIR BIRTH CERTIFICATES ARE DIFFERENT.A FRAUD IS TAKING PLACE IN THE COURTS.WHY WOULD ANY JUDGE ACCEPT THIS CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR.UNLESS HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMM
OH YEAH HOPE THE MAGAZINE CAN BE SAVED, COOL COVER.

DayShifter

9/28/09, 15:50:pm

Sorry to see Ebony in trouble, but that’s the way the industry is going. I guess it might save some tress, but increase pollution to provide more electricity since everyone is reading online.

That cover is scary, and maybe a indication of what was going on in that family. How many family picture have you seen where the parents or the elders are not sitting together.

NIKKI

9/28/09, 17:11:pm

IS THIS THE DEPRESSION?

Nayland House

9/28/09, 17:16:pm

Everybody is struggling – Ebony is just like every other magazine; though it’s sad to see it in this state.

Nayland House

9/28/09, 17:17:pm

See successful people and companies at the Nayland House Blog

Its6amHoGetOut Resident Genius, think about it, these Kardashian es should have a BET special "how to date, and marry rich black men" And yes I'm really leaving Bossip on 12/31/09 at 5pm.

9/28/09, 20:26:pm

Dont act like youre surprised this ***** is happening, have you read ebony lately? its completely out of touch with progressive blacks, same as the NAACP, essence and jet. Theres nothing of substance in these magazines just advertisements for McDonalds, soda, jamaica and hair care products!

pressure

9/28/09, 20:29:pm

U can tell by the number of replies to this post and the content of th posters that Black people simply dont have a clue of what Ebony represented in print media. I will always have a a subscription to this mag, because I know how important it has been to my culture

Dirty Diana...Let Me Be ♪

9/28/09, 22:53:pm

oh no not Ebony!!!!!!!!!!
i love MJ and the entire Jackson family that’s why imma copy and paste that mag cover to my pc….sigh

!!!!!R.I.P MIKE!!!!!

9/28/09, 23:05:pm

NICE COVER IT JUST SO CUTE,I HOPE THEY DO A RECENT ONE EVENTUALLY,ANYWAY LOVE MIKE AND RANDY.

memchee

9/29/09, 00:40:am

wonder if they sincerely attempted to rework the terms of their debt.

I hope she can raise financing w/o selling a portion of the company.

BAPE747

9/29/09, 13:06:pm

Even successful Black Enterprise magazine has felt the economic crunch. Earl Graves used to run it but sold it back in 1998. Graves is currently a director of Aetna Inc. In 2008 he retired from the boards of AMR Corp. (American Airlines), and DaimlerChrysler AG Corp. Get in, get paid, get out. Please believe that the elite are scaling back.

mxb

9/29/09, 15:08:pm

first, ALL magazines are in trouble. there is a HUGE transition going on in the media world that even has the largest publishers in the world wondering if they will be around in five years.

second, ebony and jet are relics of an era when blacks were “seperate but equal” and basically invisible from the larger society. what has occured in the last three decades has been american culture finally bringing it’s roots out of the closet.

african americans DICTATE, CREATE and PROLIFERATE what is culturally relevant for america and hence the world. as an example, see hip hop’s universal role vehicle as the express what is going on with you and your world, whether you rep the west side or the west bank.

we are a very visible part of america, in a lot of places overseas, the MOST visible part.

jet and ebony are being absorbed by the same historical process that ground up the negro leagues, black neighborhoods with a broad economic mix of residents and afro sheen: good things swept up by the tide of history that has made us fully integrated members of the american polis.

as always, ya gotta take the good with the bad.

an’ BOSSIP, ya gotta tighten up on your spelling and grammar. C’MON!!!