OLD Media Moves

Tension building at Forbes?

April 4, 2007

Posted by Chris Roush

The New York Post’s Keith Kelly is reporting Wednesday that tensions are high at business magazine Forbes between president Jim Berrien and the venture capital investors who bought a stake in the operation last year.

Kelly wrote, “The Forbes family still controls the company and has no intention of forcing Berrien out, the spokeswoman said.

Jim Berrien“However, that has not stopped the speculation.

“Sources have said that Berrien, who joined Forbes from American in 1999, and Roger McNamee – co-founder and managing director of Elevation Partners, whose investment team also includes U2 frontman Bono – have clashed.

“The word inside is that Berrien has instituted a very strict management structure at the company, preventing people from going around him to reach Chairman Steve Forbes, and his younger brother Timothy, who has run the family-owned company for years.

“‘He brought a lot of discipline and made it look much more like a modern publishing company, instead of a sleepy, family-run place,’ said one insider of Berrien.”

Read more here.

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