Forbes
U.S. center-right (business/pro-market)
Background
Forbes was founded in 1917 by B.C. Forbes as a business magazine and remained under Forbes family control for nearly a century, with Malcolm Forbes and later Steve Forbes serving as prominent editors and public faces. In 2014 the Forbes family sold a majority stake to Integrated Whale Media Investments, a Hong Kong-based investment group, while retaining a minority interest and editorial input. Around 2017 Forbes drew criticism for restructuring its newsroom around a large paid-contributor model, which blurred lines between staff journalism, outside opinion, and sponsored content, and led to several embarrassing publishing errors. A 2021-2022 attempt to go public via a SPAC merger collapsed amid market conditions and valuation disputes. In 2024, Austin Russell, the young founder of lidar company Luminar Technologies, acquired roughly 82% of Forbes for about $800 million, becoming its controlling owner. Editorially, Forbes is generally seen as pro-business, pro-capitalism, and favorable to lower taxes and deregulation, while its reporting has periodically been critical of both Democratic and Republican figures, including a long history of scrutinizing Donald Trump's claimed net worth and business dealings.
Sources
- Austin Russell Completes Acquisition of Majority Stake in Forbes
- Forbes Media - Wikipedia
- Forbes SPAC deal to take company public collapses
Profile compiled 2026-10-02; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.