Forbes Media is mulling the sale of its 96-year-old business magazine flagship that has battled declines in revenue and circulation, according to a memo from CEO Mike Perlis.

forbesHe told staffers that Forbes has “has received more than a few ‘over the transcom’ indications of interest” and Deutsche Bank has been hired to organize the process to test the waters regarding the sale.”

He expects to “expect interest from numerous suitors.”

Elevation Partners, which is backed by U2 singer Bono, bought a 45 percent stake in FM in 2006.

Perlis noted the company has a thriving conference and licensing business and solid digital growth.

“I'm proud to say that we've accomplished what no other traditional media company appears to have done: established a huge digital audience by efficiently creating quality content at scale, and we're innovating around new business models to maximize that relationship,” he wrote.

Print circulation, however, is down 12.3 percent during the first-nine months of 2013 and ad revenues are off 45 percent since 2008, according to the Publisher’s Information Bureau.

B.C. Forbes launched the magazine in 1917 and his son, Macolm, put the magazine on the map. Steve Forbes, former CEO, ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000.