Forbes

Forbes is an American business magazine that first appeared in 1917, the creation of B. C. Forbes. Since 2014, it has been under the control of Integrated Whale Media Investments, a group based in Hong Kong. Steve Forbes serves as both chairman and editor-in-chief, while Sherry Phillips became CEO in January 2025. The company’s offices are located in Jersey City, New Jersey. The magazine comes out eight times a year and covers finance, industry, investing, and marketing, along with related areas like technology, communications, science, politics, and law. It also produces an Asian edition and licenses editions in 27 other countries and regions. Forbes is well known for its various rankings and lists, such as the Forbes 400 (richest Americans), the 30 Under 30, America’s wealthiest celebrities, the Global 2000 (top companies), the world’s most powerful people, and the list of billionaires. Since 2010, the Forbes.com website has relied heavily on freelance contributors, who operate with limited editorial oversight. This practice has drawn criticism and been described as enabling a form of “pay-to-play journalism.”

**Company history**

B. C. Forbes, a financial columnist for Hearst, partnered with Walter Drey, general manager of the *Magazine of Wall Street*, to launch *Forbes* on September 15, 1917. Forbes supplied the money and the name; Drey brought publishing know-how. The original title was *Forbes: Devoted to Doers and Doings*. Drey became vice-president of the B.C. Forbes Publishing Company, while Forbes served as editor-in-chief until his death in 1954. In his later years, he was aided by his two oldest sons, Bruce Charles Forbes (1916–1964) and Malcolm Forbes (1919–1990). Bruce Forbes took over after his father’s death, focusing on streamlining operations and marketing. Under his leadership from 1954 to 1964, the magazine’s circulation nearly doubled. After Bruce’s death, his brother Malcolm became president, CEO, and editor-in-chief. James Michaels edited the magazine from 1961 to 1999. In 1993, under Michaels, *Forbes* was a finalist for the National Magazine Award. In 2006, an investment group called Elevation Partners, which included rock star Bono, bought a minority stake through a reorganization into Forbes Media LLC, which now includes the magazine, Forbes.com, and other properties. A 2009 *New York Times* report stated that 40 percent of the enterprise was sold for a reported $300 million, valuing the whole at $750 million. Three years later, Mark M. Edmiston of AdMedia Partners noted it was probably worth half that. The actual price was later revealed to be $264 million. In 2021, Forbes Media reported a return to profitability, with revenue up 34 percent to $165 million. Much of that growth came from the consumer business, which rose 83 percent year-over-year. CEO Mike Federle said Forbes had built an audience and business scale reaching 150 million consumers. **Sale of headquarters**

In January 2010, Forbes agreed to sell its Fifth Avenue headquarters in Manhattan to New York University. The terms were not made public, but Forbes continued to occupy the space under a five-year sale-leaseback arrangement. The company moved its headquarters to the Newport section of downtown Jersey City, New Jersey, in 2014. **Sale to Integrated Whale Media (51% stake)**

In November 2013, Forbes Media was put up for sale, encouraged by minority shareholder Elevation Partners. Deutsche Bank prepared sale documents showing the publisher’s 2012 EBITDA was $15 million. Forbes reportedly sought a price of $400 million. In July 2014, the Forbes family bought out Elevation, and then Hong Kong-based Integrated Whale Media Investments purchased a 51 percent majority stake. In 2017, Isaac Stone Fish, a senior fellow at the Asia Society, wrote in *The Washington Post* that since that purchase, there had been several instances of editorial meddling on stories involving China, raising questions about Forbes’ commitment to editorial independence. **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, trading on the NYSE as FRBS. In February 2022, it was announced that cryptocurrency exchange Binance would acquire a $200 million stake in Forbes as part of the SPAC flotation. In June 2022, the company terminated the SPAC merger, citing unfavorable market conditions. In August 2022, Forbes announced it was exploring a sale. In May 2023, billionaire Austin Russell, founder of Luminar Technologies, agreed to acquire an 82 percent stake in a deal valuing the company at $800 million. His majority ownership was to include the remaining portion owned by the Forbes family not previously sold to Integrated Whale Media. The transaction drew scrutiny from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Russell denied reports that Russian businessman Magomed Musaev was involved. In November 2023, the deal collapsed because Russell could not raise the necessary funds. **Other publications**

Beyond *Forbes* and its lifestyle supplement *Forbes Life*, the magazine has 42 international editions covering 69 countries. Some editions have ceased publication.