He's one of the most influential black businessmen in America. He owns five Starbucks and has plans to open 10 more -- nearly all of them in black neighborhoods, including one in Crenshaw and one in Harlem. He's got four Magic Johnson Theaters in inner-city neighborhoods. He owns a TV and film production company, a talent-management company (Vivica A. Fox, Steve Harvey, Mase are clients) and a record label. He's part owner of four shopping centers, a restaurant and Founders Bank. He's got a foundation that since 1991 has given away $15 million, primarily to community-based organizations dealing with HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs. He's making truckloads of money in neighborhoods in which white businessmen are scared to pull to a stop, much less invest.
He hires black contractors to build businesses that he staffs with black employees, many of whom are working for the first time. When he built one multiplex, in Crenshaw, he hired 12 gangbangers to be part of the construction crew, and six of them stayed on in full-time jobs. He has gone into areas where there were mostly pawnshops and liquor stores, and put up gleaming palaces that have stayed as clean as they were the day they opened.
OHHH BUT MAGIC DON'T GIVE BACK...