Bob Johnson
The Disruptor
Contrarian and drawn to the edge; challenges the settled answer.
Bob Johnson reads as The Disruptor because he built BET by ignoring what the television industry said was possible and betting on an underserved audience everyone else had overlooked. He worked regulatory environments creatively, lobbied Congress directly on cable access, then sold BET to Viacom for three billion dollars and became the first Black American billionaire. Founding RLJ Companies across hospitality, private equity, and financial services, he kept proving he does not wait for permission.
“I first saw it as the idea of being first. If you were the first black to do something, you gained visibility, notoriety, and access to other people's, particularly white business people who knew you by your reputation.”
“I decided that one way to build value for yourself was to take your own knowledge, your own strategic vision, and deploy your capital and your brand to acquire assets, aligned with people who shared your vision about creating wealth in the black community.”
“Black Americans should have no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests. If we voted like that, we would be able to leverage that block in our long term best interests.”
The David Rubenstein Show: “Bob Johnson”
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