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Even successful entrepreneurs face investments that don’t work out. Kevin Hart, known for his comedy and film career, has shared one of his most difficult business experiences: investing in his friends’ ventures. Kevin Hart On His Worst Investment In a clip from an episode of “The Late Late Show with James Corden” in August 2022, Hart discussed his various business ventures and revealed, midway through the interview, that his worst business decision came from supporting friends’ ideas. “The worst business investment that I’m currently involved in is the business of investing in your friends,” he said to Corden at the time. “You never want your friends to feel like their ideas are not good ideas, but thus far, these ideas have been an endless pit of bankruptcy,” he also added on the show. On the 2022 episode, Hart highlighted one particular venture as the most regrettable: a friend’s company that designed headphones that could open up into speakers. The concept was intended to allow...
Jaden and Willow Smith are taking their creativity into the world of anime. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the siblings have partnered with N LITE, a Black-owned media company and anime studio based in the U.S. and Tokyo, to executive produce and voice roles in two upcoming animated films. Jaden is set to executive produce and star in “Mfinda,” an epic fantasy inspired by Congolese folklore. The film is a collaboration between N LITE, the award-winning studio GKIDS, Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions, and renowned anime producer Masao Maruyama. According to N LITE Founder and CEO Christiano Terry, Jaden will voice Kozo, an ancient spirit warrior who protects both humans and forest spirits amidst conflict in the Kingdom of Kongo. “When I met Christiano, saw the artwork for ‘Mfinda’ and learned more about the story, I was blown away,” Jaden told The Hollywood Reporter. “A lot of people have asked when I’d get back into anime, I knew immediately this was it. I’m...
The Root is Black-owned once again. Its History The Root is a news and media website that “provides an unflinching analysis of issues in the Black community and engages diverse viewpoints,” a description on its Instagram landing page reads, as it relates to social, cultural, and political topics. Donald Graham, former chairman of The Washington Post Co., and Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University, founded The Root in 2008, Colombia Journalism Review reports. “The Root will be a 21st-century version of a national black newspaper,” The Post reported during its launch, according to CNN. In 2015, The Root was sold to Univision, which housed several online brands and content producers, including the Gizmodo Media Group and The Onion . Four years later, Univision sold these assets to private equity firm Great Hill Partners, which merged them under a new company G/O Media , according to information on...
50 Cent is expanding his entertainment ventures in Shreveport, LA, as the city positions itself to become a major new hub for film and television. The Shreveport City Council recently approved the creation of the Film and Entertainment Gateway Economic Development District, designed to support 50 Cent’s production projects, the Shreveport Times reports. According to the outlet, the district covers properties he owns or leases and adds a 2% tax on all properties within its boundaries. As the Shreveport Times reported, this will not impose new taxes on residents unless they make purchases within the district. In 2024, 50 Cent’s G-Unit Film & Television took over the former Millennium Studios on a 30-year lease from the city, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. In additional reporting by the Shreveport Times, Millennium Studios, a 985,000-square-foot property, was renamed G-Unit Studios. This came alongside his $2.4 million in downtown real estate, per the outlet, making him one of the...
HarbourView Equity Partners is making another major move in entertainment, this time with a $30 million investment in Lion Forge Entertainment, the award-winning studio founded by David Steward II. According to a press release, the deal is set to expand Lion Forge’s intellectual property portfolio and fuel its premium franchise pipeline. HarbourView, founded by Sherrese Clarke, manages approximately $2.67 billion in assets and focuses on investment opportunities in music, media, sports, and entertainment, per the press release. The Steward Family and Polarity are investors in the round and remain majority owners of the studio. “We believe that content has the extraordinary power to influence the world,” Clarke shared in the press release. “This is a unique moment in the kids and family space, and Lion Forge is seizing an opportunity to tell compelling stories authentically and cultivate global franchises at scale. This synchronizes with our vision of how the next generation of...
Caroline Wanga is stepping away from her role as president and CEO of ESSENCE Ventures. Wanga, who took the helm of the company in 2020, had been on a health-related leave since September 2024. ESSENCE, the widely known Black media company, announced her departure in a news release nearly a year later, on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. “We are profoundly grateful to Caroline for her leadership, vision, and unwavering advocacy of Black women and culture,” said Richelieu Dennis, founder and chairman of ESSENCE’s parent company, Sundial Technology & Media Group. With hearts full of appreciation, we share that President & CEO Caroline Wanga will not be returning to her role as she embraces her next chapter — one guided by purpose, conviction, and continued impact. Arriving at Essence Ventures in 2020, she took the helm during a moment of… pic.twitter.com/I2aeEf8Ane — ESSENCE (@Essence) August 25, 2025 “Her expertise in culture, equity, and organizational change has fueled progress across the...
As audiences disperse and media continues to splinter, Actum — a global consultancy — has expanded its roster by joining forces with Skai Blue Media. Actum announced the addition on Thursday, July 31, with communications and marketing visionary Rakia Reynolds coming on board as partner. She and her team of award-winning storytellers will join offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and California, according to a news release. “We are really excited to welcome Rakia and Skai Blue to Actum,” Kirill Goncharenko, co-founder and managing partner of Actum, said in a statement. “As the media landscape continues to evolve and how people consume information rapidly shifts, Skai Blue brings new solutions to deliver measurable business outcomes for our clients.” Actum is one of the fastest-growing firms in the industry, focused on redefining the traditional consulting model, the news release states. The integration of Skai Blue Media is anticipated to strengthen its platform with agile,...
