Spain publisher of Forbes bets against crisis

Raphael Minder of the New York Times writes Sunday about SpainMedia, which is moving forward with plans to publish a Spanish version of Forbes despite that country’s economic crisis.

Minder writes, “Forbes already published 26 other licensed editions of its magazine, including several in East European countries like Poland and Romania. Spain is the first foray by the family-controlled Forbes into Western Europe.

“Asked about the timing of its Spanish entry, Miguel Forbes, a family member who is in charge of the publisher’s worldwide development, said by telephone recently that ‘the time to launch is when a market is in the process of recovery.’

“The Spanish edition of Forbes, a monthly released March 6, had a print run of 65,000 copies. Neither Mr. Forbes nor Mr. Rodríguez would disclose financial details about their venture, which involves SpainMedia paying a licensing fee to Forbes based on its magazine sales and advertising revenues.

“‘Andrés has shown that he’s able to put out very strong titles with a very lean staff,’ Mr. Forbes said of Mr. Rodríguez. ‘A lot of publishers have a big staff, but it’s hard to make money when you have a large headcount.'”

Read more here.