(Akiit.com) Michael Jordan’s takeover of the Bobcats makes him the only black majority owner of a major U.S. sports franchise…

Michael Jordan, pro basketball’s greatest player, and a lackluster executive for two franchises, once said in a Nike commercial, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

He got another chance when his bid for the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats was accepted. Although, how much he paid is in dispute. Forbes magazine set the Bobcats’ value at $175 million: a steep plunge from the $300 million Robert L. Johnson paid for the team in 2003.

The NBA won’t provide details, but a spokesman’s e-mail to The Root stated, “we expect the transaction will value the Bobcats at between $275-$290 million and that Michael Jordan is acquiring an 80 percent stake.”

The deal between Johnson, the first black majority owner of a major U.S. pro sports team, and NBA legend Michael Jordan, who earned hundreds of millions highlights why no other blacks own controlling shares in pro basketball, football or baseball teams.

During segregation, when fan interest was high, start-up costs were low, and there was scant competition, blacks started, bought and sold leagues and teams. Today’s pro sports owners–often billionaires–have access to enormous capital, influential associates and can manage the timing of a deal.

Since the 1980s, African Americans have controlled one or two of those ingredients, but the trio needed to be a majority owner eluded everyone except Johnson and Jordan. Blacks are, and have been, pro team limited partners. This is a look at some of those would-be owners, as well as individuals who decided to invest in teams in less expensive pro sports.

Taking and Making Their Shots Against the NBA

The first blacks to become managing general partners of a major pro sports franchise, if briefly, were Bertram Lee and Peter Bynoe. In 1989, the pair, with partners tennis pro Arthur Ashe and then-Democratic National Chairman Ron Brown, signed a deal to buy the Denver Nuggets for $65 million. After the financing became a problem, the duo’s investment partner, Comsat Corp., bought the team.

Between 1999 and 2002, Bob Johnson made three offers for the Bobcats’ predecessor, the Charlotte Hornets and was rebuffed by the owner, George Shinn. In 1999, Shinn also rejected Michael Jordan’s bid for a controlling interest in the Hornets.

In 2000, Jordan paid between $20 million and $30 million for a 10 percent stake in the Washington Wizards and became president of basketball operations. The deal also gave him a share of the National Hockey League Washington Capitals.

But Bob Johnson, the man who sold Black Entertainment Television to Viacom for $3 billion, is persistent. In 2003, after Shinn decamped to New Orleans with the Hornets, Johnson became the majority owner of the expansion NBA Charlotte Bobcats, and later the Charlotte Sting of the WNBA. African-American members of the multi-ethnic investment team included former Boston Celtic, ML Carr, rapper Nelly, as well as two prominent African Americans from the area.

In 2006, Jordan purchased equity in the Bobcats. As the Bobcats’ owner, he may recruit black limited partners.

In the 1980s, Edward Gardner and his wife, Bettian, co-founder of Soft Sheen, the black hair company, became part owners of the Chicago Bulls. Magic Johnson purchased part of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1994, and the next year Isiah Thomas bought 10 percent of the Toronto Raptors. Jay-Z and Bill Cosby have made investments in the New Jersey Nets. David Robinson has a piece of the San Antonio Spurs, and singer Usher owsn part of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Other teams that have had or have black co-owners include the Memphis Grizzlies and the Atlanta Hawks.

Since 2005, Sheila Johnson, the co-founder of BET and ex-wife of Robert Johnson, has owned interests in several teams. She is the team president, managing partner and governor of the WNBA Washington Mystics, and she co-owns the NHL Washington Capitals and the NBA’s Washington Wizards. In 2009, Forbes reported the average value (equity plus debt) of an NBA team to be $367 million.
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(Akiit.com) How a Cleveland entrepreneur lost everything and bounced back after tangling with an infamous con man…

How a Cleveland entrepreneur lost everything and bounced back after tangling with an infamous con man.

Entrepreneur Phil Davis has experienced his share of ups and downs in his business life, including shuttering his first Cleveland-based venture after losing his biggest client.

But nothing could have prepared him for the day he was forced to close his award-winning chicken-and-waffle restaurant chain–Phil the Fire–amid a swirl of financial fraud accusations, lawsuits and a damaged reputation.

“I couldn’t see the bottom,” said Davis, 50. “A con man is only as good as you are greedy.”

The con man Davis is referring to is Kirk Wright, who in 2008 was convicted for swindling just over $150 million out of 500 investors, including former NFL stars Steve Atwater and Blaine Bishop. Wright ran a classic Ponzi scheme, and to this day Davis calls him the black Bernie Madoff. Davis became a victim of the deceitful web after entering into a partnership with Wright to open a second restaurant in downtown Cleveland. Wright turned the tables on him, says Davis, by attempting to accuse him of fraud and forcing him out of his own business. Unable to get a job in the restaurant industry, Davis had to take an $8.50-an-hour job loading boxes for UPS.

It has taken the entrepreneur six years to rise from the ashes. This time around, Davis is pinning his hopes on iCubed International, through which he has designed one of the world’s smallest microwave ovens, the iWavecube. Measuring less than 12 cubic inches, the mini-microwave oven has caught on slowly during the economic downturn, but he has found an outlet through online retailing. He now has his eyes set on building a $1 billion company in five years.

“We’re on the cusp of doing something big,” says Davis, who declined to give revenue figures but expects to sell up to 100,000 units over the next 18 months. “There’s nothing I can’t get done.”

