Ebony and Jet Magazines who are owned by the Johnson family are the competitors of Essence magazine. In 2009, both magazines became casualties of the declined of the magazine industry. They had some of the same goals as Essence however; they failed to prepare for the changing world around them. The thing about Ebony and Jet is that much of their financial demise could possibly have been averted. If management had taken stronger steps to adjust to the advent of the Internet, perhaps they could have remained profitable.
Essence on the other hand took note of the trend long ago, as they invested heavily in revamping their online business model. Since then Essence has been moving forward with music festivals, this includes Essence Hosiery, Essence Eyewear, Essence books and their pride and joy the Essence Awards which honors African-American men and women. They now have one of the strongest black news websites in America. Ebony and Jet didn’t seem to follow the lead of Essence, still holding onto the same old way of doing business that has worked for the past 40 yrs.
Talk about strategic planning, Essence Magazine was acquired by Time Warner, which may have given them a competitive advantage. Ebony Magazine did have the option of raising additional funds from the public to finance their multimedia expansion, but they did not seize this opportunity.
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