WEBVTT - Bob Johnson 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.280 The first African American in the United States to become 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:08.240 a billionaire was Bob Johnson. He did that by building 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:12.479 Black Entertainment Television and subsequently selling the Viacom. He used 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.480 some of those proceeds to buy the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.160 the first African American to be a major sporting team owner. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.840 He later sold that basketball team to Michael Jordan's. Today, 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:24.400 Bob Johnson is involved in a wide variety of business 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:27.080 ventures across the United States. I sat down with him 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:29.520 in Palm Beach to talk about his career and what 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.600 he sees next for himself. So, when you became the 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.320 first African American to be a billionaire, what was that 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.680 like people calling you up telling you how great you are, 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:40.880 or people calling up asking for money all the time. No, 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.480 there's nothing like that, David. You know, I had run 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:48.519 Black Entertainment Television b ET over twenty years until I 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:52.159 sold it to Viacom. So b ET at sort to 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:57.320 become a business success story, and as a result of that, 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:01.080 people begin to see me as sort of uh as 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.680 an entrepreneur. It was doing something pretty pretty good at 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:05.920 that time. And so by the time I got to 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:10.200 where it was sold to Viacom, it was sort of 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:14.319 expected that it would be worth something. So when you 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.280 sold it to Viacom. After that, you then bought the 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.120 Charlotte Bobcats, an NBA team, and you became the first 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:22.600 African American to be an owner of a major sports 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:24.959 team in our country. So what was that like. Was 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:26.880 that thrilling to own an NBA team or did you 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:29.200 really just see it as a business venture. Well, I 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.520 first saw it as the idea of being first. Uh, 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:37.080 there's been throughout the black business history. If you were 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.920 the first black to do something, you gained visibility, you 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:45.640 gained notoriety, and you gained access to other people's particularly 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:49.360 white business people who knew you by your reputation. So 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.800 when there was a team coming up for sale in Charlotte, 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.120 I said, you know, why not be first? I had 0:01:56.200 --> 0:02:00.360 the capital from the sale of b E T to Viacom, 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.080 so I said why not? And UM I decided to 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.520 um make a bid and got a call from some 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.440 of the business people in Charlotte to said we'd like 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.440 you to be the majority owner of the team. Will 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.040 be the minority owners and work with you. And so 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:17.720 it just seemed to be the right place at the 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:19.959 right time to do something I thought would be part 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.919 of a strategic approach to being first. So you owned 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.120 the team for about eleven years, and then you sold 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:30.600 it to a person named Michael Jordan's so, and after 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:33.760 that you began an effort to build i'll call a 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.360 small business empire. You have investments in many different areas 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:42.920 private equity, financial services, fashion, lodging, hotels, real estate, and 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:45.400 my own firm did something with you in private equity 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.440 for a while. So is that what you're trying to 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.520 do now is build a many empire if different areas 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.160 and what are your most important parts of that empire? Well, 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:57.600 what I did when I sold b ET, I decide 0:02:57.600 --> 0:02:59.480 I wasn't going to just sit around and do nothing, 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.360 and I decided that one way to sort of build 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:07.119 value for yourself was to take your own knowledge, your 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:11.920 own strategic vision, and deploy your capital and your brand 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.160 to acquire assets that you could run with very talented 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:20.200 people to help you do it, obviously, and align yourself 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:25.239 with people who shared your vision and your culture about 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.720 creating what I call wealth in the black community, uh 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:35.400 and demonstrating to the broader market that African American talent 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:39.040 with capital and strategic partners like I did with John 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.680 Malone when I started b ET, could be successful and 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:46.800 create create value for yourself and create value for the investors. So, Um, 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.280 you've been very involved in dealing with black entrepreneurship and 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.520 black business owners. Do you think today it's easier for 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.160 a black entrepreneur to start a company or No, No, 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:58.560 more easy than it was twenty years ago or thirty 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:02.760 years ago. David, I don't think it's necessarily easier. I 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.640 think there's a mindset within the white business community and 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.640 to some extent in the country at large, is that 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:15.280 this definition of equity and diversity ought to see money flowing, 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:21.880 capital flowing into black entrepreneurs for investment and operating startups 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:26.200 of business. It's just not easy. It's just that there's 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.240 a theory that it ought to happen. And I think 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.599 if if it were easy, you would see more Bob 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:37.760 Johnson's more, Michael George, more Magic Johnson's and Oprah Winfreys 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.840 in the light. So I think it's a little bit 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.159 of