Forbes Media Seeks Buyer

Forbes Says It Is for Sale

Forbes Media, which publishes Forbes magazine and has been making an extensive push into digital media and native advertising, is up for sale, the company confirmed in an email to the staff Friday morning.

In the email, Mike Perlis, the chief executive of Forbes Media and the first non-family member to run the 96-year-old business title, wrote, “We have received more than a few ‘over the transom’ indications of interest to buy Forbes Media.” He added: “The frequency and serious nature of these overtures have brought us to a decision point. We’re organizing a process to test the waters regarding a sale of Forbes Media.”

Mr. Perlis told employees that Forbes had hired Deutsche Bank to represent the company in the sale and that “we expect interest from numerous suitors.”

One person with knowledge of the process said Forbes Media was expecting to generate at least $400 million in the sale. Forbes, which used to be one of the most powerful news brands in business journalism, hired Mr. Perlis in December 2010 to help restructure the company after Steve Forbes’s two presidential campaigns and the industry-wide shift to digital media wiped out much of the family’s fortune.

During his tenure, Mr. Perlis helped turn the company around by building out a contributor network of 1,200 bloggers and embracing native advertising, which involves using journalists to create marketing material. He also tried to build out other revenue streams, like doubling the number of Forbes conferences and licensing its contributor network software.

These moves have helped Forbes Media attract attention from media executives on the business side and has had its top talent poached by other news organizations, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.

In the announcement, Mr. Perlis took the opportunity to tout Forbes’s accomplishments in building its digital audience. He said Forbes.com now attracts 26 million visitors a month. Digital ad revenue has now surpassed print ad revenue, according to a person familiar with the company, and Mr. Perlis said in his memo that digital revenue is expected to increase 25 percent by the end of the year.

Yet even as Forbes has gained traction with its digital efforts, it appears to have declined in value. Elevation Partners, the Silicon Valley private equity fund run by Roger McNamee, paid $240 million for 45 percent of the company. That would value Forbes Media at more than $530 million, markedly less than the $400 million Mr. Perlis is said to be seeking.