Forbes

Forbes (/fɔːrbz/) is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features original articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. Forbes also reports on related subjects such as technology, communications, science, politics, and law. Its headquarters is located in Jersey City, New Jersey. Primary competitors in the national business magazine category include Fortune and Bloomberg Businessweek. Forbes has an international edition in Asia as well as editions produced under license in 27 countries and regions worldwide.

For other uses, see Forbes (disambiguation).

Forbes
Cover for December 20, 2010, featuring Julian Assange
Editor-in-chiefSteve Forbes
EditorRandall Lane[1]
CategoriesBusiness magazine
FrequencyBiweekly
Total circulation
(2020)		657,215[2]
First issueSeptember 15, 1917 (1917-09-15)
CompanyIntegrated Whale Media Investments (95%)[3]
Forbes family (5%)
CountryUnited States
Based inJersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
LanguageEnglish
Websiteforbes.com
ISSN0015-6914
The former headquarters of Forbes on 5th Avenue in Manhattan (now owned by New York University)

The magazine is well known for its lists and rankings, including of the richest Americans (the Forbes 400), of the America's Wealthiest Celebrities, of the world's top companies (the Forbes Global 2000), Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People, and The World's Billionaires.[4] The motto of Forbes magazine is "Change the World".[5] Its chair and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes, and its CEO is Mike Federle.[6] In 2014, it was sold to a Hong Kong–based investment group, Integrated Whale Media Investments.[7][8]

Company history
Forbes Building on Fifth Avenue in New York City (now owned by New York University)

B. C. Forbes, a financial columnist for the Hearst papers, and his partner Walter Drey, the general manager of the Magazine of Wall Street,[9] founded Forbes magazine on September 15, 1917.[10][11] Forbes provided the money and the name and Drey provided the publishing expertise. The original name of the magazine was Forbes: Devoted to Doers and Doings.[9] Drey became vice-president of the B.C. Forbes Publishing Company,[12] while B.C. Forbes became editor-in-chief, a post he held until his death in 1954. B.C. Forbes was assisted in his later years by his two eldest sons, Bruce Charles Forbes (1916–1964) and Malcolm Forbes (.

Bruce Forbes took over on his father's death, and his strengths lay in streamlining operations and developing marketing.[10] During his tenure, 1954–1964, the magazine's circulation nearly doubled.[10]

On Bruce's death, his brother Malcolm Forbes became president and chief executive of Forbes and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine.[13] Between 1961 and 1999 the magazine was edited by James Michaels.[14] In 1993, under Michaels, Forbes was a finalist for the National Magazine Award.[15] In 2006, an investment group Elevation Partners that includes rock star Bono bought a minority interest in the company with a reorganization, through a new company, Forbes Media LLC, in which Forbes Magazine and Forbes.com, along with other media properties, is now a part.[13][16] A 2009 New York Times report said: "40 percent of the enterprise was sold... for a reported $300 million, setting the value of the enterprise at $750 million." Three years later, Mark M. Edmiston of AdMedia Partners observed, "It's probably not worth half of that now."[17] It was later revealed that the price had been US$264 million.[18]

Sale of headquarters

In January 2010, Forbes reached an agreement to sell its headquarters building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to New York University; terms of the deal were not publicly reported, but Forbes was to continue to occupy the space under a five-year sale-leaseback arrangement.[19] The company's headquarters moved to the Newport section of downtown Jersey City, New Jersey, in 2014.[20][21]

Sale to Integrated Whale Media (51% stake)

In November 2013, Forbes Media, which publishes Forbes magazine, was put up for sale.[22] This was encouraged by minority shareholders Elevation Partners. Sale documents prepared by Deutsche Bank revealed that the publisher's 2012 EBITDA was US$15 million.[23] Forbes reportedly sought a price of US$400 million.[23] In July 2014, the Forbes family bought out Elevation and then Hong Kong-based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments purchased a 51 percent majority of the company.[7][8][18]

Isaac Stone Fish wrote in the Washington Post, "Since that purchase, there have been several instances of editorial meddling on stories involving China that raise questions about Forbes magazine's commitment to editorial independence."[24]

Other publications

Apart from Forbes and its lifestyle supplement, Forbes Life, other titles include Forbes Asia and 27 local language editions.