a misnomer to say it's easy. It is correct 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.440 to say people think about it more, but do they 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:50.760 do more that's the problem. So in for the George 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.640 Floyd murder, I thought that many people in the white 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:55.960 business community said, Okay, we've got to do much more 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:59.279 in getting blacks and as on the boards senior positions 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:01.880 in corporate memory. Has that really happened or has you 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:05.640 just talk about that? Well, David, the sad secret of 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:10.600 that is companies, white companies have announced that they're gonna 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:14.080 put millions of dollars into diversity in terms of black 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:17.440 investment business. But among the people I know, and I 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:19.400 know a lot of people who would say, hey, I 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.279 just got money from here there in other other places, 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.479 it's really not happening. I saw something in the in 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.680 the media that said there has been something like fifty 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:35.640 billion dollars of pledges made, but less than five percent 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:40.200 of that has ever been implemented. And to me, it's 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:45.720 a real sad story because it's not happening. And I 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:49.040 would know because no one has called me. Now, I've 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.839 been pretty successful, as you you know. The only thing 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.640 I've done that with, David, and I am most proud 0:05:54.680 --> 0:06:00.240 of is the partnership I've created with Vanguard Fidelity and 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.839 a Light to create a four oh one k auto 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:10.880 portability business called uh part Portability Network whose sole purpose 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:15.839 is to keep Black Americans reduced cash out of four 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:18.680 oh one k account by Black Americans and low wage 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.520 workers and whim I mean as Hispanic workers when they 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:26.359 change jobs. That those two companies, those three companies put 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:30.600 their commitment to diversity and opportunity and closing the wealth 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.279 gap in a relationship with me. And that's what I 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:36.640 like in respect. But I can tell you the black 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:40.719 community entrepreneurs I know are very disappointed with these what 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.120 I call press release announcements with no results. So let's 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.880 talk about your background. Uh, where did you grow up? 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.840 I grew up born in hippy Mississippi. If you Mississippi 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:53.520 is a real small town, you know, one stop signing 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:55.920 kind of town. What did your parents do? My well, 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.919 they were workers. My father all his life was a 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.159 worker in Mississippi. He was a lumber cutting down timber 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.800 in Mississippi and a little bit of farming where he lived. 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:09.520 And my mother was a school teacher at the you know, 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.520 the small school system in Mississippi. When they migrated up 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.880 north to a small town freeport A hunt them out 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:21.160 northwest of Chicago, they became factory workers. So you went 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:24.520 to college where University of Illinois, Champaign, Debanda, And what 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.680 did you study? History? I was a history major throughout 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.160 my home. So what did you want to be. I 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:32.040 want to be a diplomat. I want to be an 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.840 ambassador diplomat. But what year did you graduate? I graduated 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.800 in sixty eight. And then you went to Woodrow Wilson 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:44.560 School at Princeton, and that's to do further diplomatic knowledge. 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.280 Had got a degree master's degree in the national affairs 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:54.440 and again the fascination was was was history and global affairs. 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.679 So you get a degree from Princeton, a graduate degree 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:58.840 from Princeton, and all of a sudden, the US government 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:00.840 says we're ready for you to be a diplomat. Or 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:05.160 what happened? Well, all of a sudden they asked you, 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.160 if you want to go to the Foreign Service, you 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:11.800 have to take a test, and the test requires you 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:16.600 to be literate and things that a kid from Hipcuem 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:20.760 Mississippi through Freeport, Illinois I didn't really knew about. So 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:22.960 when they had a question, I never get this. They 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:26.520 asked me a question. One of the questions what is Wedgewood? 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:32.640 And they said addresser of this, I thought it was 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:35.720 what it was addressing. It was actually you weren't familiar 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:40.600 with Wedgwood. So ultimately you came to Washington, though, And 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:42.599 what did you do when you came to Washington? I 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:46.600 came to d C with the Princeton Imperor Mater and 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.400 the connections of people who had who are who are 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:53.000 former Princeton Widgard Wilson graduates, uh, including a good friend 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:57.160 of Jim Johnson, And so I started making the rounds 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.320 people refer me to this person. I went to Senator 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.880 Mondale's office, I went to Senator Kennedy's office, and everything 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:07.400 else that this prince prince the mafia sauspeak. And finally, 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:11.880 somebody after I went to one of the officers referred 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.960 me to CPB, the Corporation Public Broadcasting. Got a job 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:20.040 of Corporation for Public Broadcasting for a while, changed jobs 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.880 from there and went and worked for the local Urban 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:25.720 League in Washington, d C. And from there became a 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:29.120 lobbyist for the Cable Television Trade Association. And that's