How the deal to sell Forbes fell apart

Lucy Hornby, James Fontanella-Khan and Henry Mance of the Financial Times write about how the sale of a majority stake in Forbes Media fell apart.

Hornby, Fontanella-Khan and Mance write, “The messy US legal dispute now clouds the future of Forbes magazine, the self-proclaimed ‘capitalist tool’ that has been a champion of free markets for nearly a century. It has also shed light on the Forbes family, who built their flagship publication into an arbiter for others’ fortunes, but kept their own wealth a matter of conjecture.

“The family has long traded on its reputation for financial expertise. At the height of the financial crisis, Mr Forbes appeared on the cover of his own magazine to try to calm readers’ nerves; his nephew, Miguel, sensed a ‘general loss of faith’ in traditional fund managers and launched the Forbes Family Trust to advise the super-wealthy. Now the family’s complex dealings with Integrated Whale has placed its reputation — the underpinning for the Forbes brand — on the line.

“Integrated Whale said in a statement that the Forbes family’s complaint was ‘completely without merit’. Neither side agreed to comment on the record for this article, and the filed lawsuit is heavily redacted. However, the Financial Times estimates that $110m — in loans and money held in escrow — could be at stake. In addition, the suit could hinder ambitious plans to build Forbes-branded financial centres worldwide.”

Read more here.