YouSaid · the spoken record

Bob Johnson

lines on the record: 27
first: 2023-01-26
most recent: 2023-01-26
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“My mother always used to say somebody would say, Oh, aren't you proud of your son, Bob? She'd say, I love all my children. That was her thing.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think the economy has to have a recession in front of it until we stop the huge amount of fiscal spending that comes out of the government. And I see nothing in the government that will change that trajectory on spending. And that's the part where I think we've got to face a recession because as you keep dumping money and chasing fewer goods, it's probably the textbook description of you're headed towards a recession or worse than that you're headed to something called a variation of that called stagflation where you got spending going up and you got productivity going down because it puts you in a problem. So yeah, I think until something changes on that equation.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I say, can I take it and keep it? But no, I mean, the thing is, they see a black man. Standing by a parking, ballet parking, their intellectual bias assumes one, you can't afford to be at that restaurant. Two, you're standing next to Valletta Parking. You must be a parking lot attentive.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, you face discrimination in terms of what I call Biased discrimination where people just don't recognize you as black first Bob Johnson second and wealthy Bob Johnson third. So when you get in that situation, you'll find cases like this, a clear example. I could go to a restaurant. And if I'm standing outside waiting to go in after I'm giving my car to be parked, someone will come up to me and ask me to get their car.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Congressman Infumbe from Baltimore would put $30 billion of Treasury money aside for preferences for myself or you who would go to a company and say, I'm going to invest in your business X number of dollars, when you exit that business or do a sale of that business, I will get a preference on my capital gains. And the whole idea is it was not a mandate, didn't require it. It was only voluntarily. To me, that's better than all of these pledges that are going around that are not being implemented. And that's the kind of way I go. The same way I did with the auto portability.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think they ask so much as I try to go to them to Suggested them what they should consider, particularly as it relates to what I call, I have a formula, a belief, what I call their business solutions to social problems. I'm not a big proponent of government handouts. I've never been in favor of government subsidies. I like the idea of government providing a pathway through regulatory freedom and balance to allow companies to create it. But they got to be some focus on economic benefits to, in my opinion, to the black community. And for example, real quickly, I've got members of the Congressional Black Caucus to support something I call the boost act. The boost act very simple was this. It would give investors in black businesses a tax preference if they would invest in these business. I called in legislation. I was introduced by a”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And if we vote it like that, we would be able to leverage that block because it's a consistent block in our long-term best interest rather than being addicted to one party and ignored by the other party.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Part of the game. I think, to be honest, I think there's a need for a multi party system in the US to give more people a choice about where they can throw their voter support and their political support, but also to cause the country to try to come together for having everybody have a role in deciding what is in the long-term best interest of the country. I've often believed that black Americans as a people and as a voting bloc should adopt the same position that the original founders of the Congressional Black Caucus had in early 1970, their philosophy was enunciated like this. Black Americans should have no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Years ago easier in the sense that there's a belief that there should be more diversity of opportunity, whether it's diversity of opportunity as sponsored by the government or diversity of opportunity in the form of ESG that corporations, some of them give lip service to. So the theory is if you go and ask someone to be a partner who they're more inclined to give you a hearing But the ability to get the right person and the right amount of capital is still very hard. My relationship with John Malone, and we still have it today, was extremely unique. I can't imagine that one out of a thousand black entrepreneurs, kids today, could find them a John Malone.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I do this answer all the time. The first and foremost thing, you've got to believe in yourself. You got to believe in yourself that you deserve the opportunity to be successful. And the second thing you got to understand, that nobody does anything alone. You've got to find talented people that you can convince to go on that voyage with you or to share your vision. And you got to make sure they participate in your upside. You got to give them a stake in the game to make them feel like you have their interest and the interests of their family close at heart. And if you believe that and you work hard, they will work hard with you.