where 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.880 I met all the guys in the cable industry, Ted Turner, 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:37.400 but most importantly John Malone. John Malone was your principal 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:41.880 backer when you wanted to start black entertainment television. Absolutely, John, 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:44.200 I'll never get this. I was a lobbyist. We were 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:48.559 trying to deregulate cable. Cable was heavily regulated to protect 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:51.760 broadcast television on the theory that broadcasts free cable was 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:55.319 paying and if we didn't protect free television, then everybody 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.560 would have to pay, which was supposedly not good for people. Well, 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:00.920 so my job was to go up on capital. He'll 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:03.560 argue for the deregulation of cable so it could compete 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.840 with over the air television. And so I met John 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.200 Malone and he said, Bob, if you ever have an idea, 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:11.480 why don't you come out to Denver and talk to me. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.439 I said, yeah, John, I'll do it. And that's where 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.280 my idea starting black entertainment television came from. And I 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:21.480 took John up on his invitation and went out to 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.920 Denver and made my pitch about getting me financing for 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.560 b ET. So John said to me, Bob, here's what 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:31.760 I'll do. How much you need to start this? I said, 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:36.440 I need half a million dollars five. He said, Bob, 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:40.160 here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna buy of your 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:43.480 company for a hundred and eighty uh and I'm a lone, 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.720 you a three twenty. That's your five thousand and John said, 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.959 under that deal, Bob, you will be eighty percent on 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.319 it and I'll be twenty. Is that a deal? I said, John, 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:56.280 that's a deal. What Malone didn't know David if he 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:58.280 reversed to them and said I'll be eighty and Bob 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.120 you will be twenty. I said, John, that's a go. 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.960 He didn't say that. So he kept putting money into 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.040 b et E while I was growing, never put it 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.840 in his equity, put it in his debt, and the 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.199 dad got paid back. And I did asked him, say, John, 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:15.679 why did you put it in his debt when you 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.880 could have put his equen you all more BT? He said, Bob, 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.520 I always knew you would work harder for yourself than 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.440 you would for me. So John never sold a share 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.520 b et. So when I sold BT to buy account 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:32.000 for approximately three apes seven three almost three billion dollars, 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:37.640 John's one eight of equity, of course got paid back, 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:42.079 netted him over seven hundred million dollars in biacount paper 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.679 because we did a stock for stock deep Well, what 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:48.000 was the theory behind b ET that African Americans should 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.920 have a cable channel devoted to programs that would be 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:52.760 appealing to them in particular. Was that what you were 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:54.920 trying to do? Yeah, Well, the theory was what cable 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:58.439 was offering to the community, basically diversity because once you 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:00.880 just put it once, our c A put a satellite 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.640 in the sky that could orbit on a geosynchronous orbit 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.080 that allowed him to send signals all around to every 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:11.120 cable head in Cable became a competitor for television in 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.840 the big markets, and in order to do that, they 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.400 had to get some big cities who by that time 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:21.480 in the eighties had black city council members wanted to 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.440 and maybe a black mayor. So while they were offering 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:28.440 programming to everybody else, you know, whether it's MTV or 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:32.720 CNN or ESPN, the black city council member was saying, 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.319 you want this franchise, what are you offering from my community? 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:38.480 And that's where b ET became sort of a must 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:43.360 carry product to get into cable and the diversity part 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.000 of it grow. But b ET was really an extension 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.600 of what John Johnson did with E any magazine, except 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:51.600 his was printed and I was video. So how many 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.000 years did you operate p e T before your sold 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.480 to bicom years you sold for roughly three billion dollars 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.080 holding me so, in hindsight, had you held on longer, 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:03.440 would it be worth more today or were worth less today? 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.280 Because the cable world has changed so much, it would be, 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:10.479 in my opinion less today because once streaming came along 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:16.280 and the technology allowed people to have streaming wherever, they 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:20.560 could carry content on your phone, on your laptop, in 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.480 your home, wherever you go. It changed the paradigm of 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.240 cable and it allowed people to sort of pick and 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.440 choose and then olive carte way what they wanted to watch. 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.400 If you only wanted to watch Netflix, you just get 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.600 Netflix cable. You were paying for a bundle even though 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.480 you didn't watch all the channels, so some people were 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.760 paying for If you were in a sports fan, you're 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:46.520 paying thirty cents thirty cents whatever it is now for ESPN. 