A year ago rock star Bono and Elevation Partners bought a 40 percent stake in the Forbes family media empire, shocking and catching many in the industry off guard.
Now they've been going leaner by selling their headquarters, helicopters and dropping poorly performing titles. These actions make it look like they're preparing for an IPO or a sale.
“The word inside is that there will be a liquidity event in the next two years,” one former executive told The New York Post.
Steve Forbes has asserted what the family wants is for a fourth generation to rise up and take over the empire. It doesn't look like that is apt to happen.
But those watching the situation say the deal last year with Bono and Elevation would never had happened if this was looked upon as a reality by the Forbes' family.
Reed Phillips, an investment banker with DeSilva & Phillips, suggested, “If that’s what they wanted to happen, they wouldn’t have done the deal with Elevation,”
Steve Forbes did say last Friday that there were no short-term plans to sell control of Forbes Media - citing a two to three year period.
An interesting thought on my part, is knowing Forbes and Rupert Murdoch and how they have similar business values, it would be a pretty good fit for News Corp. (NWS-A) to take a look at it once things with the Dow Jones' (DJ) acquistion are finalized and integrated with the organization.
The business brand of Forbes is strong and they already have a relationship with News Corp. on Fox TV.
Taking into consideration the $300 million investment by Bono and Elevation for 40 percent of the company, it would put the value of Forbes at about $750 million.
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