Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, Forbes magazine, is published bi-weekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published bi-weekly, and BusinessWeek. Today the magazine is best known for its lists of the richest Americans (the Forbes 400) and its list of billionaires.

Company history

Forbes was founded in 1917 by Scottish immigrant B. C. Forbes, then the leading business columnist for Hearst newspapers. After his death in 1954 his son Bruce became president. Bruce died in 1964 and his brother Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1917–1990) became Editor-in-Chief and Publisher.

On Malcolm's death, his eldest son Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes Jr. (1947–) became President and Chief Executive of Forbes and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine.^[1]. Between 1961 and 1999 the magazine was edited by James Michaels [1]. In 1993, under Michaels, Forbes was a finalist for the National Magazine Award [2]. In 2006, an investment group that includes rock star Bono bought a minority interest in the company [3].

Other publications

Apart from Forbes and its lifestyle supplement, ForbesLife, the other titles published include Forbes Asia and eight local language editions. The company also publishes American Heritage, American Heritage of Invention & Technology and American Legacy. Steve Forbes and his magazine's writers offer investment advice on the weekly Fox TV show Forbes on Fox and on Forbes On Radio. Other company groups include Forbes Conference Group, Forbes Investment Advisory Group and Forbes Custom Media.

Web site

David Churbuck founded Forbes' Web site, Forbes.com, in 1996. The site uncovered Stephen Glass' journalistic fraud in The New Republic in 1998, an article that drew attention to internet journalism. The site, like the magazine, publishes many lists focusing on billionaires and their possessions, especially expensive homes, a critical aspect of the website's apparent popularity [4]. See a list of lists below.

Forbes.com employs the advertising slogan "Home Page For The World's Business Leaders" and sometimes claims to be the world's most widely visited business web site [5]. The current president and chief executive officer is James J. Spanfeller; the current editor is Paul Maidment; the current managing editor is Carl Lavin^[2], who succeeded founding managing editor Michael Noer and Dan Bigman [7].

Forbes.com also publishes subscription investment newsletters, a luxury-vehicles site, ForbesAutos, a luxury travel site, ForbesTraveler, edited by G. Barry Golson, the former executive editor of Playboy and TV Guide and former editor-in-chief of Yahoo! Internet Life, and an online guide to web sites, Best Of The Web.

Lists

Forbes creates many lists under various topics, the most popular being perhaps the List of billionaires.

Companies

• 200 Best Small Companies
• 400 Best Big Companies
• Forbes 500
• Forbes Global 2000, a list of largest companies in the world taking into account market capitalization, revenue, income and assets (this is different from the Fortune Global 500 which is based only on revenues).
• Largest Private Companies

People

In popular culture Forbes is perhaps best-known for its many periodic lists of net worth. As it often takes considerable detective work to determine the actual wealth of an individual, Forbes' figures are widely cited as nearly-definitive.

• Executive Pay
• Forbes 400, a list of the richest people in the United States
• Midas List, an annual list of the top dealmakers in technology and life sciences
• World's Richest People, a list of the richest people in the world
• China Rich List, a list of the richest people in mainland China
• India Rich List, list of the richest people in India
• Forbes Fictional 15, a self-parodying list of the richest movie, TV and literary characters
• 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (external: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/11/06women_The-100-Most-Powerful-Women_land.html)
• The Celebrity 100, an annual list of famous and financially influential celebrities (i.e., entertainers, musicians, producers, directors, and athletes) http://www.forbes.com/celebrity100
• The China Celebrity 100
• Top-Earning Dead Celebrities http://www.forbes.com/2006/10/23/tech-media_06deadcelebs_cx_pk_top-earning-dead-celebrities_land.html

Places

• Best Cities For Singles
• Best Places For Business
• Most Expensive Zip Codes
• Most Expensive Rental Markets In The U.S.

Fidel Castro conflict

In 2005, Forbes listed Fidel Castro among the world's richest people, with an estimated net worth of $550 million USD. In the 2006 article "Fortunes Of Kings, Queens And Dictators", Forbes increased their estimate to $900 million USD. [8] The article notes that estimating net worth for government leaders is "more art than science", and points out that in the case of Castro the authors used a discounted cash flow method for several state-owned companies, and assumed a portion of that profit stream went to Castro.

Castro responded that he has a net worth of less than $1 USD, and challenged any one to prove that he has any money in overseas accounts. [9] Castro also stated that Forbes should place a bucket over their head. [10]

See also

• Lists of billionaires
• Kenneth L. Fisher has written the “Portfolio Strategy” column in Forbes since 1984, It is the longest running current financial column in the magazine. Fisher became Forbes' fourth-longest-running financial columnist of all time with the appearance of his column in the issue of August 13, 2007.

References

External links

• Official site
• Forbes magazine
• A complete listing of all of Forbes' lists
• Forbes.com Corporate Org Chart Wiki, about the internal network of any company.
• Forbes Eco-Solutions
• Forbes Hybrid Cars Buyers Guide.