Joe Budden might have gone from chart-topping rapper to podcast host, but today, he’s building a business on his own terms. The 44-year-old podcaster recently gave The New York Times a rare look into the numbers behind his booming podcast network. According to Ian Schwartzman, CEO of the Joe Budden Network, the company is projected to generate more than $20 million in 2025, the outlet reports. When A Flex Turns Into A Teachable Moment In June, Budden posted a screenshot on Instagram showing his Patreon traffic — Patreon being the fan-funded platform where his most loyal supporters subscribe for exclusive content. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the image accidentally revealed he made just over $900,000 in earnings that month, sparking headlines and internet buzz. The image showed more than 30 million visits in 30 days, per The New York Times. Budden confirmed to The New York Times that his podcast network brings in an average of $1.04 million per month through Patreon alone, based...
Media mogul Byron Allen has settled his $10 billion racial discrimination lawsuit against McDonald’s, Variety reports, ending a legal battle over the fast-food giant’s advertising practices toward Black-owned media. Announced in a joint statement on June 13, according to the outlet, the agreement avoids a federal trial that was set to begin next month in Los Angeles, CA. While terms were not disclosed, both sides expressed optimism about their renewed business relationship. McDonald’s said the deal establishes a commercial arrangement “consistent with other McDonald’s supplier relationships” and reaffirmed its “unwavering commitment to inclusion.” AFROTECH™ previously reported that the lawsuit claimed McDonald’s used a tiered ad-buying system that placed Black-targeted media in a lower “African American tier” with fewer advertising dollars than its general market budget. Allen argued this structure marginalized Black-owned outlets, limiting access to larger ad buys despite their...
HarbourView Equity Partners just landed a major financial boost to supercharge its growing empire. The Black-founded investment firm, led by Sherrese Clarke Soares, has secured $500 million in debt financing from KKR, according to a press release. The funds will be used to expand the firm’s portfolio of music, media, and sports-related intellectual property. The financing was structured by Barclays, with Barclays and KKR Capital Markets serving as placement agents and Fifth Third Bank as passive placement agent. “We are thrilled to have KKR’s continued support as we further scale the firm,” Soares said in the press release. “This additional capital will help us accelerate our strategy to align with where the media, sports, and entertainment markets are headed. We see a tremendous opportunity to continue investing in evergreen intellectual property, which we believe is historically uncorrelated to broader market volatility and forms a powerful diversification tool.” The new capital...
The third annual Black Effect Podcast Festival will take place on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at Pullman Yards in Atlanta, GA. Founder Charlamagne Tha God will join popular personalities from his and iHeartMedia’s Black Effect Podcast Network for the one-day festival — which promises some of the “biggest and best” podcasts — featuring live recordings to amplify Black voices and informative discussions to inspire the next generation of podcasters. The Black Effect Marketplace will also be in full effect, featuring various Black-owned businesses and a lineup of food trucks to keep the energy high throughout the day. “We’re excited to return to Atlanta, building on the incredible momentum of the podcast industry and the growing impact of Black creators in the space,” Charlamagne said in a statement. Mandii B and WeezyWTF, hosts of the “Decisions, Decisions” podcast, will host the festival with sounds by DJ Loui Vee of 105.3 The Beat in Atlanta. Appearances are anticipated by popular...
Revolt employees now become the largest shareholder group of the media company, The New York Times reports. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Diddy had exited his position as chairman of Revolt TV and sold his remaining shares to an anonymous buyer. Now it has been announced by Revolt CEO Detavio Samuels that Diddy has officially separated from the company he founded in 2013 alongside Andy Schuon. “One-hundred percent of Sean Combs’s shares have been redeemed and retired,” Samuels said, according to The New York Times. “He is no longer chairman. He is no longer on the board. He has no shares, no equity in Revolt. We have completely separated and dissociated from each other.” The majority of Revolt’s employees, which consists of about 80% people of color, are now the company’s largest shareholder group, the outlet notes. The initial value of Diddy’s shares in the company is unclear. “Today marks one of the biggest days we’ve seen at REVOLT and in media (especially Black media),”...
Al Roker and his production company, Al Roker Entertainment, have been sued for allegedly not following through with a commitment to diversity. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bill Schultz filed a lawsuit against the “Today” host and CEO’s company as he claims that executives failed to commit to its DEI initiative, which would bring Black writers on board for PBS’s “Weather Hunters.” Al Roker Entertainment is the owner of the animated children’s show. As an executive producer for “Weather Hunters,” Schultz addressed the issue at hand, confronting the leaders about the failure to adhere to the diversity program, which is mandated by PBS. However, he says that their response was firing him. In addition, a Black producer was also reprimanded for speaking up. “I put nine years of my career into ‘ Weather Hunters ,’ a project I strongly believe in, with the goal of making a wonderfully crafted show for children to enjoy and learn from,” Schultz shared in a statement, according to...
In April 2023, Tyler Perry shared his interest in bidding to purchase a majority stake in BET Media Group from Paramount. As BET is the home of his shows such as “Sistas” and “House of Payne,” there was potential alignment. In addition, the media mogul hoped for the network to become Black-owned once again. However, the aspiration came to an end shortly after. By August 2023, Paramount announced that it had ended its initial plan to sell its majority stake in BET Media Group stating that “a sale wouldn’t result in any meaningful deleveraging of its balance sheet,” as previously shared by AFROTECH™. With the change in plans, Perry, along with other reported bidders including Byron Allen, did not gain ownership of BET. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, Perry was reportedly among the offers that ranged from $2 billion to $3 billion, but the bidding process didn’t pan out as he had hoped. “I was disappointed about it for a number of reasons,” Perry shared at Bloomberg’s Equality Summit,...
