Forbes - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Forbes is an American publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune
Fortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...

, 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

Forbes 400

The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes Magazine magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2010 marks the 29th issue. The 400 was started by Malcom Forbes in 1982 and treats those in the list like...

) and its list of billionaires

Forbes list of billionaires

Forbes list of billionaires is based on an annual assessment of wealth and assets compiled and published by Forbes magazine on March 10, 2011.-Forbes list of billionaires :...

. The motto

Motto

A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...

of Forbes magazine is "The Capitalist Tool." Its editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes

Steve Forbes

Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes, Jr. is an American editor, publisher, and businessman. He is the editor-in-chief of business magazine Forbes as well as president and chief executive officer of its publisher, Forbes Inc. He was a Republican candidate in the U.S. Presidential primaries in 1996...

Company history

B. C. Forbes

Bertie Charles Forbes was a Scottish financial journalist and author who founded Forbes Magazine.-Life and career:He was born in New Deer, Aberdeenshire, in Scotland...

, a financial columnist for the Hearst

William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...

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. 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 Stevenson Forbes (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 Malcolm's death, his eldest son Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes Jr.

Steve Forbes

(1947–) became President and Chief Executive of Forbes and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine. Between 1961 and 1999 the magazine was edited by James Michaels

James Michaels

James W. Michaels was an American journalist and magazine editor. Michaels served as the longtime editor of Forbes Magazine from 1961 until his retirement in 1999.-Early life:...

. In 1993, under Michaels, Forbes was a finalist for the National Magazine Award. In 2006, an investment group Elevation Partners

Elevation Partners

Elevation Partners is an American private equity firm that invests in intellectual property and media and entertainment companies. The firm has $1.9 billion of assets under management....

that includes rock star Bono

Bono

Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...

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.'"

Other publications

Apart from Forbes and its lifestyle supplement, Forbes Life, other titles include Forbes Asia and fifteen local language editions. Steve Forbes and his magazine's writers offer investment advice on the weekly Fox

Fox News Channel

Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...

TV show Forbes on Fox
Forbes on Fox
Forbes on Fox is an American business analysis program, the third show of the Cost of Freedom business block, on Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. ET on the Fox News Channel...

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

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, 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 formerly published American Legacy
American Legacy
American Legacy is a quarterly magazine that covers the subjects of African-American history and culture. It was founded in 1995 by Rodney J. Reynolds and is published by RJR Communications, Inc...

magazine as a joint venture, although that magazine separated from Forbes as of May 14, 2007.

The company also formerly published American Heritage
American Heritage (magazine)
American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...

and Invention & Technology magazines. After failing to find a buyer, Forbes suspended publication of these two magazines as of May 17, 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
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...

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.

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 company's current chief executive officer is Mike Perlis; the current chief product officer is Lewis D'vorkin; the current editor of the magazine is Randall Lane.

Forbes.com now employs a new slogan – "Information for the World's Business Leaders". 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:

Together these sites reach more than 27 million unique visitors 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."

Sale of headquarters to New York University

In January 2010, Forbes reached an agreement to sell its headquarter building located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

to New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

. Terms of the deal were not publicly reported, but Forbes will continue to occupy the space under a five year sale-leaseback arrangement.

In popular culture

The popularity of Forbes magazine has extended to mainstream and Hip-Hop culture. 50 Cent

50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...

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

Jay-Z

Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...

, 50 Cent, and Diddy

Sean Combs

Sean John Combs , also known by his stage names Diddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and his clothing line earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award. He was originally...

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. As well, in the song "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars, it mentions being on 'the cover of Forbes magazine, smilin' next to Oprah and the Queen'.