Forbes is an
American publishing and
media company. Its flagship publication, the
Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are
Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and
Business Week. The magazine is well-known for its lists, including its lists of the richest Americans (the
Forbes 400) and its
list of billionaires. The
motto of
Forbes magazine is "The Capitalist Tool." Its
editor-in-chief is
Steve Forbes.
Company history
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 in 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 Stevenson Forbes (1917–1990).
Bruce Forbes took over on 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. 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. According to Mark M. Edmiston of AdMedia Partners, 'It’s probably not worth half of that now.'"
The popularity of Forbes magazine has extended to mainstream and Hip-Hop culture. 50 Cent has released the official remix to his hit single, "I Get Money" off his September 11, 2008 album, Curtis, entitled Forbes 1,2,3 (also known as the "Billion Dollar Remix"). The title of the song comes from the fact that Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and Diddy were listed as Forbes' Top 3 money-making Kings of Hip-Hop, respectively. The unfinished video for Forbes 1,2,3 can be seen as the intro to 50 Cent's single, "I Still Kill" featuring Akon, off his multi-platinum album Curtis.
Other publications
Apart from
Forbes and its lifestyle supplement,
ForbesLife, other titles are published, including
Forbes Asia and eight local language editions. 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, this year the company began publishing
ForbesWoman, a quarterly magazine with a companion Web site."
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 14, 2007. Both magazines have since been purchased by the American Heritage Publishing Company, and have resumed publication as of Spring 2008.
Forbes.com
David Churbuck founded
Forbes Web site in 1996. The site uncovered
Stephen Glass'
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 Toyotas suddenly 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 apparent popularity. See a list of lists below.
Forbes.com employs the slogan "Home Page For The World's Business Leaders" and sometimes claims to be the world's most widely visited business web site. The current president and chief executive officer is James J. Spanfeller; the current editor is Paul Maidment; the current managing editor is Carl Lavin, who succeeded founding managing editor Michael Noer and Dan Bigman.
According to Forbes.com, the Web site is among the most trusted resources for senior business executives, providing them the real-time reporting, uncompromising commentary, concise analysis, relevant tools and community they need to succeed at work, profit from investing and have fun with the rewards of winning.
Forbes.com also publishes subscription investment newsletters, and an online guide to web sites, Best Of The Web.
Forbes.com is part of Forbes’ Digital, a division of Forbes Media LLC. Forbes.com and affiliated properties include:
*Forbes.com (site)
Investopedia.com (site)
Realclearmarkets.com (site)
Realclearsports.com (site)
Realclearpolitics.com (site)
Together these sites reach more than 27 million business people each month.
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."
Lists
Wealth:
• The World's Billionaires
• The 400 Richest Americans
• Australia & New Zealand's 40 Richest
• China's 400 Richest
• Taiwan's 40 Richest
• Hong Kong's 40 Richest
• India's 100 Richest
• Japan's 40 Richest
• Korea's 40 Richest
• Malaysia's 40 Richest
• Philippines 40 Richest
• Singapore's 40 Richest
• Indonesia's 40 Richest
• Thailand's 40 Richest
Companies:
• 200 Best Small Companies
• 400 Best Big Companies
• America's Largest Private Companies
• Asia's Best Under A Billion
• Asia's Fab 50 Companies
• Global High Performers
• The Forbes 2000
• Top Micro finance Institutions
People:
• The Best Brokerage Analysts
• 48 Asian Altruists
• The Celebrity 100
• The Forbes Fictional 15
• The World's Most Powerful Women
• Top Earning CEO's
• Top-Earning Dead Celebrities
• The World's Top-Earning Models
Money & Investing
• The 100 Best Mid-Cap Stocks
• The 200 Largest U.S. Charities
• The Best Brokerage Analysts
• International Investing
• The Investment Guide
• Mutual Fund Guide
Places
• America's Best Colleges
• Best Business Schools
• Best Cities For Singles
• Best Countries For Business
• Best Places For Business And Careers
• The Best States For Business
• Most Expensive ZIP Codes
Sports
• The Business Of Baseball
• Most Valuable NASCAR Teams
• The Business Of Basketball
• The Business Of Football
• The Business Of Hockey
• Most Valuable Soccer Teams
• Top-Paid Tennis Stars
Technology
• The E-Gang
• The Web Celeb 25
• The 25 Fastest-Growing Tech Companies
• Tech's Top Deal Makers
Education
• America's Best Colleges
• Best Business Schools
• America's Best College Buys
Food and Drink
• World’s Most Expensive Fast Food
• Ten Great Unfiltered Wines to Try
• Ten Bordeaux and California Reds Head-to-Head
• India’s Fine Wine Hotspots
• The World’s Most Coveted Champagnes
• Top-Earning Celebrity Chefs
Health
• Eleven Way to Boost Your Energy
• America’s Fittest Cities
• The World’s Diet Secrets
• Ten Meals You Should Memorize
• The Healthiest Foods on Earth
• America’s Most Polluted Cities
Real Estate
• America’s Thriftiest Cities
• World’s Most Expensive Cities to Live
• America’s 25 Best Places to Move
• America’s Most Congested Cities
• America’s Fastest-Falling Cities
• U.S. Cities Where It’s Hardest to Get By
• America’s Top-Selling Luxury Neighborhoods
• World’s 20 Best Places to Live
• America’s Top 25 Towns to Live Well
• America’s Most Expensive Zip Codes
Style
• World’s Most Stylish Cities
• World’s Most Powerful Luxury Brands
• Sneaky Ways You’re Lured to Shop
• Winter Gear Worth the Buck
• What Your Dog Says About You
• Spa Treatments Too Bizarre To Believe
• Most Powerful U.S. Fashion Magazine Editors
Travel
• Deluxe Designer Hotels
• Wallet-Friendly Last-Minute Getaways
• Travel Etiquette in the World’s Most Visited Countries
• Hidden Treasures of the Middle East
• World’s 10 Best Airports
Vehicles
• Toughest Cars on the Road
• World’s Most Expensive Commutes
• Highest Quality Cars of 2009
• Ten Cars That Changed the World
• America’s Most Overpriced Cars
• 2009’s Fastest Cars Under $100,000
• Best Convertibles of 2009
• Best Cars for Suburban Drivers
• America’s Most Popular Car Colors
• Most Affordable 2009 Vehicles
Notes
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 1966-1986 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
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
External links
Official site
Advertising Information
A complete listing of all of Forbes' lists
Forbes India
Forbes Russia
Category:American business magazines
Category:Publications established in 1917
