Forbes

Forbes is an American business magazine and media company published by Forbes Media LLC. Steve Forbes is its chairman and editor-in-chief.¹

Sale to Integrated Whale Media

On July 18, 2014 Forbes Media announced that a group of international investors would buy a majority stake, that the Forbes family would keep "a significant ownership stake," and that the private equity firm Elevation Partners would "fully exit its investment." Terms were not disclosed. The buyer, the newly formed Hong Kong group Integrated Whale Media Investments (IWM), was led by Integrated Asset Management (Asia) Limited, founded by Tak Cheung Yam; another significant investor was Wayne Hsieh, co-founder of ASUSTeK Computer, based in Singapore. Yam said: "As more market-based economies emerge globally, interest in the information that Forbes provides and the message it delivers resonates with a growing audience."¹

Austin Russell bid

In May 2023 Austin Russell, founder and chief executive of Luminar Technologies, whom Forbes had named the "world's youngest self-made billionaire" in 2021, agreed to buy 82 percent of Forbes Global Media Holdings at a valuation of nearly 800 million dollars. He missed the November 1, 2023 closing deadline, and on November 21 IWM terminated the agreement. TechCrunch reported that investors including India's Sun Group, whose vice chairman Shiv Khemka had "committed to invest $300 million," "didn't wire the money they were contractually obligated to."²