Jonathan Edwin "J.J." Johnson III is an American business executive who served as the CEO of Overstock.com from 2019 to 2023.^[1][2][3][4] He was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2016 Utah gubernatorial election.^[5]

Johnson was born in Los Angeles, California to Jonathan E. Johnson II and Clare Hardy Johnson, the oldest of their eight sons. He received a Bachelor's degree in Japanese from Brigham Young University in 1990, followed by a Juris Doctor degree from the Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School, in 1993.^[6]

Following his graduation, Johnson worked as a clerk for Utah Supreme Court Justice Leonard H. Russon.^[7]

In 1999, Johnson moved back to Utah to work for the publicly traded software company TenFold Corporation, lasting there until 2002 when he was hired by Overstock.com to be general counsel.^[8] He served as the chairman of the board at Overstock until 2019.^[9][10][11] Upon the departure of Patrick Byrne on August 22, 2019, Johnson became the interim CEO of the company.^[12] One month later on September 23, 2019, Johnson was appointed permanent CEO.^[3] He resigned in November 2023, following accusations of poor performance in a letter from a major shareholder.^[4][13]

Johnson, a Republican, formally announced his candidacy for governor on August 15, 2015 at the state GOP convention^[14] Johnson defeated the incumbent governor, Gary Herbert, at the convention, triggering a primary election, which was held June 28, 2016.^[15]

On April 18, 2016, Johnson announced his selection of Robyn Bagley as his running mate.^[16] Bagley is the founder of a charter school, and was a leader on the losing side in the voucher battle in 2007.^[17] Herbert defeated Johnson in the primary, and went on to win reelection in the general election.^[18]