Former Owner of Ebony, Jet Magazines Files for Bankruptcy
Johnson Publishing plans to sell assets following failure to restructure
 |
| An exhibition space for a celebration organized by Universal Music Group and Ebony to honor Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 21, 2017. PHOTO: KRIS CONNOR/INVISION FOR UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP/AP IMAGES |
After 77 years in operation, Johnson Publishing Company has recently filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. This publishing company has been an iconic black owned media company that has shined light on the efforts of African Americans and African American celebrities. The company stated that there was a buyer who was interested in purchasing some assets, but that proposal only lead to the company filing for bankruptcy. Among this tragic event, the bankrupty of one of Johnson's largest retailers has increased the competition in the cosmetic industry which had a very large and expensive product recall.
I chose to anlalyze this article because I would sometimes read the articles from this publication. When I saw that my idols were featured in the magazine, like Travis Scott and Frank Ocean I could not let this pass by. Reading about my idols has made me and other readers gravitate towards magazines like these even more. To see the company that used to run Ebony magazine file for bankruptcy, made me quite interested so I wanted to look into it a little bit more. This article is very relatable to marketing because the company was not able to keep up with competition and demands of the media, therefore the company crumbled. Johnson should have researched their market and what their readers wanted from them instead of jumping immediately in trying to sell the company to a cultural advancement group who thought they were better suited for the job. They should have researched how tough the competition was and devised a strategy so that they could have avoided bankruptcy. In this situation, the company could have done a SWOT analysis to see what certain internal or external factors were impacting their company, good or bad. In this report they could have analyzed main competitors to determine how they compared to their business. They could have also reviewed their distribution situation and how were they getting their products to market. These are only a few of the many factors that they could have included in their SWOT analysis. One of the major reasons why the Johnson Publishing's cosmetics business failed was because the competition was too competitve. They struggled to keep up with many other online competitors, therefore they went bankrupt. In addition to doing this deep reasearch, the company should have looked into the potential buyer of the company. They should have assessed if they were liable for keeping up with payments, and if they did maybe they would have been saved from going bankrupt.
Anlysis By Kevin Nguyen
By Aisha Al-Muslim
April 10, 2019 5:28 p.m. ET
I liked your article because it is interesting to see how print media has decline due to the rise of digital media. As someone who has interest in seeing their black icons in the media, it demonstrates to me that most stars are moving to a more digital platforms and that companies, like the one above, are noticing as well.
ReplyDelete