''Fortune'' is an American multinational business magazine headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, owned by Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon. The publication was founded by

Henry Luce Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine magnate who founded ''Time'', ''Life'', '' Fortune'', and ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the America ...

in 1929. The magazine competes with ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also rep ...

'' and ''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' in the national business magazine category and distinguishes itself with long, in-depth feature articles. The magazine regularly publishes ranked lists, including the ''Fortune'' 500, a ranking of companies by

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reve ...

that it has published annually since 1955. The magazine is also known for its annual ''Fortune Investor's Guide''.

History

''Fortune'' was founded by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine co-founder Henry Luce in 1929 as "the Ideal Super-Class Magazine", a "distinguished and de luxe" publication "vividly portraying, interpreting and recording the Industrial Civilization". Briton Hadden, Luce's business partner, was not enthusiastic about the idea – which Luce originally thought to title ''Power'' – but Luce went forward with it after Hadden's sudden death on February 27, 1929. In late October 1929, the

Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange coll ...

occurred, marking the onset of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...

. In a memo to the Time Inc. board in November 1929, Luce wrote: "We will not be over-optimistic. We will recognize that this business slump may last as long as an entire year." The publication made its official debut in February 1930. Its editor was Luce, managing editor Parker Lloyd-Smith, and art director Thomas Maitland Cleland. Single copies of the first issue cost US$1 ($ in ). An urban legend says that Cleland mocked up the cover of the first issue with the $1 price because no one had yet decided how much to charge; the magazine was printed before anyone realized it, and when people saw it for sale, they thought that the magazine must really have worthwhile content. In fact, there were 30,000 subscribers who had already signed up to receive that initial 184-page issue. By 1937, the number of subscribers had grown to 460,000, and the magazine had turned half million dollars in annual profit. At a time when business publications were little more than numbers and statistics printed in black and white, ''Fortune'' was an oversized 11" × 14", using creamy heavy paper, and art on a cover printed by a special process.Background
. ''Fortune'' was also noted for its photography, featuring the work of

Margaret Bourke-White Margaret Bourke-White (; June 14, 1904 – August 27, 1971), an American photographer and documentary photographer, became arguably best known as the first foreign photographer permitted to take pictures of Soviet industry under the Soviets' ...

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advo ...

, and others.

Walker Evans Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) was an American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans' work from ...

served as its photography editor from 1945 to 1965. During the Great Depression, the magazine developed a reputation for its social conscience, for

and

's color photographs, and for a team of writers including James Agee, Archibald MacLeish,

John Kenneth Galbraith John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through t ...

, and Alfred Kazin, hired specifically for their writing abilities. The magazine became an important leg of Luce's media empire; after the successful launch of ''

'' in 1923 and ''Fortune'' in 1930, Luce went on to launch ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy t ...

'' in 1936 and ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' in 1954. From its launch in 1930 to 1978, ''Fortune'' was published monthly. In January 1978, it began publishing biweekly. In October 2009, citing declining advertising revenue and circulation, ''Fortune'' began publishing every three weeks. As of 2018, ''Fortune'' is published 14 times a year. Marshall Loeb was named managing editor in 1986. During his tenure at ''Fortune'', Loeb was credited with expanding the traditional focus on business and the economy with added graphs, charts, and tables, as well as the addition of articles on topics such as executive life and social issues connected to the world of business, including the effectiveness of public schools and on homelessness. During the years when Time Warner owned Time Inc., ''Fortune'' articles (as well as those from '' Money'' magazine) were hosted at CNNMoney.com. In June 2014, after Time Inc. spun off from its corporate parent, ''Fortune'' launched its own website at Fortune.com. On November 26, 2017, it was announced that

Meredith Corporation Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned magazines, television stations, websites, and radio stations. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more ...

would acquire Time Inc. in a $2.8 billion deal. The acquisition was completed on January 31, 2018. On November 9, 2018, it was announced that

was selling ''Fortune'' to Thai billionaire Chatchaval Jiaravanon for $150 million. Jiaravanon is affiliated with the Thailand-based conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group, which has holdings in agriculture, telecommunications, retail, pharmaceutical, and finance. Since March 4, 2020, access to Fortune.com has been restricted by a

paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years o ...

Lists

''Fortune'' regularly publishes ranked lists. In the human resources field, for example, it publishes a list of the Best Companies to Work For. Lists include companies ranked in order of

gross revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive revenu ...

and business profile, as well as business leaders: * ''Fortune'' 500 * ''Fortune'' 1000 * ''Fortune'' Global 500 * ''Fortune India'' 500 * 40 Under 40 * ''Fortune'' Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs *

100 Best Companies to Work For '' The 100 Best Companies to Work For is an annual list published by '' Fortune'' magazine that ranks U.S. companies based on employee happiness and perks''.'' Like the Fortune 500, the list includes both public and private companies. The list w ...

World's Most Admired Companies100 Fastest Growing CompaniesThe Unicorn ListBusinessperson of the YearChange the WorldThe World's 50 Greatest LeadersThe Ledger 40 Under 40Future 50100 Best Workplaces For Millennials100 Best Workplaces For Women50 Best Workplaces for New College GraduatesBest Workplaces for Diversity

Editors

There have been 19 top editors since ''Fortune'' was conceived in 1929. Following the elimination of the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

role at Time Inc. in October 2013, the top editor's title was changed from "managing editor" to "editor" in 2014. * Parker Lloyd-Smith (1929–1931) * Ralph Ingersoll (1932–1935) * Eric Hodgins (1935–1937) * Russell Davenport (1937–1940) * Richardson Wood (1940–1941) * Ralph D. "Del" Paine, Jr. (1941–1953) * Hedley Donovan (1953–1959) * Duncan Norton-Taylor (1959–1965) * Louis Banks (1965–1970) * Robert Lubar (1970–1980) * William S. Rukeyser (1980–1986) * Marshall Loeb (1986–1994) * Walter Kiechel III (1994–1995) * John Huey (1995–2001) * Richard "Rik" Kirkland (2001–2005) * Eric Pooley (2005–2006) * Andrew "Andy" Serwer (2006–2014) * Alan Murray (2014–2017) * Clifton Leaf (2017 to present)

History

Lists

Editors

See also

Footnotes

Further reading

External links