By Kevin McCauley
Former Los Angeles Lakers basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson has teamed with supermarket magnate Ron Burkle to acquire a stake in Vibe, the hip-hop magazine, Uptown Magazine, lifestyle/luxury, and the "Soul Train" TV show library.
Johnson is now chairman of parent company, Vibe Holdings LLC.
Johnson’s role is to use his celebrity to bolster Vibe’s penetration of urban markets and connect with potential advertisers.
"Through programs designed to cultivate the existing profit potential of this burgeoning and frequently neglected demographic, we are able to revitalize and maximize profit margins," said Johnson, head of Magic Johnson Enterprises.
He believes the "landscape of modern media lacks a platform" to serve the black market. He predicts Vibe Holdings will emerge as "center of influence for the coveted urban audience."
Johnson, 51, has plans to revive the Soul Train song and dance show and step up the licensing of its content. The show's library has more than 1,000 hours of video featuring performers from the likes of Marvin Gaye to the Jackson 5.
Vibe went out of business in 2009 but the brand was acquired by InterMedia Partners and Uptown Media, which re-launched the magazine as a quarterly and expanded its online presence. |