Forbes Russia

Performance indicators

The audience of the Forbes.ru according to TNS in June 2015 reached 3.3 million people 12 − 63 years old (June 2014 - 3 million, 2013 - 3.9 million, 2012 - 1.4 million). The average number of visits to Forbes according to Similarweb is 6.4 million per month.

History

2022: Site hacking

On February 28, 2022, the sites of RBC, Forbes, TASS, the newspapers Izvestia, Kommersant, as well as several other publications were hacked. On the main page of each of them there was a message from hackers calling for an end to the special operation in Ukraine. Read more here.

2018

Magomed Musaev buys the company from ACMG

In August 2018, businessman Magomed Musaev became the new owner of the Russian Forbes instead of the ACMG media group Alexander Fedotov. Officially, the amount of the transaction did not appear, but the telegram channels featured the figure of $7 million and payment of debt in the amount of 90 million rubles.

"The last crisis period in the development of the magazine, associated with the loss of understanding between the editors and the owner, I was bitterly experiencing not only as an outside observer, but also with the constantly growing understanding of the problems for the global Forbes brand that this situation carries. At some point, it became clear to me that the situation had reached a dead end, that the best way out of the crisis would be to maintain the unity of the Forbes brand and a strong journalistic team. The project needed an owner without a conflict of interest, who could guarantee an independent editorial policy. The American Forbes Media saw me as such, and the crisis of recent months in the magazine accelerated my thinking. I am sincerely grateful to Alexander Fedotov for the fact that during the transaction he managed to put the interests of the magazine above personal ambitions, and Forbes Media President Peter Hang and Forbes Media CEO Michael Federley - for the prompt decision to extend the Russian license until 2023, which made the economic meaning of this investment acceptable to me. The previous license expired at the end of 2019. So we achieved the key goal - to keep the Forbes brand and the team together. "

Natalia Gandurina again becomes the publisher of the magazine, Nikolai Mazurin is again appointed acting editor-in-chief, Nikolai Uskov, who was previously dismissed from the post of editor-in-chief by Fedotov, is the editorial director.

"I am glad to join the Russian Forbes team again. The change of ownership is certainly a positive step for the further development of the publication. His independence and open mind will be restored. All the obligations of the publication, including the payment of debts to journalists and partners, will be fully fulfilled in the coming month, "Natalya Gandurina, the new publisher of the Russian Forbes[1], told Sostav[1].

In addition, the new owner of the Russian Forbes Magomed Musaev invited the former chief editors of the publication Maxim Kashulinsky, Elizabeth Osetinskaya and Elmar Murtazaev to the board of directors, which will ensure the "independence of editorial policy."

Magomed Musaev in a column for RBC:

"As an entrepreneur, of course, I do not believe in a return on investment through a return on the paper version of the magazine. Even a very good magazine will balance economically around zero, and this is just a sign of the times. But as an entrepreneur, I believe in the development of the Forbes multimedia platform. I believe in the congress and exhibition business, I believe in the new Forbes Club as a club of investors, I believe in the development of the digital direction, I believe in analytics and consulting under the Forbes brand, I believe in products related to educational transformation, both online and offline. How to balance these opportunities will be answered by strategy. "

Delays in paying salaries to journalists and creditors' claims against the company

In early August 2018, Forbes journalists appealed to the prosecutor's office with a complaint due to non-payment of wages. Before that, at the end of July, three enforcement proceedings were initiated against the Forbes publishing company in the amount of more than 93.3 million rubles. (10.7 million, 48.8 million and 33.7 million). According to SPARK Interfax, these are taxes and fees, as well as penalties on them. In addition, at the request of the Federal Tax Service (FTS), expenditure transactions in 28 ACMG bank accounts were suspended from June 28 to July 31 .

Dismissal of chief editor Uskov and his conflict with publisher Fedotov

Nikolai Uskov was relieved of his post as editor-in-chief of Russian Forbes in June 2018. In July, he went to court to appeal the dismissal and announced his intentions to seek recognition as illegal disciplinary sanctions and payments, including compensation for moral damage. In response, the publisher of the Russian Forbes and the owner of the ACMG group, Alexander Fedotov, filed two lawsuits against Uskov on the protection of honor and dignity, as well as on the disclosure of trade secrets. Natalia Gandurina also challenged in court the termination of her employment contract with the publisher Forbes.

2016: Uskov succeeds Murtazaev as chief editor

In January 2016, it became known that Nikolai Uskov, who previously led the Snob project, replaced Elmar Murtazaev as editor-in-chief of Forbes. It was reported that Murtazaev would leave the publication of his own free will. Uskov should develop Forbes magazine, Forbes Woman applications, Forbes Life, the forbes.ru website and the Forbes closed club.

At the same time, the publishing house AS Media, which publishes Forbes in Russia, will have the position of chief editor of the combined editorial board of Forbes magazine and the site forbes.ru. It will be occupied by Nikolai Mazurin, who was still the first deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine. In February 2006, Mazurin became deputy chief editor of Forbes, in January 2014 - first deputy. Before Forbes, he worked as editor of the Finance department in the newspapers Vremya Novosti and Vedomosti.

2015: Artcom Media buys Axel Springer Russia ID

In September 2015, Artcom Media, a publishing house controlled by businessman Alexander Fedotov, bought Axel Springer Russia, the owner of Forbes Russia. The transaction was made due to the law on foreigners in the media, according to which foreign shareholders cannot have more than 20% in Russian publications. The company was later renamed AS Rus Media.

2014: Murtazaev appointed editor-in-chief

In early 2014, Murtazaev Elmar Dzhevdetovich was appointed editor-in-chief of Forbes Russia. From 2011 to 2013, he served as deputy chief editor.