POSTED: Monday February 9th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BEYOND THE HUXTABLES: MEET THE NEWBOS

A CNBC ORIGINAL, \"NEWBOS: THE RISE OF AMERICA\'S NEW BLACK OVERCLASS,\" ANCHORED BY LEE HAWKINS, EXAMINES A GENERATION OF SELF-MADE YOUNG BLACK MULTI-MILLIONAIRES PREMIERING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24

Lebron James, Torii Hunter, Terrell \“T.O.\” Owens, Sean \“Diddy\” Combs, Wyclef Jean, Lil\’ Wayne and the Williams Brothers of Cash Money Records, Kirk Franklin, And Bob Johnson Are Featured

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., February 9, 2009 - In the 1980s, the fictional Huxtable family offered a window into the lives of upper middle class professional African American families. But today, there\‘s a new class of young blacks who are now at the highest tier of the financial strata, and their first generation wealth sparks unprecedented challenges and opportunities in their lives. Their profiles are featured in CNBC\‘s \“NEWBOS: The Rise of America\‘s New Black Overclass,\” anchored by Wall Street Journal reporter/CNBC correspondent Lee Hawkins, premiering Tuesday, February 24 at 9 PM/1 AM ET.

In this original one-hour documentary, CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, provides a close-up look at the experiences of these self-made black multimillionaires, many of whom grew up poor, are mostly under age 40, and have primarily made their vast fortunes in the sports, entertainment and media industries, usually by taking more ownership and control over their brands. Collectively, black athletes in the NFL, NBA, and in Major League Baseball earned more than $4 billion last year and the nation\‘s 20 highest-paid hip-hop entrepreneurs brought in more than $500 million. Their newfound wealth has profound implications on their lives and their families. NEWBOs exposes and chronicles their experiences and insights as they move from relative poverty to fantastic wealth at a very young age.

Based on Hawkins\’ forthcoming book of the same title, the program features personal stories and interviews with some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment, including: NBA star LeBron James, NFL star Terrell Owens, Major League All-Star Torii Hunter, The Williams Brothers of Cash Money Records and their artist Lil\’ Wayne, and Multi-platinum gospel artist Kirk Franklin.

Among the many insights, the Williams brothers discuss the entrepreneurial skill that helped them land a $30 million distribution deal with Universal Records while still in their 20s.Hunter discusses his efforts to use his celebrity as a way to expose more black youth to baseball in an era in which the number of blacks in the league has declined to 7.6%.  LeBron James discusses his decision to fire his agent and form his own African-American controlled marketing company, which now oversees his $90 million endorsement contract with Nike and numerous other projects. Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson discusses the need for more intergenerational mentorship and economic collaboration between NEWBOs and the economic empowerment that could result if they begin to pool their financial resources and launch joint ventures.

\“NEWBOS: The Rise of America\‘s New Black Overclass,\” reports on how NEWBOs\’ experiences often differ from those of their white counterparts and posits the questions:  Who are they? How did they become rich? What have they learned as wealth builders and entrepreneurs? What can we learn from them? What are some of their biggest challenges? What are their ultimate aspirations? Do they feel they have a responsibility to the rest of black America? Is the role of black celebrities changing in the Obama age? How important are social awareness and charitable involvement in the context of wealth? How has racism affected them? Will they rise to the challenges and opportunities that accompany their wealth and fame or will they squander their clout in frivolity?

\“NEWBOS: The Rise Of America\‘s New Black Overclass\” re-airs on Sunday, March 1st at 10PM.,

Jeff Pohlman is the Executive Producer of \“NEWBOS: The Rise Of America\‘s New Black Overclass.\” Steven Banton is the editor and Jonathan Wald is the Senior Vice President, Business News at CNBC.

For more information, please log onto blackoverclass.cnbc.com.

About CNBC:

CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news, providing real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 400 million homes worldwide, including more than 95 million households in the United States and Canada. The network\‘s Business Day programming (weekdays from 5:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC\‘s headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and also includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide.  Additionally, CNBC viewers can manage their individual investment portfolios and gain additional in-depth information from on-air reports by accessing www.cnbc.com.

Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at <http://nbcumv.com/cnbc/.
 

Contact:

       Jennifer Dauble
       201-735-4721
       Jennifer.Dauble@nbcuni.com

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Keywords · Lebron James · Torii Hunter · Terrell \"T.O.\" Owens · Sean \"Diddy\" Combs · Wyclef Jean · Lil\' Wayne and the Williams Brothers of Cash Money Records · Kirk Franklin · Bob Johnson · NBC

Name: Lyndsay M Iorio
Organization: NBC
Email:
Phone: +1.212-6642160
URL: http://www.nbcuni.com

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