Editor | Alyson Shontell |
---|---|
Categories | Business magazines |
Frequency | Monthly (1929–1978; 2018–2020) Biweekly (1978–2009) Bimonthly (since 2020) Triweekly (2009–2014) 16 issues per year (2014–2017) |
Publisher | Fortune Media Group Holdings (Chatchaval Jiaravanon) |
Total circulation (2018) | 852,202 [1] |
Founder | Henry Luce |
Founded | 1929 |
First issue | September 1, 1929 |
Country | United States |
Based in | New York City, New York, U.S. |
Language | English |
Website | fortune |
ISSN | 0015-8259 (print) 2169-155X (web) |
Fortune (stylized in all caps) is an American global business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, a global business media company. [2] The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. The magazine competes with Forbes and Bloomberg Businessweek in the national business magazine category and distinguishes itself with long, in-depth feature articles. [3]
The magazine regularly publishes ranked lists including ranking companies by revenue such as in the Fortune 500 that it has published annually since 1955, and in the Fortune Global 500. [4] The magazine is also known for its annual Fortune Investor's Guide. [5]
Fortune was founded by Time magazine co-founder Henry Luce in 1929, who declared it as "the Ideal Super-Class Magazine", a "distinguished and de luxe" publication "vividly portraying, interpreting and recording the Industrial Civilization". [6] Briton Hadden, Luce's business partner, was not enthusiastic about the idea – which Luce originally thought to title Power – but Luce went forward with it after Hadden's sudden death on February 27, 1929. [7]
In late October 1929, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred, marking the onset of the Great Depression. In a memo to the Time Inc. board in November 1929, Luce wrote: "We will not be over-optimistic. We will recognize that this business slump may last as long as an entire year." [8] The publication made its official debut in February 1930. Its editor was Luce, managing editor Parker Lloyd-Smith, and art director Thomas Maitland Cleland. [9] Single copies of the first issue cost US$1 (equivalent to $18in 2022). [8] An urban legend says that Cleland mocked up the cover of the first issue with the $1 price because no one had yet decided how much to charge; the magazine was printed before anyone realized it, and when people saw it for sale, they thought that the magazine must really have worthwhile content. In fact, there were 30,000 subscribers who had already signed up to receive that initial 184-page issue. By 1937, the number of subscribers had grown to 460,000, and the magazine had turned half million dollars in annual profit. [10]
At a time when business publications were little more than numbers and statistics printed in black and white, Fortune was an oversized 11" × 14", using creamy heavy paper, and art on a cover printed by a special process. [11] Fortune was also noted for its photography, featuring the work of Margaret Bourke-White, Ansel Adams, and others. Walker Evans served as its photography editor from 1945 to 1965.
During the Great Depression, the magazine developed a reputation for its social conscience, for Walker Evans and Margaret Bourke-White's color photographs, and for a team of writers including James Agee, Archibald MacLeish, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Alfred Kazin, hired specifically for their writing abilities. The magazine became an important leg of Luce's media empire;[ citation needed ] after the successful launch of Time in 1923 and Fortune in 1930, Luce went on to launch Life in 1936 and Sports Illustrated in 1954.
From its launch in 1930 to 1978, Fortune was published monthly. In January 1978, it began publishing biweekly. In October 2009, citing declining advertising revenue and circulation, Fortune began publishing every three weeks. [12] [13] As of 2018, Fortune is published 14 times a year. [14]
Marshall Loeb was named managing editor in 1986. During his tenure at Fortune, Loeb was credited[ by whom? ] with expanding the traditional focus on business and the economy with added graphs, charts, and tables, as well as the addition of articles on topics such as executive life and social issues connected to the world of business, including the effectiveness of public schools and on homelessness. [3]
During the years[ when? ] when Time Warner owned Time Inc., Fortune articles (as well as those from Money magazine) were hosted at CNNMoney.com. [15]
In June 2014, after Time Inc. spun off from its corporate parent, [16] Fortune launched its own website at Fortune.com. [17]
On November 26, 2017, it was announced that Meredith Corporation would acquire Time Inc. in a $2.8 billion deal. The acquisition was completed on January 31, 2018. [18] [19] [20]
On November 9, 2018, it was announced that Meredith Corporation was selling Fortune to Thai billionaire Chatchaval Jiaravanon for $150 million. [21] Jiaravanon is affiliated with the Thailand-based conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group, which has holdings in agriculture, telecommunications, retail, pharmaceutical, and finance. [22]
Since March 4, 2020, access to Fortune.com has been restricted by a paywall. [23]
Fortune regularly publishes ranked lists. In the human resources field, for example, it publishes a list of the Best Companies to Work For. Lists include companies ranked in order of gross revenue and business profile, as well as business leaders:
There have been 20 top editors since Fortune was conceived in 1929. Following the elimination of the editor-in-chief role at Time Inc. in October 2013, [25] the top editor's title was changed from "managing editor" to "editor" in 2014. [26] The present title is "editor-in-chief". [27]
Time is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on March 3, 1923, and for many years it was run by its influential co-founder, Henry Luce.