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's probably a check too far for me because these teams are so rich. I mean, if you could get one, it's a little bit, I would call it an NFL team, but the closest thing to a license of print money that you can think of, but you got to really pay up for it because it's a great sport asset. It's one of the best, I would say, in the world, maybe even better than some of the hockey teams, although pretty close.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, definitely regrets. Tell Michael about that all the time. But nobody could have predicted that Don Sterling would say what he said about black people, and that led to the NBA commissioner to say, we've got a huge racial problem if we're going to keep Don Sterling as an owner. And he basically forced Donald Sterling out. Being forced out and you walk away with $2 billion, a lot of people like to be forced out of their team for that price. That was it. But Michael was always my first choice to sell the team. He and I have been friends. Gee, you know, 10 or 15 years before I even owned the team. So if anybody wanted to sell the team to if I was forced to sell, it would be to Michael.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He was the general manager of it, and we decided on who he's going to hire as coach. He decided on what players he was going to draft, and he decided on how the team would be run. I was the payee in this case.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It would be, in my opinion, less today because once streaming came along and the technology allowed people to have streaming wherever they could carry content on your phone, on your laptop, in your home, wherever you go, it changed the paradigm of cable and it allowed people to sort of pick and choose an a la carte way what they wanted to watch. So if you only wanted to watch Netflix, you just get Netflix. Cable you were paying for a bundle even though you didn't watch all of the channels. So some people were paying for, if you weren't a sports fan, you're paying 30 cents 30, 40 cents, whatever it is now for ESPN. But if you never watch the ESPN, you had to pay for it because it's part of a bundle.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, well, the theory was what Cable was offering to the community, basically diversity. Because once you put a satellite in the sky that could orbit on a geosynchronous orbit that allowed them to send signals all around to every cable head in, cable became a competitor for television in the big markets. And in order to do that, they had to get some big cities who by that time in the 80s had black city council members wanted to and maybe a black mayor. So while they were offering programming to everybody else, whether it's MTV or CNN or ESPN, the Black City Council member was saying, you want this franchise, what are you offering for my community? And that's where BET became sort of a must-carry product to getting to cable and the diversity part of it grow. But BET was really an extension of what John Johnson did.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Billion dollars. John's 180 of equity, the 320 debt, of course, got paid back, netted him over $700 million in Viscount paper because we did a stock for stock deal.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Bob, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to buy 20% of your company for $180, and I'm going to loan you $320. That's your $500,000. And John said, under that deal, Bob, you will be 80% owner and I'll be $20. Is that a deal? I said, John, that's a deal. What Malone didn't know, David, if he'd reversed the number and said, I'll be 80 and Bob, you'll be 20. I said, John, that's a deal. He didn't say that. So he kept putting money into BET while it was growing never putting in his equity, putting in his debt. And the debt got paid back. And I wanted to ask him, say, John, why did you put it in his debt when you could have put his equity in your own more BET? He said, Bob, I always knew you would work harder for yourself than you would for me. So John never sold a share of BET. So when I sold BET to buy a com for approximately $3,730, almost three.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. John, I'll never forget this. I was a lobbyist. We were trying to deregulate cable. Cable was heavily regulated to protect broadcast television on the theory that broadcast was free, cable was paying. And if we didn't protect free television, then everybody would have to pay, which was supposedly not good for people. So my job was to go up on Capitol Hill and argue for the deregulation of cable so it could compete over-the-air television. And so I met John Malone and he said, Bob, if you ever have an idea, why don't you come out to Denver and talk to me? I said, yeah, John, I'll do it. And that's where my idea of starting Black Entertainment Television came from. And I took John up on his invitation and went out to Denver and made my pitch about getting me financing for BET. So John said to me, Bob, here's what I'll do. How much do you need to start this? I said, I need half a million dollars, 500,000. He said,”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Ultimately, you can't. When I came to DC with the Princeton imprimata and the connections of people who were former Princeton Woodger Wilson graduates, including a good friend of ours, Jim Johnson. And so I started making the rounds. People refer me to this person. I went to Senator Mondale's office. I went to Senator Kennedy's office and everything else of this Princeton Mafia, so to speak. And finally, somebody after I went to one of the offices referred me to CPB, the Corporation Public Broadcasting. Got a job at Corporation for Public Broadcasting for a while, changed jobs from there, and went and worked for the local urban league in Washington, D.C., and from there became a lobbyist for the cable television trade association. And that's where I met all the guys in the cable industry, Ted Turner, but most importantly, John Malone.