Davis–born and raised in Cleveland–tasted entrepreneurial life as a senior at Stanford University, when he revived the college’s yearbook for African-American students. After earning an economics degree at Stanford and an MBA at University of Virginia in 1985, he landed a position at Ocean Spray in Boston.

Within three years, he was pursuing his next project, BertSherm Products, Inc., which developed the children’s deodorant Fun ‘N Fresh. The health and beauty item took off, making it to the shelves of Target Corp., Kmart Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

“He has the ultimate belief in his ability to think like a customer,” says Boake Sells, former CEO of Revco, which also sold the deodorant.

Wal-Mart–the largest purchaser–stopped carrying the products as part of a reorganization of its merchandising. That spelled the end of BertSherm, and Davis went back to doing some consulting work.
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(Akiit.com) Miami, FL – The Pepsom Group, Inc., a minority certified company, is pleased to announce its selection as a Key exhibitor by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) www.uspto.gov to be one of sixteen exhibitors at the 2009 National Trademark Expo to be held May 8-9th. The event will take place at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The Pepsom Group was the surprise selection, as it is a relatively new company in contrast to the other elite exhibitors such as Burberry, Bridgestone, Hershey Company, UPS, U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Department of Energy – all collectively chosen to educate the public about the role of trademarks in our society.

The Pepsom Group founded by John E. Brown III, an African American, and Miyako Haag, an Asian American, has transformed an age-old remedy, Epsom salt, into Pepsom - “New Generation of Epsom Salt™” www.pepsom.com. The USPTO chose the Pepsom Group because of the innovative way branding was used for this retail product. The product is now available in over 15,000 retail locations including Walgreens, Kroger, Bed Bath & Beyond and Piggly-Wiggly just to name a few. The unique brand name “Pepsom”, and dynamic bright packaging jump out at the consumers next to regular Epsom salt in a normally staid first aid section in both food and drug stores. By changing the way people think about Epsom salt, Pepsom products now provide people of all ages with an excellent way to not only soothe away aches and pain, but also to relieve stress. Currently, used by several professional sports teams, now baby boomers, Weekend Warriors, as well as the general public will experience the benefits that Pepsom Sports® and Pepsom Salt® brands provide. Pepsom www.pepsom.com is an American-made product with 100% natural ingredients, a “green” blend (safe for the environment).

Several of our trademarks include:

Pepsom Sports®, the Original Sports Soak™ (formulated for relief of muscle soreness and joint pain commonly associated with sports related activities). Proudly endorsed by the National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association (NBATA™), the wintergreen and spearmint blends add soothing properties to an already known remedy.
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(Akiit.com) California - I heard through the grapevine that California’s Black businesses are being left out of significant economic opportunities, not only as the state attempts to deal with a shrinking budget, but also as it decides how to spend major stimulus funding provided by the federal government.
Marvin Gaye put the words to music in 1968: I bet you’re wondering how I knew, about you’re plans to make me blue, with some other guy that you knew before, between the two of us guys you know I love you more. It took me by surprise I must say, when I found out yesterday. Don’t you know I heard it through the grapevine?

I have been writing for several weeks now that we need to get ready for the stimulus money because when the federal government releases it, if we don’t have a strong lobbying effort we will be left out. I found out yesterday that Sacramento has been requesting written ideas and plans from the Chamber of Commerce for possible projects to fund out of $8 billion dollars of discretionary funds. This is money that comes to the state that does not have to be spent on infrastructure projects like roads, bridges and schools. Now this might seem appropriate to you but this outreach did not include the California African American Chamber of Commerce and its 5000 members that are not a part of the other chamber. My question is why not? Were we left out because of race? Were we left out because we have no plans or ideas? I heard from Aubry Stone, president of the African American Chamber of Commerce for the state of California and he has hundreds of ideas and so do I. Or was it simply an oversight? Marvin went on to say in his song, people say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear. I can’t help being confused if it’s true please tell me dear? Do plan to let me go for the other guy you loved before, don’t you know I heard it through the grapevine.

I recently talked with Aubry Stone and he said what I heard is true.

Taking a page from Brother Marvin I believe half of what I heard and called Sacramento for the other half. I was told that the state is divided into regions for outreach and each region was contacted. I would think that the folks in Sacramento would also make sure that a racially and ethnically “diverse” constitutiency was also engaged in the process.
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(Akiit.com) Business grants were originally created by federal and local governments to provide financial assistance to entrepreneurs and business owners. The goal was and still is to help stimulate the national and local economy, and to help fund research that will help a certain industry. In more recent years, non-profit organizations and major corporations began to give out business grants. They had similar goals, but also found that giving away grant money is great for public relations and is a great tax write-off.

For nearly 100 years now, business grants have helped thousands of individuals across the country either start or expand an existing business. Some business grants have even provided free tools and services (software, hardware, consulting, coaching, etc) to underrepresented minorities and disadvantaged women who want to start businesses.

Many are concerned though that a bad economy might lead to the end of business grants. They reason that companies will no longer be able to afford to give money away, and that government agencies will reallocate funds to more needy issues. That reasoning, however, is mostly false.

The good thing about business grants is that, unlike business loans, they will never go out of style. Remember that business loans are given by greedy companies looking to make a profit. Business grants, on the other hand, are given as charitable gifts. Their availability is not as dependent on the economy, and because they never have to be repaid - they don’t and never did pose any risk to the grantor. Even more, business grants are great tax write-offs for major corporations - even if they are doing bad financially. Granted, some companies will reduce the amount of grants that they give out - but they generally won’t terminate the program completely.
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