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:48.439 But if you never watch the Infant, you had to 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.959 pay for it because it's part of a bundle. So 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.719 you then bought as we mentioned earlier, the Charlotte Bobcats 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:57.120 a new team. Um, you didn't know much about running 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:58.880 a basketball team, I assume. So you've brought in a 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:01.640 guy named Michael Joe. How do you tell Michael Jordan 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:04.000 he doesn't know much about basketball? If the thing isn't 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:06.440 working out perfectly? Can you say, Michael, I played in 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:08.480 grade school and I know something about basketball. How do 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:11.160 you tell Michael Jordan's things aren't working perfectly when it 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:15.760 If it doesn't work perfectly, you don't, okay, So just 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:17.880 let him run the team, and you basically owned it. 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.280 He more or less was the manager of it. He 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.040 was he was the general manager of it. And he 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.160 decided on who he's gonna hire his coach, He decided 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:28.840 on what players here going to draft, and he decided 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.080 on you know, how the team would be be run. 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:36.520 I was the pay and the payer in this game. 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.680 So when you sold your NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats, 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:42.080 the price of NBA teams had not risen to the 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.440 billion dollar range. Any regrets about selling it when you 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:49.440 sold it, Oh, definitely regrets. I tell Michael about that 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:54.920 all the time. But nobody could have predicted that Don 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:59.240 Sterling would say what he said about black people, and 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:04.560 the led to the NBA commissioner to say we've got 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.800 a huge racial problem. If we're gonna keep down Sterling 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.480 as an owner, and he basically forced Downald Sterling out. 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:14.080 But being forced out and you walk away with a 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:16.560 two billion dollars, you know a lot of people would 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:18.720 like to be forced out a team for that price, 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:22.640 you know. So that was it. But uh, Michael was 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:24.800 always my first choice to sell the team. He and 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:28.760 I have been friends, see, you know, fifteen years before 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.400 I even owned the team really, so you know, I 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:34.080 wanted if anybody I wanted to sell the team too, 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.240 if I was forced to sell with me to Michael. 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:40.160 As we talked today, there's rumors that the Washington football 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.440 team now called the Commanders might be sold. And h 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:45.960 NFL teams are pretty expensive. But any interest in getting 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.160 back into sports, you're a native of Washington or non native, 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.480 but you've lived there for a long time, that's probably 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.160 a check too far. I mean, because these these teams 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.800 are so rich, and I mean, if you could get one, 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.200 it's a little bit I would call an NFL saying 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:02.440 about the closest thing to a license to print money 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:05.880 that you can think of, But you gotta really pay 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.320 up for it because it's a it's a great sport asset. 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.840 It's one of the best, I would say in the world, 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.640 maybe maybe better than some of the hockey teams, although 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:18.760 pretty close. To a young black entrepreneur who says, I 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.240 want to be the next Bob Johnson, what advice would 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:23.520 you give to that person about how to build a business, 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:28.600 empire and be successful. I do this. I give this 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.560 answer all the time. The first and foremost thing, you 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.840 gotta believe in yourself. You gotta believe in yourself that 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:41.040 you deserve the opportunity to be successful. And the second thing, 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:45.320 you gotta understand that nobody does anything alone. You've got 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.840 to find talented people that you can convince to go 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:51.480 on that voyage with your order to share your vision. 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:55.920 And you gotta make sure that they participate in your upside. 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.000 You gotta give them a stake in the game to 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.720 make sure make them feel like you have their interests 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.640 and the interests of their family close at heart. And 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.440 if you believe that and you work hard, they will 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.000 work hard with you. And today, do you think for 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.680 a young Bob Johnson, they're starting out once to build 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:18.040 a company. It's easier for an African American to get 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:21.280 capital or no easier honestly than it was years ago. 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:25.560 Easier in the sense that there's a belief that there's 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:30.879 should be more diversity of opportunity, whether it's diversity opportunity 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:34.040 is sponsored by the government or diversity of opportunity in 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.800 the form of e s g. That corporations some of 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.359 them give lip service too. So the theory is if 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.560 you go and ask someone to be your partner, who 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.840 they're more inclined to give you a hearing. But the 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.800 ability to get the right person in the right amount 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:54.800 of capital is still very hard. My relationship with John Malone, 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:59.280 and we still have it today, was extremely unique. I 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:06.160 and imagine that one out of a thousand black entrepreneurs 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:09.479 kids today could find them a John Malone. You've been 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:13.640 involved advising presidential candidates, I presume presidents as well. Um, 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:15.439 do you ever have any interest in serving in a 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:19.240 senior position in the federal government or running for office? Absolutely, 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.960 unequivocally no. The aggravation factor isn't worth it. It's the 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:27.399 aggravation factor. But it's more importantly is I don't believe 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.600 there's any integrity in it. So you do give money 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.560 to politicians though, because that's the system, but you it's 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.840 a part of the game. I think, to be honest, 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.479 I think there's a need for a multi party system 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:44.760 in the US to give more people a choice about 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:48.600 where they can throw their voter support and their political support, 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.440 but also to cause the country to try to come 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:57.399 together by having everybody have a role in deciding what 0:18:57.560 --> 0:18:59.520 is in the long term best interest of the country. 