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“All of a sudden they ask you if you want to go to the Foreign Service, you have to take a test. and the test requires you to be literate in things that a kid from Hickory, Mississippi through Freeport, Illinois, didn't really know about. So when I had a question, I'll never forget this, they asked me a question, one of the question, what is Wedgewood? And they said, addresser of this? I thought it was where it was addressed. It was actually”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, they were workers. My father all his life was a worker. In Mississippi, he was a lumber, cutting down timber in Mississippi and a little bit of farming where he lived. And my mother was a school teacher at the small school system in Mississippi. When they migrated up north to a small town Freeport, about 100 miles northwest of Chicago, they became factory workers.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Vanguard, Fidelity, and a light to create a 401k autoportability business called Portability Network whose sole purpose is to keep black Americans reduce cash out of 401k account by black Americans and low-wage workers and white Americans when they change jobs. Those two companies, those three companies put their commitment to diversity and opportunity and closing the wealth gap in a relationship with me. And that's what I like and respect. But I can tell you the black community, entrepreneurs I know, are very disappointed with these what I call press release announcements with no results.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, Dave, the sad secret of that is companies, white companies have announced that they're going to put millions of dollars into diversity in terms of black investment business. But among the people I know, and I know a lot of people who would say, hey, I just got money from here, they're in other places, it's really not happening. I saw something in the media that said there has been something like $50 billion of pledges made, but less than 5% of that has ever been implemented. And to me, it's a real sad story because it's not happening. And I would know because no one has called me. I've been pretty successful, as you know. The only thing I've done that with, David, and I am most proud of, is the partnership I've created with”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“David, I don't think it's necessarily easier. I think there's a mindset within the white business community and to some extent in the country at large is that this definition of equity and diversity ought to see money flowing, capital flowing into black entrepreneurs for investment and startups of business. It's just not easy. It's just that there's a theory that it ought to happen. And I think if it were easy, you would see more Bob Johnson, more Michael George, more Magic Johnson's and Oprah Winfrey's and the like. So I think it's a little bit of a misnomer to say it's easy. It is correct to say people think about it more, but do they do more? That's the problem.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What I did when I sold BET, I decided I wasn't going to just sit around and do nothing. And I decided that one way to sort of build value for yourself was to take your own knowledge, your own strategic vision, and deploy your capital and your brand to acquire assets that you could run with very talented people to help you do it, obviously, and align yourself with people who shared your vision and your culture about creating what I call wealth in the black community and demonstrating to the broader market that African American talent with capital and strategic partners like I do with John Malone when I started BET could be successful and create value for yourself and create value for the investors.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I first saw it as the idea of being first. There's been throughout black business history. If you were the first black to do something, you gain visibility, you gain notoriety, and you gain access to other people, particularly white business people who knew you by your reputation. So when there was a team coming up for sale in Charlotte, I said, you know, why not be first? I had the capital from the sale of BET to Viacom. So I said, why not? And I decided to make a bid and got a call from some of the business people in Charlotte that said we'd like you to be the majority owner of the team. We'll be the minority owners and work with you. And so it just seemed to be the right place at the right time to do something I thought would be part of a strategic approach to being first.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, it was nothing like that, David. I had run Black Entertainment Television BET for over 20 years until I sold it to Viacom. So BET had sort of become a business success story. And as a result of that, people began to see me as sort of an entrepreneur that was doing something pretty good at that time. And so by the time I got to where it was sold to Viacom, it was sort of expected that it would be worth something.”
2023-01-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Bob Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source