New Owner Of Ebony Magazine Pivots To Generational Wealth Building, Small Business Content. Photo Courtesy of Ebony Magazine.
The new owner of Ebony Magazine and his team have pivoted the historical publication’s focus to wealth building and small business content aimed at equipping the Black community to be successful.
After years of financial challenges and several changes in leadership and ownership as a result of print publications being decimated by digital media, Ebony and its sister magazine Jet were purchased by former NBA player and entrepreneur Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman in Dec. 2020.
Shortly thereafter, Bridgeman named Michelle Ghee as CEO of Ebony and Jet. Ghee has decades of experience in a variety of roles ranging from account executive to senior vice-president at networks including BET, CNN and The Weather Channel.
Ghee explained the content shift in a recent interview with NPR. “African Americans are not getting compensated, they’re not getting honored, they’re not getting hired at the rate at which they’re contributing to the American fabric,” Ghee said.
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“We have to begin to educate, but also give people tools so that they can too begin to build their businesses,” Ghee continued. “I’m flying from place to place literally meeting small business owners asking: How can we help you, how can we support?”
Using the theme, “Move Black Forward,” Ebony’s new direction is in tandem with Bridgeman’s own life story as a successful Black athlete-turned-business owner. In 1987, after retiring from the NBA, Bridgeman became a fast food restaurant franchisee, according to the Chicago Business Journal. In 2017, he sold his restaurants and launched the Kansas-based Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Co.
Bridgeman recalled how Ebony depicted Black excellence in Wall Street Journal interview. He said he understood the way the world consumes news has changed, but thinks there is no reason why Ebony can’t be held in the same esteem it once was. He said that while there could be an occasional print issue, it would still be largely digital.
The publication will still include celebrity and entertainment stories, but it’s going to double-down on generation wealth-building, financial literacy and small business content, NPR reported.
It is a move that will help boost success in the Black community, according to Andre Perry, who studies wealth and Black businesses at the Brookings Institution.
“Our elders used to say ‘Our ice is just as cold 9as that of white people.’ They knew that our services, our goods are just as good. And so if we can remove those negative stereotypes, we can really eat at the wealth divide that currently exists,” Perry said.
