*Former NBA star Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman is now owner of the historic Ebony, Jet catalogue after a bankruptcy judge approved the $14 million sale Tuesday of Ebony Media Operations.
Ebony was forced into bankruptcy last July after defaulting on more than $10 million in loans. Bridgeman, owner of Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in Lenexa, bid $14 million for the company in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston on Friday, The Wall Street Journal reports. It was the only serious offer received.
Here’s more from the Chicago Tribune:
The sale could lead to a revival of the historic titles that highlighted African American voices and culture. Ebony was founded in Chicago in 1945 by the late John H. Johnson, who added Jet in 1951. They were sold to CVG Group, which ended their print publication in 2019 and was forced into bankruptcy this year.
READ MORE: Ebony and Jet Magazine’s Photo Archives Auctioned Off in Private Sale
An earlier report on EURweb.com noted that Ebony and Jet sold off its iconic photo archive in July 2019 in a private sale in Chicago as part of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy action.
Both publications were once considered bibles of the culture — offering compelling stories and snapshots of Black American life as well as intimate moments of black celebrities.
According to CNN, the Ebony/Jet archive contains photos from 1945 to 2015, with about 1 million printed images, 3 million negatives and contact sheets, and several thousand hours of video footage. Some photos have never been printed and thus have never been seen by the public.
“It was Ebony that took to remind America of black people’s humanity,” said Jeffrey McCune, a professor of African and African American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. “It colored black life in spectrum.”
Bridgeman’s NBA career spanned 12 years mostly with the Milwaukee Bucks. He is franchisee for several restaurant chains and once tried to buy Sports Illustrated but dropped the bid last year.
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