According to Businessweek, retired NBA star Earvin Magic Johnson is reportedly in talks to purchase Johnson Publishing Co., owner of Ebony and Jet, magazines that have documented African-American life for more than half a century.

“There have been discussions,” Eric Holoman, president of Los Angeles-based Magic Johnson Enterprises, said yesterday in an interview. “There’s no definitive agreement.”

Johnson would fold the publisher into Magic Johnson Enterprises according to sources. Ad revenue at Ebony declined 38 percent to $35.5 million last year on a 39 percent drop in ad pages, according to Publishers Information Bureau.

Linda Johnson Rice, chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson Publishing, declined interview requests. Johnson Rice “has never talked to Magic Johnson with respect to his interest in buying” the company, said Wendy Parks, a spokeswoman for Johnson Publishing.

Johnson Publishing was founded in 1942 by John H. Johnson, Linda Johnson Rice’s father. Ebony, the monthly magazine of features, the newsweekly Jet and the defunct Negro Digest chronicled African-American life when mainstream media paid little attention.

See the entire article here.

Hustletown readers: Do you believe there is still life for Ebony and Jet magazines? Let us know what you think about the state of print publications in the comments section below!

UPDATE: It appears that (Magic) Johnson & Johnson (Publishing) may not be talking after all: Check out this report from TheCASHFLOW.