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Outlet profile

Forbes (Opinion)

U.S. center / pro-business

Owned byIntegrated Whale Media Investments (Hong Kong-based private equity group) holds a majority stake since 2014; the Forbes family retains a minority share; Steve Forbes serves as Chairman and Editor-in-Chief
FundingPrimarily digital and print advertising; supplemented by sponsored content (BrandVoice program), subscriptions, live events, and licensing of international editions
On the administrationmixed

Background

Forbes was founded on September 15, 1917, by Scottish immigrant Bertie Charles Forbes and Walter Drey, with the goal of making business journalism more engaging by profiling the personalities driving industry. The magazine grew to rival and eventually surpass Fortune and BusinessWeek in prestige, becoming especially well known for wealth rankings such as the Forbes 400 and the World's Billionaires list. Steve Forbes, B.C.'s grandson, became Editor-in-Chief and ran twice for the Republican presidential nomination (1996 and 2000), giving the publication a distinctly center-right, supply-side flavor during those years. In 2014, Forbes Media sold a majority stake to Integrated Whale Media Investments of Hong Kong, shifting control away from the founding family for the first time in the outlet's history. Forbes adopted a broad 'contributor model' in the 2010s, allowing thousands of outside writers to publish under its brand; this practice drew criticism for enabling sponsored content to appear without adequate disclosure and for weakening editorial oversight — including a 2013 incident in which a contributor was paid to publish a favorable piece about Jeffrey Epstein. A 2023 deal for Luminar Technologies CEO Austin Russell to acquire an 82 percent stake collapsed in November of that year, leaving Integrated Whale Media as the controlling owner. Sherry Phillips became CEO in January 2025. The opinion and contributor sections publish voices from across the political spectrum, making Forbes Opinion's slant more varied than its historically pro-business news coverage alone would suggest.

Sources

  1. Forbes — Wikipedia
  2. Who Owns Forbes? — LegalClarity
  3. Austin Russell Forbes Majority-Stake Acquisition — Fortune
  4. Forbes — Bias and Credibility (Media Bias/Fact Check)
  5. Forbes Media Bias — AllSides
  6. Forbes Editorial Values and Standards
  7. The Disarray and Discontent at Forbes — Columbia Journalism Review
  8. Trump's Approval Rating Dips Below 40% — Forbes
  9. For US Tourism, The Second 'Trump Slump' Is Worse — Forbes

Profile compiled 2026-07-22; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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