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This
note looks at the Forbes dynasty and publications.
It covers -
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 private equity fund
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.
American Heritage
Forbes suspended publication of the ailing American
Heritage magazine in 2007, having failed to find
a buyer for it since 2006. Circulation was 350,000.
American Heritage was founded in 1954 by Joseph
J. Thorndike Jr., James Parton and Oliver Jensen, colleagues
at Life magazine, end editor Bruce Catton. They
bravely chose not to accept advertisements on the basis
of a "basic incompatibility between the tones of
the voice of history and of advertising", relying
instead on a yearly subscription of US $10 for clothbound
volumes. By the mid 1960s the American Heritage group
employed some 400 people, with the magazine as a flagship
for publication and direct marketing of history books.
The magazine ceased publishing in hardback in 1980 and
two years later accepted advertising.
American Heritage is reported to have been unprofitable
when acquired by Forbes in 1986 and although circulation
grew the magazine experienced financial difficulties after
2001.
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
2007 Forbes suspends American Heritage
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