The company's last chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) was the founder's daughter, Linda Johnson Rice.

In its final years, Johnson Publishing Company sold off assets including its historic 820 S. Michigan Avenue headquarters in 2011, and its publications in 2016.

The historic Ebony/Jet photo archives, which JPC retained after the sale of its Ebony and Jet magazines, were sold in July 2019 for $30 million to a group of art and educational foundations to make them available to the public.

In return, he received more than 3,000 completed subscription offers and with that money he printed his first publication, Negro Digest, in November 1942.

The first headquarters from 1942 until 1943, was inside the Supreme Life Building at 3501 S. Parkway Ave (later renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive).

"From the lobby, with large swaths of original wood wall paneling, to ottomans reupholstered using material (curtains/rugs) from the Johnson Publishing days, the vibe is oh so ’70s.

His son, John H. Johnson Jr., served as a staff photographer for both Ebony and Jet magazines from 1975 until his death in December 1981.

[18] Ebony/Jet Showcase, a weekly, nationally syndicated TV show hosted by Greg Gumbel and Deborah Crable debuted in September 1985.

[22] A United Kingdom creditor petitioned a judge to force the company to sell its Fashion Fair Cosmetics UK assets in April 2019.

[29] In January 2011, the company sold its headquarters of nearly 40 years located at 820 S. Michigan Avenue to Columbia College Chicago.

[30] In November 2017, The building was sold by the college to 3L Real Estate for $10 million and converted into luxury apartments named 820Michigan.

[32] The buyer, Clear View Group, a private equity firm based in Austin, Texas, created a new publisher called Ebony Media Corp.

[37][38]On April 22, 2019, Mellody Hobson, president of Chicago-based Ariel Investments, and her husband, film maker George Lucas, petitioned to take possession of the Ebony photo archives.

They stated that the collection had been used as collateral for a $12 million loan that Johnson Publishing received from Capital Holdings V, which is owned by Hobson and Lucas, in 2015.

The archives will go to the Getty Research Institute and the National Museum of African American History and Culture to be made digitally available to the public.

[40][41][5] As of 2022, more than 4-million items have been undergoing cataloging and conservation in Chicago by archivist Steven Booth, and were being lent out for programs and exhibitions.

The 87-piece art collection included works by Carrie Mae Weems, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Dindga McCannon, Kenneth Victor Young and Walter J.

The Chicago History Museum created an exhibition titled Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years Of Ebony Fashion Fair, which was on display from March 2013 until May 2014.

[47] The Rebuild Foundation held an exhibition for the company called A Johnson Publishing Story at The Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, Illinois.

The exhibition, which featured paintings, books, sculptures, furnishings and interior design elements from the 820 S. Michigan Avenue headquarters ran from June 28, 2018, until September 30, 2018.

[50] In 2020, the educational charity consortium which obtained the historic photo archives during the dissolution of the company, appointed an advisory committee, headed by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.

[51] In 2024, the Rebuild Foundation opened an exhibition, "Theaster Gates: When Clouds Roll Away: Reflection and Restoration from the Johnson Archive" at the Stony Island Arts Bank.