Steve Forbes Is Selling Forbes Magazine

Image via Flickr/ Benjamin KRAFT

Steve Forbes, former presidential candidate and media tycoon, may be selling Forbes Magazine and other assets related to Forbes Media.

Mike Perlis, the current CEO of Forbes Media, sent out a memo to employees on Friday that indicates the company could be interested in selling, confirming an earlier report from Bloomberg. He noted that there are indications of interested parties in the media company.

The frequency and serious nature of these overtures have brought us to a decision point. We have hired Deutsche Bank to represent us, and we expect interest from numerous suitors.”

Digital Marketing Is The Answer

The magazine has a long history of nearly 100 years of reporting on the business sector. It was founded in 1917 by B.C. Forbes, a business journalist. Lately it has been digressing from the print sector and aggressively working to boost its digital market share. The printed materials market for journalism is steadily waning, while the digital sector is booming as more people are using smartphones, tablets, and computers to keep up with trending news.

According to a profile of Perlis that was posted in the New York Times in the first part of the week, Forbes’ advertising revenue should grow by about 35 percent from 2010 to 2013. Forbes’ advertising pages in the magazine itself decreased by 1 percent in the third quarter, while overall ad revenue increased by 3 percent. These figures were reported by the Association of Magazine Media.

Digital revenues are expected to increase over 25 percent by the end of the year,” Perlis noted in his memo. “Our efforts have also focused on diversifying our revenue streams to complement our advertising based businesses – and many of our initiatives have paid off.”

Potential Investors

Elevation Partners purchased a minority share in Forbes Media in 2006, and it could be that the investment firm is interested in increasing that stake. However, other potential suitors could include companies like News Corp, which is headed up by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.