in New York City, the former headquarters of Forbes in Manhattan (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, founded
Forbes magazine on September 15, 1917. 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. 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 (1919–1990). Bruce Forbes took over after his father's death, and his strengths lay in streamlining operations and developing marketing. Between 1961 and 1999 the magazine was edited by
James Michaels. In 1993, under Michaels,
Forbes was a finalist for the
National Magazine Award. 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. 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." It was later revealed that the price had been US$264 million. In 2021, Forbes Media reported a return to profit, with revenue increasing by 34 percent to $165 million. Much of the revenue growth was attributed to Forbes' consumer business, which was up 83 percent year-over-year. CEO Mike Federle says that Forbes is built on an audience and business scale with 150 million consumers.
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. The company's headquarters moved to the
Newport section of
downtown Jersey City, New Jersey, in 2014.
Sale to Integrated Whale Media (51% stake) In November 2013, Forbes Media, which publishes
Forbes magazine, was put up for sale. This was encouraged by minority shareholders
Elevation Partners. Sale documents prepared by
Deutsche Bank revealed that the publisher's 2012
earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization was US$15 million.
Forbes reportedly sought a price of US$400 million.
Failed SPAC merger and sale On August 26, 2021, Forbes announced plans to go public via a merger with a
special-purpose acquisition company called Magnum Opus Acquisition, and to trade on the New York Stock Exchange as FRBS. In February 2022, it was announced that
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance would acquire a $200 million stake in Forbes as a result of the SPAC flotation. In June 2022, the company terminated its SPAC merger citing unfavorable market conditions. In August 2022, the company announced that it was exploring a sale of its business. In May 2023, it was announced that billionaire
Austin Russell, founder of
Luminar Technologies, agreed to acquire an 82percent stake in a deal valuing the company at $800million. The transaction attracted scrutiny by the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Russell denied reports that Russian businessman
Magomed Musaev was involved in the transaction. In November 2023, the deal collapsed, as Russell was unable to put together the necessary funds. ==Other publications==