GigaOM : » Roger McNamee, Bono buy a piece of Forbes
“Nevertheless, there was one man, who is missing from all the headlines – Tim Forbes. He was the real driver of the online strategy and a true believer. A tip of the hat to him would be in order, for that digital strategy has become a viable exit strategy as The Times points out.”
Amen to that. Tim is the reason Forbes.com exists, thrives, and started in the first place and he stuck with it with a level of committment unseen in traditional media. Caught up with him in Berlin last month and he’s as passionate about online publishing today as he was in 1995.
I was surprised by this but Forbes getting new money and some new direction from people who are not sycophants is a great thing. Oh I bet McNamee and ono have met wealthy successful people they haven’t had to suck up to. It will be the shot Forbes needs to leap forward or make a Long March.
Jim
Agreed. I expect some big changes on the site as a result of Elevation’s insights and connections. If I were there I would —
1. Stick to the database publishing model because so much business and financial information is quantifiable and best displayed in a convenient interface.
2. Seek an alliance with Google Finance and AJAX the heck out of the company tear-sheets, rich-lists, and other rankings
3. Go full tilt at CGM and user contributed content, make the site infinitely taggable
4. Back off from email newsletters, the legacy of NASCARing the site.
5. More focus on original and investigative reporting
If I were there I wouldn’t be too complacent, I predict a significant transformation in the edit team.