The end of 2019 has seen Forbes Media closing a major deal. The business media company has acquired a majority stake in Quantalytics AI Labs, a service that uses artificial intelligence to predict the performance of different kinds of financial instruments. These include stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies.
However, the terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition comes after Forbes’ strategy to diversify its revenue streams. To achieve this aim, the organization experimented with bringing established offerings to market in new ways. For example, at the beginning of the year, Forbes began offering its branded content platform to advertisers in a software-as-a-service format.
Additionally, the company also plans to launch franchises like “30 Under 30,” which the company hopes will create a type of paid membership product.
“I look at revenue diversification as the development of any non-advertising revenue, with advertising being the core product,” Forbes Media CEO Mike Federle said. “This, I look at a little differently. It will allow us to create new products that will create new revenue streams, but I look at it more as an application of technology on what has been one our core competencies, which is around investing.”
Forbes aims to explore ways in which artificial intelligence can be incorporated into its product and operations to increase revenues. To build upon this, the company added numerous artificial intelligence features to its systems, including Al.
“It’s exactly the kind of use of artificial intelligence that makes sense in a newsroom,” said John Wilpers, a senior director at Innovation Media Consulting. “Five years ago, 10 years ago, you would have had trouble convincing reporters to use it, what everybody saw AI as a threat to their jobs.
“But now I think that it won’t be a struggle at all to convince the reporters to use this, because it will free them up to do the kinds of things only they can do.”
