
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the
Forbes family
The Forbes family is one of the Boston Brahmins—a wealthy extended American family long prominent in Boston, Massachusetts. The family's fortune originates from trading opium and tea between North America and China in the 19th century plus ot ...
. Published eight times a year, it features 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
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is ...
. Primary competitors in the national business magazine category include ''
Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck, a chance happening, or that which happens beyond a person's controls
* Wealth, an abundance of items of economic value
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-te ...
'' and ''
Bloomberg Businessweek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine, published 50 times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City
New York, often called New York City to distinguish i ...
''. Forbes has an international edition in Asia as well as editions produced under license in 27 countries and regions worldwide.
The magazine is well known for its lists and rankings, including of the richest Americans (the
Forbes 400
The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family (publishers), Forbes family. Published eight times a ...
), of the America's Wealthiest
Celebrities
Celebrity is a condition of wikt:fame, fame and broad public recognition of an individual or group, or occasionally a character or animal, as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. A person may attain a celebrity status from hav ...
, of the world's top companies (the
Forbes Global 2000
The Forbes Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2,000 public companies
A public company, publicly traded company, publicly held company, publicly listed company, or public limited company
A public limited company (legally abbreviated to ...
),
Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People
Since 2009 (with absences in 2017, 2019 and 2020), the business magazine, ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family (publishers), Forbes family. Published eigh ...
, and
The World's Billionaires
''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking by documented net worth
Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial asset
In financial accountancy, financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a b ...
. The motto of ''Forbes'' magazine is "Change the World". Its chair and editor-in-chief is
Steve Forbes
Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. (; born July 18, 1947) is an American publishing executive and politician, who is the Editor-in-Chief
An editor-in-chief, also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final r ...

, and its CEO is
Mike Federle
Michael Federle or Mike Federle is an American manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization
An organization, or organisation ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity – such as a c ...
.
In 2014, it was sold to a Hong Kong-based investment group, Integrated Whale Media Investments.
[
]
Company history
B. C. Forbes, a financial columnist for the papers, and his partner Walter Drey, the general manager of the ''Magazine of Wall Street'', founded ''Forbes'' magazine on September 15, 1917.[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, ] 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''. Drey became vice-president of the B.C. Forbes Publishing Company, 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
Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (August 19, 1919 – February 24, 1990) was an American entrepreneur most prominently known as the publisher of ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investmen ...

(1917–1990).
Bruce Forbes took over on his father's death, and his strengths lay in streamlining operations and developing marketing. During his tenure, 1954–1964, the magazine's circulation nearly doubled.
On Bruce's death, his brother Malcolm Forbes
Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (August 19, 1919 – February 24, 1990) was an American entrepreneur most prominently known as the publisher of ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investmen ...

became president and chief executive of Forbes and editor-in-chief of ''Forbes'' magazine.['Forbes Announce Elevation Partners Investment in Family Held Company'](_blank)
Elevation Partners press release, August 6, 2006. Between 1961 and 1999 the magazine was edited by James Michaels
James Walker Michaels (June 17, 1921 – October 2, 2007) was an and magazine . Michaels served as the longtime editor of ' magazine from 1961 until his retirement in 1999.
Early life
James Michaels was born in , on June 17, 1921. He atten ...
. In 1993, under Michaels, ''Forbes'' was a finalist for the National Magazine Award. In 2006, an investment group Elevation Partners
Elevation Partners was an American private equity
Private equity (PE) typically refers to investment funds, generally organized as limited partnerships, that buy and restructure companies that are not publicly traded.
Private equity is a ty ...
that includes rock star Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, philanthropist, venture capitalist
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity
Private equity (PE) typically refers to ...

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."["Even Forbes is Pinching Pennies"](_blank)
by David Carr, ''The New York Times'', June 14, 2009 (June 15, 2009 on p. B1 of the NY ed.). Retrieved June 15, 2009. It was later revealed that the price had been US$264 million.
Sale of headquarters
In January 2010, ''Forbes'' reached an agreement to sell its headquarters building on Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare
A thoroughfare is a primary passage or way as a transit route through regularly trafficked areas whether by road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two Location (geography), places ...

in Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as ''The City'', is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs
5 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
5, five or number 5 may also refer to:
* AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era
...

to New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private
"In Private" was the third single in a row to be a charting success for United Kingdom, British singer Dusty Springfield, after an absence of ne ...
; terms of the deal were not publicly reported, but Forbes was to continue to occupy the space under a five-year sale-leaseback
Leaseback, short for "sale-and-leaseback", is a financial transaction
A financial transaction is an Contract, agreement, or communication, carried out between a buyer and a seller to Trade, exchange an asset for payment.
It involves a change in ...
arrangement. The company's headquarters moved to the Newport
Newport most commonly refers to:
*Newport, Wales, UK
*Newport, Rhode Island, US
Newport or New Port may also refer to:
Places Asia
*Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay
Europe
Ireland
*Newport, County Mayo, a town on ...
section of downtown Jersey City
Image:DowntownJerseyCity.JPG, 250px, View of Downtown focused around the 30 Hudson Street, Goldman Sachs Tower Downtown is an area of Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, which includes the Historic Downtown and the Wat ...
, 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
Elevation Partners was an American private equity
Private equity (PE) typically refers to investment funds, generally organized as limited partnerships, that buy and restructure companies that are not publicly traded.
Private equity is a ty ...
. Sale documents prepared by Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG () is a German multinational investment bank
To invest is to allocate money
Image:National-Debt-Gillray.jpeg, In a 1786 James Gillray caricature, the plentiful money bags handed to King George III are contrasted with the ...

