Pinned

Sheila Johnson’s Journey to Become the First Black, Female Billionaire

One of John Malone’s lucrative investments was a seed investment in Black Entertainment Television (BET). In 1979, he invested $180,000 for a 20% equity stake in BET. He loaned another $320,000, which could be drawn down over time. In 2000, Viacom purchased BET for $3.2 billion in stock. Malone received $850 million, an amazing return.

The founders of BET, Robert “Bob” Johnson and Sheila Johnson, received stock worth $1.4 billion. I was intrigued to learn more about their journeys as founders, especially since they were a husband–wife team with no prior media experience.

Sheila’s autobiography, Walk Through Fire: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph, came out last year, and I started reading it yesterday. She was an entrepreneur before starting BET with Bob, and she went on to start and buy into several businesses after BET. I’m not finished with the book yet, but I can already see that Shelia provides her unique perspective on what happened behind the scenes as she built a billion-dollar company with her husband.

Sheila talks extensively about how Bob, as CEO, didn’t have a vision for BET and lacked values. He focused on generating profits and revenue by any means necessary. While the company was successful financially, BET’s programming wasn’t something she was proud of. The company’s culture was also less than stellar. The misalignment between Sheila and Bob around culture and values is what led to the company being sold. In the end, the outcome was financially rewarding, but the journey to get there was rough on Shelia and her family and left lasting scars on them.

This autobiography is different from others I’ve read. Sheila is candid and raw about the extreme highs and lows she encountered before and after BET. I’m looking forward to finishing it this weekend.

You can listen to audio versions of my blog posts on Apple here and Spotify here.

Connected Books
Walk Through Fire

May 2024

Details how billionaire Sheila Johnson navigated personal and professional challenges to co-found BET, build Salamander Hotels & Resorts, and own professional sports teams. A blueprint for extraordinary resilience and entrepreneurial triumph.
Story of struggling while achieving outsized success. Investment from John Malone. Read 2023 hardcover.
Cable Cowboy

May 2024

How one visionary and financial engineer built the modern cable TV industry from the ground up. Learn the strategies, deals, and bold moves John Malone used to build a media empire.
Invested $180k for 20% of BET and loaned another $320k. Sold BET stake for $850 million. Cable industry history. Owned cable distribution assets. Deals with Ted Turner, BET, and Kirk Kerkorian. Read 2002 paperback.
The Billion Dollar BET

May 2024

The story of how Black Entertainment Television (BET) went from an idea to being sold for $2.3 billion. This book describes how Robert "Bob" Johnson founded, built, and sold the company. The book describes internal struggles and Johnson’s personal missteps, while detailing the impact of the channel on the Black community.
BET mentioned in Cable Cowboy(John Malone). Leveraged cable/satellites to serve black niche. Read 2004 hardcover.