Forbes magazine, of the US, has agreed to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that values the legendary brand at $630m. The Forbes deal with Magnum Opus Acquisition, backed by L2 Capital, will mean that current owners – the Integrated Whale Media Investments (IWMI) and the Forbes family – will receive $600m when the deal closes either side of end-2021.
New Jersey-based Forbes, founded by B.C. (Bertie)Forbes 104 years ago, published its first issue in 1917 and is known for tracking the world’s wealthy.
Bertie Forbes was succeeded by his son Malcolm and grandson Steve. The company, which curates “30 under 30” -style lists, claims the Forbes brand reaches more than 150m people worldwide through 45 licensed editions in 76 countries.
In 2013, when a shareholding in Forbes (believed to be 95%) was sold to IWMI, the prospectus disclosed that 2012 EBITDA was $15m. Although the asking price valuation was $400m, the deal price was not disclosed. But few expected a current price of more than $600m. Arguably, SPAC has come to the rescue.