  • Forbes Africa
  • Forbes Afrique
  • Forbes Argentina
  • Forbes Austria
  • Forbes Brazil
  • Forbes Bulgaria
  • Forbes Colombia
  • Forbes China
  • Forbes Czech
  • Forbes France
  • Forbes Georgia
  • Forbes Greece
  • Forbes Hungary
  • Forbes India
  • Forbes Israel
  • Forbes Italy
  • Forbes Japan
  • Forbes Kazakhstan
  • Forbes Mexico
  • Forbes Middle East
  • Forbes Monaco
  • Forbes Poland
  • Forbes Romania
  • Forbes Russia
  • Forbes Slovakia
  • Forbes Spain
  • Forbes Thailand
  • Forbes Vietnam

Steve Forbes and his magazine's writers offer investment advice on the weekly Fox TV show Forbes on Fox and on Forbes on Radio. Other company groups include Forbes Conference Group, Forbes Investment Advisory Group and Forbes Custom Media. From the 2009 Times report: "Steve Forbes recently returned from opening up a Forbes magazine in India, bringing the number of foreign editions to 10." In addition, that year the company began publishing ForbesWoman, a quarterly magazine published by Steve Forbes's daughter, Moira Forbes, with a companion Web site.[17]

The company formerly published American Legacy magazine as a joint venture, although that magazine separated from Forbes on May 14, 2007.[25]

The company also formerly published American Heritage and Invention & Technology magazines. After failing to find a buyer, Forbes suspended publication of these two magazines as of May 17, 2007.[26] Both magazines were purchased by the American Heritage Publishing Company and resumed publication as of the spring of 2008.[27]

Forbes has published the Forbes Travel Guide since 2009.

In 2013, Forbes licensed its brand to Ashford University, and assisted them launch the Forbes School of Business & Technology.[28] Forbes Media CEO Mike Federle justified the licensing in 2018, stating that "Our licensing business is almost a pure-profit business, because it's an annual annuity."[29] Forbes would launch limited promotions for the school in limited issues. Forbes would never formally endorse the school.

On January 6, 2014, Forbes magazine announced that, in partnership with app creator Maz, it was launching a social networking app called "Stream". Stream allows Forbes readers to save and share visual content with other readers and discover content from Forbes magazine and Forbes.com within the app.[30]

Forbes.com

Forbes.com is part of Forbes Digital, a division of Forbes Media LLC. Forbes's holdings include a portion of RealClearPolitics. Together these sites reach more than 27 million unique visitors each month. Forbes.com employs the slogan "Home Page for the World's Business Leaders" and claimed, in 2006, to be the world's most widely visited business web site.[31] The 2009 Times report said that, while "one of the top five financial sites by traffic [throwing] off an estimated $70 million to $80 million a year in revenue, [it] never yielded the hoped-for public offering".[17]

Forbes.com uses a "contributor model" in which a wide network of "contributors" writes and publishes articles directly on the website.[32] Contributors are paid based on traffic to their respective Forbes.com pages; the site has received contributions from over 2,500 individuals, and some contributors have earned over US$100,000, according to the company.[32] Forbes currently allows advertisers to publish blog posts on its website alongside regular editorial content through a program called BrandVoice, which accounts for more than 10 percent of its digital revenue.[33] Forbes.com also publishes subscription investment newsletters, and an online guide to web sites, Best of the Web. In July 2018 Forbes deleted an article by a contributor who argued that libraries should be closed, and Amazon should open bookstores in their place.[34]

David Churbuck founded Forbes's web site in 1996. The site uncovered Stephen Glass's journalistic fraud in The New Republic in 1998, an article that drew attention to internet journalism. At the peak of media coverage of alleged Toyota sudden unintended acceleration in 2010, it exposed the California "runaway Prius" as a hoax, as well as running five other articles by Michael Fumento challenging the entire media premise of Toyota's cars gone bad. The site, like the magazine, publishes many lists focusing on billionaires and their possessions, especially expensive homes, a critical aspect of the website's popularity.[35]