revealed that the publisher's 2012 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization
A company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal personality, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members sh ...
was US$15 million. ''Forbes'' reportedly sought a price of US$400 million.[ 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.]
Isaac Stone Fish wrote in the ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is ...
'', "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."
SPAC merger
On August 26, 2021, Forbes announced their plans to go public via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company
A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a "blank check company" is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring a private company
A privately held company, private company, or close corporati ...
called Magnum Opus Acquisition, and starting to trade at the New York Stock Exchange as FRBS.
Other publications
Apart from ''Forbes'' and its lifestyle supplement, ''Forbes Life'', other titles include ''Forbes Asia'' and 27 local language editions.
*Forbes Africa
*Forbes África Lusófona
*Forbes Afrique
*Forbes Argentina
*Forbes Austria
*Forbes Brazil
*Forbes Bulgaria
*Forbes Colombia
*Forbes Chile
*Forbes China
*Forbes Czech
*Forbes France
*Forbes Georgia
*Forbes Greece
*Forbes Hungary
*Forbes India
''Forbes India'' is the Indian edition of ''Forbes'' which is managed by Reliance Industries-owned media conglomerate, Network 18.
History and profile
Since its founding in 2008, ''Forbes India'' has achieved a circulation of 50,000 copies and mak ...
*Forbes Israel
*Forbes Italy
*Forbes Japan
*Forbes Kazakhstan
*Forbes Mexico
*Forbes Middle East
*Forbes Monaco
*Forbes New York
*Forbes Perú
*Forbes Poland
*Forbes Portugal
*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
Foxes are small to medium-sized, s belonging to several of the family . They have a flattened skull, upright triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned , and a long bushy (or ''brush'').
Twelve belong to the "true foxes" group of ge ...
TV show ''Forbes on Fox
''Forbes on Fox'' is an American business
Business is the activity of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and services). Simply put, it is "any activity or enterpris ...
'' 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
Moira Forbes (born July 19, 1979) is an American journalist and member of the
Biography
Early life
Moira Forbes is the daughter of , who was a former presidential candidate and the chairman and editor-in-chief of ''.'' She is also the grandda ...
, with a companion Web site.
The company formerly published '' American Legacy'' magazine as a joint venture, although that magazine separated from Forbes on May 14, 2007.
The company also formerly published ''American HeritageAmerican Heritage can refer to:
* American Heritage (magazine), ''American Heritage'' (magazine)
* American Heritage (band)
* ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language''
* ''The American Heritage Book of English Usage''
* American H ...
'' and '' Invention & Technology'' magazines. After failing to find a buyer, Forbes suspended publication of these two magazines as of May 17, 2007. Both magazines were purchased by the American Heritage Publishing Company and resumed publication as of the spring of 2008.
Forbes has published the ''Forbes Travel Guide
Forbes Travel Guide (formerly known as Mobil Guide or Mobil Travel Guide) is a star rating
Star classification is a type of rating scale:''Concerning rating scales as systems of educational marks, see articles about education in different co ...
'' since 2009.
In 2013, Forbes licensed its brand to Ashford University
The University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) formerly known as Ashford University, is an online university headquartered in San Diego
San Diego (, ; ) is a city in the U.S. state of California on the coast of the Pacific Ocean and imme ...

, and assisted them launch the Forbes School of Business & TechnologyThe Forbes School of Business & Technology, also known as FSBT and Forbes Business School, is an online business school within The University of Arizona Global Campus. It offers degree programs at bachelor's and master's levels in business administra ...
. 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." 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.
Forbes.com
Forbes.com is part of Forbes Digital, a division of Forbes Media LLC. Forbes's holdings include a portion of RealClearPolitics
RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American conservative Political journalism, political news website and Polling aggregator, polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former option (finance), options trader (finance), trader John McIntyre (publisher), ...
. 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. The 2009 ''Times'' report said that, while "one of the top five financial sites by traffic hrowingoff an estimated $70 million to $80 million a year in revenue, never yielded the hoped-for public offering
A public offering is the offering of securities of a company or a similar corporation to the public. Generally, the securities are to be listed on a stock exchange. In most jurisdictions, a public offering requires the issuing company to publish a ...
".
Forbes.com uses a "contributor model" in which a wide network of "contributors" writes and publishes articles directly on the website. 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. ''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. Forbes.com also publishes subscription investment
Investment is the dedication of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance
Finance is the study of financial institution ...

