Johnson Publishing Sells Fashion Fair Cosmetics To Former Execs, Hedge-Fund Founder
Chicago, IL – Johnson Publishing Co., the bankrupt former publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, is selling its iconic Fashion Fair beauty line for women of color to two of its former executives and a hedge-fund founder for $1.85 million.
The publisher’s former chief executive, Desiree Rogers Rogers, who also was the White House social secretary under former President Barack Obama, and Johnson Publishing former chief operating officer and president of digital, Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, will be the majority owners and operators of Fashion Fair, a representative said. Hedge fund operator Alec Litowicz will hold a minority stake as a personal investment and not through his company, Evanston-based Magnetar Capital, the buyers said.
The sale was approved Nov. 7 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court as part of the Chapter 7 liquidation of Johnson Publishing assets.
The same investors own the Black Opal line of skin-care and beauty products.
“Fashion Fair is just too valuable for our community to lose,” Rogers said. “We plan to modernize the brand and products, but will remain true to the company’s roots, which was to create prestige products focused on women of color.”
Rogers partnered closely with Johnson Publishing Chairman and owner Linda Johnson Rice to lead the iconic African American-owned Chicago Johnson Publishing from 2010 through 2017, but exited after that business struggled to compete on both the media front, where it published Ebony and Jet magazines, and on the cosmetics front, where its Fashion Fair brand had pioneered a line specifically tailored to women of color.
Founded in 1973 by the late Eunice W. Johnson, Fashion Fair was once the largest Black-owned cosmetics company in the world, as it was created at a time when brands overlooked women of color. It grew from offering limited products, called a capsule collection, to a full line that was available in high-end department stores.
At its peak in 2003, Fashion Fair did $56 million in total sales, FORTUNE reports. Johnson Publishing Co. best known for EBONY and JET magazines sold the two titles in 2016. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April.
Also, its historic photo archives were auctioned off to a group of buyers in July and will go to Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Getty Research Institute and other partners.
With the sale of the iconic beauty brand, the question is whether Fashion Fair Cosmetics will resurrect itself after the auction and survive alongside cosmetic leaders such as Rihanna with her Fenty Beauty collection, Kylie Jenner Cosmetics, and industry leaders Maybelline, Revlon, and MAC.