If reports of talk with investors and major entertainment forces Time Warner and Viacom have any validity to them, Johnson Publishing’s monthly mag EBONY and its sister weekly magazine JET may be up for sale.

According to Newsweek, citing sources close to the most successful African American owned publishing business (Johnson), EBONY head Linda Johnson Rice has been forced to seek help from potential investors due to a serious decline in advertising revenues.

“Ebony’s advertising pages and ad revenues have declined in each of the last three years, even during periods when the industry was flat to positive. Among the 243 magazines tracked by the Publishers Information Bureau, ad pages plunged an average of 28 percent, with revenues falling by 21 percent, in the first half of 2009 compared with the same period a year earlier. But Ebony’s decline was sharper, as advertising dived almost 35 percent, dragging revenues down almost 32 percent, to $18.8 million from 2008’s $27.7 million. And the deterioration of Jet magazine, Ebony’s sister publication, was even more severe—about 40 percent in ad pages and revenues,” reports Newsweek.

“The company is “in big, big trouble,” a publishing executive close to the developments told NEWSWEEK. “It’s a sad thing, because they are so important to [African-American] communities.”

News of EBONY’s plight follows reports issued earlier this year, claiming the magazine was “out of touch” and facing a troubled remainder of 2009. The magazine’s fight for survival also follows in the wake of now shuttered or recently relaunched (and leaner) publications Conde Nast Portfolio, Blender, and Vibe (to name a few). Ebony’s closest match, Essence, is operates under Time Warner.