How Forbes is reorganizing its revenue base

Brian Morrissey of “The Rebooting Show” spoke to Forbes CEO Sherry Phillips about how the 107-year-old magazine is retooling in a messy media market.

For example, Forbes has a slate of more than 100 events that now account for up to 30% of revenue. “That is something that is not going to change with AI,” said Morrissey.

“I feel very grateful that he have such a global iconic brand,” said Phillips, who took over the live events business in 2017. “…Where do we play in spaces where Forbes is known?”

She noted, for example, that Forbes 30 under 30 now has 20 different categories, and it now counts WalMart as a sponsor for one of its events. Its Power Women summit is now 15 years old.

“It’s not overnight,” she said. “None of this is overnight.”

Phillips also said that the company’s licensing business “has a lot of room to grow.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.