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:03.480 I've often believe that Black Americans as a people and 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:08.399 as a voting block should adopt the same position that 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:12.480 the original founders of the Congressional Black Caucus had in 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:18.120 nineteen early seven nineteen seventy. Their philosophy was enunciated like this, 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:23.840 Black Americans should have no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:29.800 just permanent interests. And if we voted like that, we 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:33.159 would be able to leverage that block because it's a 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:35.800 consistent block in our long term best interests, rather than 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:39.040 be addicted to one party and ignored by the other party. 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:43.000 Do you have government officials, members of Congress, or people 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.800 in the White House ever asking you for advice these days? Well, 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:48.920 I don't think they asked so much as I try 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:53.199 to go to them to suggest to them what they 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.320 should consider particularly as it relates to what I call 0:19:57.200 --> 0:19:59.960 I have a formula a belief I called their business 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.159 illusions to social problems. I'm not a big proponent of 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:07.840 government handouts. I've never been in favor of government subsidies. 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.800 I like the idea of government providing a pathway through 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:18.399 regulatory freedom and balance to allow companies to create it. 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:22.480 But they got to be some focus on economic benefits 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:25.760 to in my opinion, to the black community. And for example, 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:29.440 real quickly, I've got members of the Congressional Black Caucus 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.920 to support something I call the Boostack. The Boostack very 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:38.640 simple was this. It would give investors in black businesses 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:43.240 a tax preference if they would invest in these business 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:47.000 I called in legislation I was introduced by a Congressman 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:50.840 and food made from Baltimore. Would put thirty billion of 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:55.720 treasury money aside for preferences for myself. For you who 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:57.800 would go to a company and say I'm gonna invest 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.320 in your business X number of dollars. When you exit 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:06.040 that business or do a sale of that business, I 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:09.800 will get a preference on my capital gains and the 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:12.399 whole idea. It was not a mandate then require it 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:16.960 was only voluntarily to me, that's better than all of 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:19.440 these pledges that are going around there are not being 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:23.520 fact implemented. And and that's the kind of way I 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:26.119 got the same way I did that with the auto portability. 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:28.919 So you're one of the best known black entrepreneurs and 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:31.440 business leaders in the United States and one of the wealthiest. 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.600 Do you face discrimination today in your daily lives or 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.800 in your your business career? Do you still think you're 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:41.919 being discriminated against? You think you're not in that situation 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:44.280 others are, but you're so well known you don't face 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:49.800 that discrimination. Uh. No, you face discrimination in terms of 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:56.080 what I call uh bias discrimination where they people just 0:21:56.160 --> 0:22:00.399 don't they recognize you as black first, Bob Johnson second, 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:03.840 and wealthy Bob Johnson third. So when you get in 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:09.399 that situation, you'll find cases like this. A clear example. Uh, 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:12.720 I could be going I could go to a restaurant 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:17.679 and if I'm standing outside waiting to to go in, 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:20.360 after I'm giving my car to be park, someone will 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:23.720 come up to me and asked me to get their car. 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:28.040 What do you say when that happens? Can I take 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:30.240 it and keep it? But no, I mean the thing 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:37.200 is they see a black man standing by parking valet parking. 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:43.600 Their intellectual bias assumes one, you can't afford to be 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:46.560 at that restaurant. To you're standing next to valet of parking, 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:50.800 you must be a parking lottitides. So today, Um, as 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.320 you look at the United States economy, are you worried 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:56.480 that we're heading into a recession of some type and 0:22:56.480 --> 0:22:59.400 that we're hurt not only black businesses but all businesses. 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:03.760 I think the economy has to have a recession in 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:08.560 front of it until we stopped the huge amount of 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:12.359 fiscal spending that comes out of the government. And I 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:18.240 see nothing in the government that will change that trajectory 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:22.359 on spending. Uh. And and that's the part where I 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:25.000 think we've got the faces a recession because as you 0:23:25.200 --> 0:23:29.600 keep dumping money and chasing fewer goods, it's probably the 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:33.000