Former Lakers G Magic Johnson, pop singer Janet
Jackson, and former Motown Records President Jheryl Busby
have purchased a "majority interest" in CA-based Founders
National Bank, according to John Emshwiller of the WALL
STREET JOURNAL. The trio paid an "estimated" $2.5M for a
51% stake in the bank and say they "aim to boost the size of
the institution from its current $100[M] asset base, partly
by recruiting their friends and business associates as
depositors." Founders is one of only "about" three dozen
black-owned banks in the U.S., and Emshwiller writes that
the deal "marks the latest expansion" of Johnson's
"burgeoning" business empire. Johnson said that his pitch to
other prominent African-Americans will be that "if you put
more and more money into the bank ... more and more people
in the community can get loans" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/29).
AN EAR FOR MUSIC? Mike Tyson is "starting his own music
company," to be called Tyson Records, according to Neil
Strauss of the N.Y. TIMES. Tyson said that the label will
bring together a "family of rappers, [R&B] groups, and
producers." Although originally planned as a "completely
independent" company, Tyson has recently "been having
discussions with" Sony Records and others, after deciding he
"needed the resources" of an int'l major label. Tyson has
hired music exec Irving Azoff as an adviser and music
attorney John Branca, who has worked with Michael Jackson
and the Rolling Stones (Neil Strauss, N.Y. TIMES, 4/29).