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.
David Churbuck
David Churbuck is a blogger, technology journalist, and co-founder of Forbes.com.
Personal
He enjoys sculling and cycling.
Books
In 1988 he wrote "The Book of Rowing"- a book about the history of the sport.
Career
Churbuck has over 25 years of e ...
founded ''Forbes''s web site in 1996. The site uncovered Stephen Glass
Stephen Randall Glass (born September 15, 1972) is an American former journalist and paralegal. He worked for ''The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Found ...
's journalistic fraud
Journalism scandals are high-profile incidents or acts, whether intentional or accidental, that run contrary to the generally accepted ethics and standards of journalism, or otherwise violate the 'ideal' mission of journalism
Journalism is th ...
in ''The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between a humanitarian progressivism and ...
'' in 1998, an article that drew attention to internet journalism
Digital journalism, also known as online journalism, is a contemporary form of journalism where editorial content is distributed via the Internet
The Internet (Capitalization of Internet, or internet) is the global system of interconn ...
. At the peak of media coverage of alleged Toyota
is a Japanese multinational
Multinational may refer to:
* Multinational corporation, a corporate organization operating in multiple countries
* Multinational force, a military body from multiple countries
* Multinational state, a sovereign st ...

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.
Currently, the website also blocks internet users using ad blocking
Ad blocking or ad filtering is a software capability for blocking or altering online advertising in a History of the web browser, web browser or an Application software, application. This may be done using browser extensions or other methods.
T ...
software from accessing articles, demanding that the website be put on the ad blocking software's whitelist
Whitelisting (also referred to as allow-listing) is the practice of explicitly allowing some identified entities access to a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. It is the opposite of Blacklist (computing), blacklisting.
...
before access is granted. Forbes argues that this is done because customers using ad blocking software
Software is a collection of instructions
Instruction or instructions may refer to:
Computing
* Instruction, one operation of a processor within a computer architecture instruction set
* Computer program, a collection of instructions
Music
* I ...

do not contribute to the site's revenue. Malware attacks have been noted to occur from Forbes site.
Forbes won the 2020 Webby People's Voice Award for Business Blog/Website.
Forbes8
In November 2019, Forbes launched its streaming platform Forbes8, an on-demand video network debuting a slate of original content aimed at entrepreneurs. The network currently features thousands of videos and according to Forbes is "a Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription
The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer
In sales
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. Th ...

for entrepreneurs". 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.
Forbes Business Council
Launched as an invite-only platform, Forbes Business Council is open to SMEs and MSMEs across the globe. There is a fee to join the Councils. The platform helps entrepreneurs and founders connect with like-minded people, collaborate, as well as publish posts on Forbes.com. [https://councils.forbes.com/]
See also
* Forbes 400
The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family (publishers), Forbes family. Published eight times a ...
* Forbes 500
The Forbes 500 was an annual listing of the top 500 companies produced by ' magazine. The list was calculated by combining five factors: sales, profits, assets, market value, and employees. The list was last issued in March 2003 (based on 2002 dat ...
* Forbes Global 2000
The Forbes Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2,000 public companies
A public company, publicly traded company, publicly held company, publicly listed company, or public limited company
A public limited company (legally abbreviated to ...
* The World's Billionaires
''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking by documented net worth
Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial asset
In financial accountancy, financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a b ...
* World's 100 Most Powerful Women
* World's Most Powerful People
* Forbes Korea Power Celebrity
''Forbes'' Korea Power Celebrity is an annual list published by ''Forbes'' magazine (Korea) since 2010. It is a catalog of the Top 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in South Korea where personalities from sports, music, arts, film and television are ra ...
References
Further reading
* Forbes, Malcolm S. (1973). ''Fact and Comment''. Knopf, New York, ; twenty-five years of the editor's columns from ''Forbes''
* Grunwald, Edgar A. (1988). ''The Business Press Editor''. New York University Press, New York,
* Holliday, Karen Kahler (1987). ''A Content Analysis of ''Business Week'', ''Forbes'' and ''Fortune'' from 1966 to 1986''. Master's of Journalism thesis from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 69 pages, , 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,
* Kurtz, Howard (2000). ''The Fortune Tellers: Inside Wall Street's Game of Money, Media, and Manipulation''. Free Press, New York,
*
* Tebbel, John William and Zuckerman, Mary Ellen (1991). ''The Magazine in America, 1741–1990''. Oxford University Press, New York,
* Parsons, D. W. (1989). ''The Power of the Financial Press: Journalism and Economic Opinion in Britain and America''. Rutgers University Press, New Jersey,
External links
*
{{Authority control
1917 establishments in the United States
Business magazines published in the United States
Biweekly magazines published in the United States
Companies based in Jersey City, New Jersey
Magazines established in 1917
Magazines published in New Jersey{{United States topic, exclude-ter=y, title=All U.S. States, navbar=plain, prefix=:Magazines_published_in
Mass media in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern Uni ...
Mass media in Hudson County, New Jersey