 |
Once read by America's business elite, Fortune magazine, which covered the 1929 stock market crash and developed the Fortune 500 corporate rankings, will soon be owned by Chatchaval Jiaravanon, executive chairman of Thailand’s largest conglomerate.
Meredith Corp., which acquired the 88-year-old business magazine with its acquisition of Time Inc., sold Fortune for $150M.
The all-cash deal is to be completed by the end of the year.
Fortune editor-in-chief Clifton Leaf is remaining in his post, as will president Alan Murray, who will also become CEO.
Most of the magazine’s staff will continue to work in New York City, and Murray told the Wall Street Journal that a search for new office space is underway.
The magazine saw a 26 percent drop in ad pages for the first nine months of 2018 vs. 2017, with conferences and digital now accounting for 62 percent of its total revenue. Jiaravanon said that he plans to up Fortune’s investment in “digital capabilities, geographic expansion and editorial talent.”
Jiaravanon is executive chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, Thailand’s largest conglomerate, with holdings in telecommunications, food, retail, automotive, finance and pharmaceuticals.
“Our vision is to establish Fortune as the world’s leading business media brand,” Chatchaval said in a statement from Meredith. “With further committed investment in technology and brilliant journalism, we believe the outlook for further profitable growth is excellent both for the publication and the events business.”
Trump Media & Technology Group today reported a $58.2M net loss on $4.1M in 2023 revenues, a disclosure that drove its stock price down 22.6 percent to $47.96.
Barry Pollack, an attorney at Wall Street’s Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, has registered Julian Assange as a client with the Justice Dept. “out of an abundance of caution.”
Paramount Global to slash 800 jobs in what chief executive Bob Bakish calls part of an effort to “return the company to earnings growth"... Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is exiting at the end of the month due to disagreements with chief executive Gus Wenner over the direction the magazine is taking... The New York Times broke the $1 billion barrier in annual revenue from digital subscriptions in 2023... Press Forward is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms.
The majority of news articles are read within the first three days of publication, according to a recent report.
The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to 115 people or 20 percent of its newsroom staff... TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which is approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff... The Baltimore Banner, which was launched by Stewart Bainum in 2022 after he failed to buy the Baltimore Sun, added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following Sinclair Broadcast Group's deal to purchase the Sun.
Have a comment? Send it to 
No comments have been submitted for this story yet.