Ebony's Man

John Johnson keeps running

Anyone who is 67 years old and has a personal fortune of more than $150 million has a right to relax. But then, John Johnson is not just anyone. "I run scared," says the wealthiest black businessman in America. "I came from the welfare rolls of Chicago." Still driven by the restless ambition that pulled him out of the ghetto, the chairman of Chicago-based Johnson Publishing, the largest U.S. black-owned company (1984 revenues: $139 million) works twelve-hour days and shows no signs of slacking off. Not content to preside over Ebony and Jet magazines, three radio stations and a thriving cosmetics...

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