Making Media
Episode 29 Is Forbes Worth $800 Million?
Making Media

Episode 29: Is Forbes Worth $800 Million?

Making Media

Episode 29

Is Forbes Worth $800 Million?

Matt Reustle and Dom Cooke are CEO and Head of Content at Colossus. We cover Forbes' business model, how they've pursued scale in the last two decades, and why they're looking for a sale.

This episode is brought to you by:

Scribe. Scribe is the presenting sponsor of this episode of Making Media and the magic behind the Colossus transcripts. One of the best decisions we made at Colossus was transcribing all of our audio into a searchable transcript library. We had been using another provider up until the summer of 2022 but we were constantly having issues with accuracy if our audio was just the slightest bit impaired. Whether it's training sessions, internal Q&As, or for media purposes, the value of transcripts is huge. And we are not alone. Scribe is the transcription service that powers all of S&P Global - like CapIQ - and the client list includes our friends at Tegus. Go to joincolossus.com/scribe to unlock 150 minutes of free transcription and test their capabilities.

 


(00:03:18) - (First question) - Forbes’ European reach, a household name in UK

(00:04:46) - Fun facts that stood out for Matt and Dom when researching Forbes
(00:10:46) - How Forbes is creating so much content 
(00:15:36) - Various interesting factors involved in the consumer business
(00:19:02) - The level of independence when it comes to analysis of affiliate links and recommendations by Forbes
(00:21:21) - An example of scaling a business too quickly; the immediate takeaway from the business
(00:23:18) - Dilution of the brand and its quality
(00:29:58) - Forbes' failed acquisition deals since put up for sale
(00:32:30) - The lessons learned from researching the business
(00:33:50) - The business’ brand power amongst its target audience
(00:35:41) - "Forbes list" influence on popular culture
(00:37:27) - Reality versus propaganda
(00:38:38) - Closing thoughts

Is Forbes Worth $800 Million?

Introduction

Matt
All right. Welcome back to Making Media. We have a fun new format we are testing out today. It's something that we've been playing around with a bit. As we get more questions about what's going on in the media industry, we still consider ourselves very much outsiders.

But we're starting to know enough about the industry to offer some fresh perspective and it's something that's happening in conversations usually off mic with different people in the industry and many which are legacy media members.

So today, we're going to talk about Forbes. Forbes, iconic media brand, 100-plus-year existence, they generate north of $250 million in revenue. But in recent years, most of what Forbes has been known for is the headlines around the sale of the company.

It's owned by a Hong Kong-based investment firm, and that firm has been looking to sell the business for multiple years now. There's a laundry list of failed transactions and many things that have stopped that from happening, including political dynamics, SPAC dynamics, even crypto dynamics.

Access the full transcript
Sign in or register to view episode transcripts.

Contact

Get in touch at help@joincollossus.com