Currently, the website also blocks internet users using ad blocking software from accessing articles, demanding that the website be put on the ad blocking software's whitelist before access is granted.[36] Forbes argues that this is done because customers using ad blocking software do not contribute to the site's revenue. Malware attacks have been noted to occur from Forbes site.[37]

Forbes won the 2020 Webby People's Voice Award for Business Blog/Website.[38]

Forbes8

In November 2019, Forbes launched its streaming platform Forbes8, an on-demand video network debuting a slate of original content aimed at entrepreneurs.[39] The network currently features thousands of videos and according to Forbes is, "a Netflix for entrepreneurs."[40] In 2020, the network announced the release of several documentary series including Forbes Rap Mentors, Driven Against the Odds, Indie Nation and Titans on the Rocks.[41]

See also

References
  1. Romenesko, Jim (August 9, 2011). "Randall Lane returns to Forbes as editor". Poynter.org. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014.
  2. "Consumer Magazines". Alliance for Audited Media. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  3. Zhu, Julie (March 27, 2017). "Exclusive: China's HNA in talks to buy controlling stake in Forbes - sources". Reuters. Reuters. Archived from the original on November 22, 2020. Retrieved November 22, 2020. Hong Kong-based investor group Integrated Whale Media Investments (IWM), which holds 95 percent of Forbes Media, is also in talks with another Chinese media firm and is scouting for more potential buyers for most or all of its stake, said one of the sources, who declined to be identified as the talks are confidential.
  4. Delbridge, Emily (November 21, 2019). "The 8 Best Business Magazines of 2020". The Balance Small Business. New York City: Dotdash. Best for Lists: Forbes. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  5. "'Forbes' Launches New Tagline, Brand Campaign". MediaPost. October 24, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  6. Silva, Emma (November 30, 2017). "Mike Federle Succeeds Mike Perlis As CEO Of Forbes". Folio.
  7. "Forbes Media Agrees To Sell Majority Stake to a Group of International Investors To Accelerate The Company's Global Growth". Forbes (Press release). July 18, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  8. "Forbes Sells to Hong Kong Investment Group". Recode. July 18, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  9. Praneeth (July 6, 2007). "Notes of a Business Quizzer: Forbes". Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  10. Gorman, Robert F. (ed.) (2007) "September 15, 1917: Forbes Magazine is founded" The Twentieth Century, 1901–1940 (Volume III) Salem Press, Pasadena, California, pp.1374–1376, p. 1375, ISBN 978-1-58765-327-8
  11. "Media Kit 2013" (PDF). Forbes Middle East. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 5, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
  12. Commerce and Industry Association of New York (November 18, 1922) "The Association Prepares for New Demands: The Volunteer Workers" Greater New York: Bulletin of the Merchants' Association of New York Commerce and Industry Association of New York City, p. 6, OCLC 2447287
  13. 'Forbes Announce Elevation Partners Investment in Family Held Company' Elevation Partners press release, August 6, 2006.
  14. Pérez-Peña, Richard (October 4, 2007). "James Michaels, Longtime Forbes Editor, Dies at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
  15. "National Magazine Awards Database". Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
  16. "NussbaumOnDesign Bono Buys into Forbes, Launches Product Red in US and Expands His Brand". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
  17. "Even Forbes is Pinching Pennies" by David Carr, The New York Times, June 14, 2009 (June 15, 2009 on p. B1 of the NY ed.). Retrieved June 15, 2009.
  18. Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A (July 19, 2014). "Forbes sold to Asian investors". MarketWatch. Market Watch, Inc. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  19. Forbes Sells Building to N.Y.U.. New York Times Media Decoder. Retrieved January 7, 2010.
  20. Schneider, Mike (December 18, 2014). "Forbes Moves Across the Hudson to Jersey City". WNET – NJTV. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  21. "Forbes moving into Jersey City offices on Monday, report says". The Jersey Journal. December 12, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  22. Haughney, Christine; Gelles, David (November 15, 2013). "Forbes Says It Is for Sale". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  23. Doctor, Ken. "The Newsonomics of Forbes' real performance and price potential". Nieman Lab. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  24. Fish, Isaac Stone (December 14, 2017). "Chinese ownership is raising questions about the editorial independence of a major U.S. magazine". Washington Post. Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2020. When a Chinese company buys a major American magazine, does the publication censor its coverage of China? There is only one example so far, and the results are discouraging. In 2014, a Hong Kong-based investment group called Integrated Whale Media purchased a majority stake in Forbes Media, one of the United States’ best-known media companies. It’s hard to demonstrate causality in such cases. But since that purchase, there have been several instances of editorial meddling on stories involving China that raise questions about Forbes magazine’s commitment to editorial independence.
  25. "With The May 14 Announced Separation: Twelve-Year-Old "American Legacy"/"Forbes" Partnership Was Mutually Beneficial". Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  26. McGrath, Charles (May 17, 2007). "Magazine Suspends Its Run in History". The New York Times.
  27. "Thank You for Your Feedback on the American Heritage Winter 2008 Issue". American Heritage. Archived from the original on December 30, 2010.
  28. "Forbes School of Business & Technology Board of Advisors". Ashford University. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  29. Patel, Sahil (December 21, 2018). "Amid media doom and gloom, Forbes says revenue was up and profits highest in a decade". Digiday. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  30. "Forbes is the first magazine to launch its own social network site". Forbes. January 6, 2014.
  31. Edmonston, Peter (August 28, 2006). "At Forbes.com, Lots of Glitter but Maybe Not So Many Visitors". The New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  32. Bartlett, Rachel (September 26, 2013). "The Forbes contributor model: Technology, feedback and incentives". journalism.co.uk. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  33. "Forbes gives advertisers an editorial voice". emedia. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013.
  34. Weissman, Cale (July 23, 2018). "Forbes deleted its controversial article about Amazon replacing libraries". Fast Company.
  35. "Jobs: Motley to Leave Time Inc., Plus More Job-Hopping Fun". Gawker. Archived from the original on February 18, 2008. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
  36. Bloomberg, Jason. "Ad Blocking Battle Drives Disruptive Innovation". Forbes. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  37. Hruska, Joel. "Forbes forces readers to turn off ad blockers, promptly serves malware". Extreme Tech. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  38. Kastrenakes, Jacob (May 20, 2020). "Here are all the winners of the 2020 Webby Awards". The Verge. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  39. Releases, Forbes Press. "Forbes8, Forbes' On-Demand Video Network For Entrepreneurs, Debuts New Slate Of Original Content". Forbes. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  40. Kene-Okafor, Tage (May 25, 2020). "Forbes8 launches digital startup accelerator, calls for applications". Techpoint Africa. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  41. "Forbes8 Original Series: 6 icons of entrepreneurship show you how to become your own boss". Grit Daily News. October 23, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2020.

