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Case Analysis : Bet Holdings, Llc, Inc. Essay

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BET Holdings, LLC, founded in 1990, began with a simple mission: to become the preeminent media company serving black consumers, and through the fulfilment of this mission, to create substantial value for its shareholders. Founded by Robert L. Johnson, former press secretary to congressional delegate Walter E. Fauntroy, and vice-president of government relations for the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), the Washington, DC based corporation used the contacts and available source information on the emerging cable television industry, and inspiration gathered on a fortuitous shared taxi ride to set the mission in motion.
After viewing a proposal shared by his fellow passenger, and discussing the possibility of a cable channel dedicated to American senior citizens, Johnson envisioned a different model of the same programming application. Reasoning that the national African American population offered a multibillion-dollar consumer market, Johnson saw lucrative potential. As quoted in Forbes, Johnson believed that "The idea for BET was not conceived out of idealism, but as a business opportunity that had been ignored." With permission from his fellow passenger, Johnson built his own proposal, and used it to secure a $15,000 loan from a Washington bank, and launched Black Entertainment Television with the planned hope of making his venture profitable within three years.
At the time of this launch, expectations for the cable industry itself were high: with many rural

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