Investment firm looking to buy Forbes for $620 million

Investment firm GSV is working on a bid to buy Forbes Media at a $620 million valuation as an alternative to Forbes’ announced SPAC merger, reports Sara Fischer and Kia Kokalitcheva of Axios.

FIscher and Kokalitcheva report, “Forbes previously announced plans to go public via a SPAC merger that was set to close in Q4 of this year or Q1 2022.

“‘We are moving full steam ahead with SPAC transaction,’ Forbes Media chief communications officer Bill Hankes told Axios. ‘We remain on schedule to close the transaction in the first quarter.’
“The blank check company that Forbes is expected to merge with, Magnum Opus Acquisition, is sponsored by Hong Kong-based investment firm L2 Capital.

“Details: The bid is led by GSV Asset Management CEO Michael Moe, with participation from “top family offices and institutional investors,” according to a pitch a participating investor is circulating to others and seen by Axios.

“The deal would value Forbes at $620 million, slightly less than the $630 million valuation Forbes would get via its merger with Magnum Opus.”

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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.