Forbes

This note looks at the Forbes dynasty and publications.

Sponsored links

It covers -

• introduction
• the family
• studies
• landmarks

Introduction

The Forbes family and the eponymous magazine offer a point of reference in considering other media czars such as Hearst, Hersant MacFadden and Annenberg.

Forbes magazine has been relentlessly - some might say facilely - upbeat about "American capitalism". The publication is perhaps most known for its plethora of 'rich lists' and association with publishers Malcolm Forbes and Steve Forbes.

The family

Bertie Charles Forbes (1880-1954) worked as a reporter and editorial writer in Dundee, Scotland, before moving to Johannesburg where he launched the Rand Daily Mail. After migrating to New York in 1904 he was a writer and financial editor at the Journal of Commerce (later acquired by Hermann Ridder). In 1911 he became a Hearst syndicated columnist in 1911. From 1913 to 1916 he was business and financial editor of the New York American, founding Forbes magazine in 1917. The magazine came close to fundering in the 1930s and stagnated during the next decade.

His son Bruce (1916-1964) was overshadowed first by Bertie and then by Bertie's colourful third son Malcolm (1917-1990), the self-described capitalist tool. Under the latter's leadership the group expanded from business publishing into other areas - notably real-estate development/promotion (with critics alleging Forbes conflicts of interest) and events - and magazines such as American Heritage. He attracted attention for his lavish lifestyle and hobbies, including what was promoted as the largest Faberge collection in private hands, most of which was apparently treated as a corporate expense.

Malcolm made an unsuccessful run for the New Jersey governorship. That was echoed in son Steve's (1947- ) failed bids to win the Republican Party nomination for the US presidency, although both father and son enjotyed more success than Bernarr MacFadden. Steve has gained attention as a proponent of the flat tax and for groups such as Americans for Hope, Growth and Opportunity ("a grassroots, issues advocacy organization founded to advance pro-growth, pro-freedom and pro-family issues").

In August 2006 the family is reported to have sold 40% of the group to Elevation Partners for US$250 to US$300 million. Elevation founder Roger McNamee commented that his investors were buying into a web site with a magazine attached, rather than the other way round.

Studies

Recent biographies of Malcolm Forbes - self-described 'capitalist tool', father of recurrent presidential contender and flat-tax advocate Steve Forbes - emphasise the warts: beefy boys, bombast, balloons, bibelots, big bikes.

Capitalist Fools: Tales of American Business (New York: Doubleday 1992) by Nicholas von Hoffman and Manhattan Passions: True Tales of Power, Wealth & Excess (New York: Morrow 1987) by Ron Rosenbaum are the most amusing.

Christopher Winans' Malcolm Forbes: The Man Who Had Everything (New York: St Martins 1990) looks on the dark side. Arthur Jones' thin Malcolm Forbes: Peripatetic Millionaire (New York: Harper & Row 1977) apparently takes the unpleasant Mr F at his own value.

Bertie Forbes was prolific, although to jaundiced eyes such as ours most of his work is an unappealing mix of cracker-barrel philosophising, promotion, cheerleading and anxieties about socialism. His works - largely recycled columns and editorials - include Finance, Business and the Business of Life (1915), Men Who Are Making America (1917), Forbes Epigrams (1922), Men Who are Making the West (1923), Automotive Giants of America (1925), How to Get the Most Out of Business (1927) and 101 Unusual Experiences (1952). Malcolm and Jeff Bloch contributed They went that-a-way (New York: Simon & Schuster 1988). Steve is responsible for the more ambitious A New Birth of Freedom (New York: Regnery 1999), characterised as "a book of bold ideas for the new millennium".

There has been no serious major study of Forbes magazine (home of 'new economy' enthusiast George Gilder) and associated publications.

Chronology

1917 establishment of Forbes magazine by B C Forbes

1954 Malcolm Forbes becomes publisher of Forbes on his father's death

1954 Joseph Thorndike, James Parton & Oliver Jensen found American Heritage

1957 Forbes runs unsuccessfully for governor of New Jersey

1987 buys Somerset Press, Inc. (Bound Brook Chronicle, Middlesex and Dunellen The Chronicle, Metuchen and Edison Review, Somerset Messenger-Gazette) to form Forbes Newspapers

1989 launch of Forbes FYI

1996 Steve Forbes unsuccessful in GOP presidential primaries

1997 sells Forbes Newspapers (14 titles inc The Westfield Record, The Cranford Chronicle and The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Press) to MediaNews

2000 Steve Forbes again unsuccessful in bid for GOP nomination

2006 Forbes family bundles publishing interests as Forbes Media, sells stake to Elevation Partners