Forbes has announced plans to go public via a merger with a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
The long-standing media outlet will merge with Hong Kong-based Magnum Opus Acquisition Ltd, a SPAC led by Jonathan Lin, a former executive at billionaire Steven Cohen’s Point72. Forbes is, as a result, expected to be valued at $630 million, net of tax benefits. The deal is expected to close late in the fourth quarter of this year or early in next year’s first quarter.
Forbes will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FRBS. The company’s existing management team will stay in place under the leadership of CEO Mike Federle.
With print revenue sliding, the business news outlet has been doubling down on live events and leveraging its brand and reader base to build consumer products in areas including education and e-commerce. It reported $163 million in revenue in 2020 and expects it to grow to $193 million this year.
According to Mike Federle, The deal will allow Forbes to invest further in building consumer-focused products as the company reduces reliance on media revenue.
Forbes said the move will “further capitalize on its successful digital transformation, using technology and data-driven insights to create more deeply engaged audiences, and associated high-quality and recurring revenue streams.”
Forbes, which is famous for its array of popular “rich lists” that launched in 1982 with the Forbes Richest 400 is the United States’ big business magazine. It was founded in 1917 by Bertie Charles Forbes, a business columnist for William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers. Leaderships passed to his son Malcolm Forbes and then to Steven Forbes, who is the outlet’s chairman and editor-in-chief. An advocate of the so-called “flat tax” he campaigned on that for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000.
Hong Kong-based Integrated Whale Media acquired a 95% stake in Forbes in 2014. The Forbes family owns the rest.