Further reading
  • Forbes, Malcolm S. (1974) Fact and Comment Knopf, New York, ISBN 0-394-49187-4; twenty-five years of the editor's columns from Forbes
  • Grunwald, Edgar A. (1988) The Business Press Editor New York University Press, New York, ISBN 0-8147-3016-7
  • Holliday, Karen Kahler (1987)A Content Analysis of Business Week, Forbes and Fortune from 1966 to 1986 Masters of Journalism thesis from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 69 pages, OCLC 18772376, available on microfilm
  • Kohlmeier, Louis M.; Udell, Jon G. and Anderson, Laird B. (eds.) (1981) Reporting on Business and the Economy Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, ISBN 0-13-773879-X
  • Kurtz, Howard (2000) The Fortune Tellers: Inside Wall Street's Game of Money, Media, and Manipulation Free Press, New York, ISBN 0-684-86879-2
  • Pinkerson, Stewart (2011). The Fall of the House of Forbes: The Inside Story of the Collapse of a Media Empire. New York City: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312658595.
  • Tebbel, John William and Zuckerman, Mary Ellen (1991) The Magazine in America, 1741–1990 Oxford University Press, New York, ISBN 0-19-505127-0
  • Parsons, D. W. (1989) The Power of the Financial Press: Journalism and Economic Opinion in Britain and America Rutgers University Press, New Jersey, ISBN 0-8135-1497-5

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