Dotdash Meredith is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, lifestyle, travel, and education. It operates brands including Verywell, Investopedia, People, The Balance, Byrdie, MyDomaine, Brides, The Spruce, Simply Recipes, Serious Eats, Liquor.com, Lifewire, TripSavvy, TreeHugger, and ThoughtCo. In August 2012, About.com became a property of IAC, owner of Ask.com and numerous other online brands, and its revenue is generated by advertising. In addition to its Manhattan headquarters, Dotdash Meredith maintains offices elsewhere in the New York metropolitan area, as well as in Des Moines, Iowa, and Birmingham, Alabama.
Sports Illustrated (SI) is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice. It is also known for its annual swimsuit issue, which has been published since 1964, and has spawned other complementary media works and products.
Henry Robinson Luce was an American magazine magnate who founded Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated magazines. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the America of his day".
Life is an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, a monthly from 1978 until 2000, and an online supplement since 2008. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, Life was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography, and was one of the nation's most popular magazines, regularly reaching one-quarter of the population.
People is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, People had the largest audience of any American magazine, but it fell to second place in 2018 after its readership significantly declined to 35.9 million. People had $997 million in advertising revenue in 2011, the highest advertising revenue of any American magazine. In 2006, it had a circulation of 3.75 million and revenue expected to top $1.5 billion. It was named "Magazine of the Year" by Advertising Age in October 2005, for excellence in editorial, circulation, and advertising. People ranked number 6 on Advertising Age's annual "A-list" and number 3 on Adweek's "Brand Blazers" list in October 2006.
Money is an American personal finance brand and website owned by Ad Practitioners LLC and formerly also a monthly magazine, first published by Time Inc. (1972–2018) and later by Meredith Corporation (2018–2019). Its articles cover the gamut of personal finance topics ranging from credit cards, mortgages, insurance, banking and investing to family finance issues like paying for college, credit, career and home improvement. It is well known for its annual list of "America's Best Places to Live".
Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned magazines, television stations, websites, and radio stations. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more than 40 million, and its websites had nearly 135 million monthly unique visitors. Its broadcast television stations reached 11% of U.S. households.
Fast Company is an American business and innovation magazine and website headquartered in New York City. It was founded in Boston in 1995 by Alan Webber, Bill Taylor, and Mortimer Zuckerman. The magazine, which is published both in print and online, focuses on technology, business, and design, with six print issues released annually.
Inc. is an American business magazine founded in 1979 and based in New York City. The magazine publishes six issues per year, along with surrounding online and social media content. The magazine also produces several live and virtual events yearly.
Travel + Leisure is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark rights belonging to Travel + Leisure Co., a timeshare company capitally separate from IAC but licensing trademark to. Its main competitor is Condé Nast Traveler.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake Time, Sports Illustrated, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Fortune, People, InStyle, Life, Golf Magazine, Southern Living, Essence, Real Simple, and Entertainment Weekly. It also had subsidiaries which it co-operated with the UK magazine house Time Inc. UK, whose major titles include What's on TV, NME, Country Life, and Wallpaper. Time Inc. also co-operated over 60 websites and digital-only titles including MyRecipes, Extra Crispy, TheSnug, HelloGiggles, and MIMI.
Fortune Small Business (FSB) was an American magazine published 10 times per year from 1991 to 2009. It was a joint venture by The Fortune Group at Time Inc. and the American Express Small Business Services. It was delivered to 1 million small business owners across the United States.
Marshall Robert Loeb was an American author, editor, commentator and columnist specializing in business matters, who spent 38 years in the Time Inc. publication network which included service as managing editor of both Fortune and Money magazines. The New York Times called him "one of the most visible and influential editors in the magazine industry".
Hedley Donovan was editor in chief of Time Inc. from 1964 to 1979. In this capacity, he oversaw all of the company's magazine publications, including Time, Life, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Money, and People. Hand-picked by founder Henry Luce, Donovan redirected the magazine from its historically conservative orientation to a more objective editorial stance, particularly with respect to the Vietnam War. The Hedley Donovan Award was created in 1999 by the Minnesota Magazines and Publications Association to recognize individuals who have shown outstanding lifelong dedication and contributions to Minnesota's magazine industry.
Molina Healthcare, Inc. is a managed care company headquartered in Long Beach, California, United States. The company provides health insurance to individuals through government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
Carol Junge Loomis is an American financial journalist, who retired in 2014 as senior editor-at-large at Fortune magazine.
Ralph "Del" Delahaye Paine Jr. was an American editor and publisher.
John Huey is an American journalist and publishing executive who served as the editor-in-chief of Time Inc., at the time the largest magazine publisher in the United States, overseeing more than 150 titles, including Time, People, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly and InStyle. He previously served as the editor of Fortune, Atlanta bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal and founding managing editor, and later editor, of The Wall Street Journal Europe. He co-authored the best-selling autobiography of Walmart founder Sam Walton.
The Gerald Loeb Award is given annually for multiple categories of business reporting. Lifetime Achievement awards are given annually "to honor a journalist whose career has exemplified the consistent and superior insight and professional skills necessary to contribute to the public's understanding of business, finance and economic issues." Recipients are given a hand-cut crystal Waterford globe "symbolic of the qualities honored by the Loeb Awards program: integrity, illumination, originality, clarity and coherence." The first Lifetime Achievement Award was given in 1992.