Russian private investment firm Onexin is reportedly in talks to acquire US business magazine publisher Forbes.
Onexin Group is led by Russian billionaire Mickhail Prokhorov and has interests in mining, energy and nanotechnology industries. However, the private equity group has recently been focusing on new media investments, according to Russian news reports, translated by Yakov Sadchikov, CEO of search engine Quintura. Onexin recently financed the launch of Snob magazine and will soon launch Snob TV and mutimedia online portal Snob.ru, says Sadchikov.
The reports do not say how much Onexin will offer, and Forbes has so far not commented on the rumour. In 2006, private equity firm Elevation Partners bought a 40% stake in the publisher for a reported USD250m to USD300m, suggesting a valuation of between USD625m and USD750m. However, the firm may be worth less due to the economic climate.
Like other news publishers in the US, Forbes has not escaped the economic downturn and a decline in ad revenues. The firm has laid off 43 employees this year and shut down Forbesauto.com, as well as their conference division. It is also in the process of integrating its sales and marketing divisions and will merge its digital and print newsrooms next year.
In Russia, Forbes magazine is published by Alex Springer, Germany’s largest newspaper and third-largest magazine publisher.
StrategyEye's related companies: Elevation Partners, Forbes Inc.
