publisher / forbes }
The typical Forbes readers are top-level business professionals who are the influential decision makers in their companies...
extensions are providing major revenue streams today? Federle: Global events and conferences (for example, the Forbes Global CEO Conference run by our team in Asia) are producing significant revenue streams. Our goal is to expand our conference business in 2013, including reprising successful conferences that we hosted for the first time last year: The Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy and the Forbes Healthcare Summit are just two examples. Other extensions include Forbes
Television (including Forbes on Fox); Forbes Insights research arm; Forbes Newsletters (43 and rising); and Forbes Family Trust, a multi-family advisory firm. In 2012, Forbes published e-books, including: The Forbes Model For Journalism in the Digital Age: Training a New Generation of Entrepreneurial Journalists, written by Lewis D’Vorkin, Forbes Media chief product officer. And we are exploring many other opportunities, including education, branded products, financial services and licensing our www.
forbes.com technology platform.
Your Rich Lists are famous worldwide. How did these start and do you have plans for more? Forbes: Malcolm Forbes started the Forbes 400 in 1982. In the first Forbes 400 list, there were only 13 billionaires, and as little as $75m secured you a spot on the list. Five years after introducing the now famous Forbes 400 list, the wealth team undertook a project that would set the stage for what has become a staple of modern media: the World’s Billionaires List. There has been a large shift in the source of wealth, not to mention nearly double-digit growth in the number of billionaires on the list. In 1987, Forbes found 140 billionaires including
96 outside of the US. In 2012, we identified 1,226 individuals, with 801 from abroad. It’s always possible that we will develop
more lists, as determined by our editorial staff. We do Rich Lists in almost all of the countries where we have local titles.
What is the philosophy or strategy at the heart of your brand? Forbes: For almost a century, Forbes has offered news consumers authoritative journalism with a clear and strong voice. We celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurialism. We chronicle the ups and downs of corporate America and the people who lead change. We track and measure the wealth of individuals — and watch how they enjoy the results of hard work. We are about success – and the impact of success.
How do you maintain this strategy in different markets? Forbes: We apply the same strategy in different parts of the world. But any time you enter new markets, there are going to be challenges – cultural differences. The key is to be flexible. In certain markets, you have to learn to adapt. For example, you wouldn’t do what you do in print on the internet or TV. You approach each market appropriately.
Was Forbes impacted by the global economic crises? Federle: Following 2007, which was a very good year, came the dark days for the media industry. The years 2008 and 2009 were as horrendous for the media business as any years in history. Like all media businesses, Forbes was hit. But we were quick to reinvent ourselves, particularly in driving a digital strategy that was based on a new model for journalism – a way to create a global platform of authoritative affordable content. This drove a lot of change, and by 2010 and 2011 we started to come back, and in 2012 we achieved our best financial performance in five years. Today, the company has positive business momentum and is profitable [as a private company, Forbes does not disclose its figures].
Developing the skills of its journalists is key to Forbes’ strategy
REGENERATION TIMELINE
+ May 2010: Forbes acquires True/Slant, founded by Lewis D’Vorkin (current Forbes media chief product officer) + August 2010: Individually-branded article pages released + September 2010: Launched profile platform for 6,000 people, places and companies + November 2010: AdVoice launched SAP + January 2011: New Homepage, channel pages, section pages + February 2011: 15 million unique visitors/month + June 2011: The “New Newsroom” begins + July 2011: Real-time stats dashboard v1.0 + August 2011: Individually branded article page v2.0 + October 2011: Contributor tools for promoting related content + November 2011: Mobile using HTML5 + December 2011: Facebook subscriber launch + January 2012: Photo galleries optimised for mobile + February 2012: Social login/universal registration; 30 million unique visitors + March 2012: Contributor dashboard (real-time stats v2.0) + June 2012: Homepage v2.0, Follow Bar, 1,000 contributors, 8,200 posts/month + July 2012: New navigation and sticky ad on phone + August 2012: New search pages and type-ahead search + September 2012: Universal Photo Galleries + January 2013: Forbes magazine App + February 2013: Contributor home page
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What plans do you have for the title? Forbes: We will continue to expand our print publication internationally – and deliver content that’s relevant to our readers. On the web, digital and social media will allow us to have a world-class
dialogue with the participation, opinions, comments and expertise of a significant fraction of the world’s population. We will also extend the Forbes brand in new markets.
Which publications do you view as your competitors? Federle: In print: Fortune, Bloomberg Businessweek, and to some extent The Economist. In digital, The Wall Street Journal (though our technology platform is unique in our industry).
Who is your typical reader? And has this changed over the years. Federle: The typical Forbes readers are top-level business professionals who are the influential decision makers in their companies. But Forbes has been growing its small business audience. Over time, we’ve seen that the most
affluent Forbes readers are actually getting younger and even wealthier. They now have a higher household income than before the recession.
Where do you see Forbes in 10 years’ time? Federle: As much as we’re a great media company, we’re transitioning to become a great technology company, driving growth through the power of the technologies that we build and deploy to distribute our product. It’s leading the way to new models for journalism and is a platform for any content publisher that draws on a large network of contributors. We will continue to leverage the power of the Forbes brand globally. And, hopefully, all the international print editions will become digital ones too. Mobile will also be a big opportunity to seize.
Forbes’ roots
Forbes was founded by Bertie Charles (B.C.) Forbes (left) in 1917. An immigrant from Scotland, Forbes got his first job working for no pay as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce. A dozen years later he had become a widely syndicated business columnist – and in 1917 he launched Forbes magazine (left), a biweekly business publication targeting top decision makers.
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