America's 2nd richest Black woman took a $400 million divorce check and built a $1.3 billion empire
Billionaires Africa | 05.06.2026 17:32
In 2002, a Virginia judge signed the divorce decree that ended Sheila Johnson's 33-year marriage to Robert Johnson, the man she had helped build Black Entertainment Television with from the basement of their Washington home. She walked out of that courtroom with $400 million, her share of the proceeds from the $3 billion sale of BET to Viacom that had made them both billionaires the year before. Most people in her position would have invested the money conservatively, lived quietly and let compound interest do its work. Sheila Johnson looked at $400 million and saw a starting point.
