Keith J. Kelly

Keith J. Kelly

Media

After 97 years in NYC, Forbes heads to New Jersey

Forbes Media surprised staffers Tuesday with the news that the “capitalist tool” is moving to New Jersey — vacating the Greenwich Village HQ it has occupied for 49 years.

CEO Mike Perlis gave the word but said the company is looking for “strategically located office space in Manhattan to serve as a New York office.”
Perlils said the new HQ lease, arranged by the LeFrak Organization, is at 499 Washington Blvd. in Jersey City.

“The New Jersey venue will give us the opportunity to create a state-of-the-art media center,” Perlis said his memo to staffers.

The move out of its HQ is not a shock since the Forbes family had already sold Forbes Media’s headquarters — purchased in 1965 — to New York University in 2010 for $65 million. At the time it signed a five-year lease to stay in the building. That lease expires Dec. 31.

Still, leaving the Big Apple for New Jersey is a shocker as Forbes has been based here for 97 years.

Meanwhile, six bidders remain in the hunt to buy Forbes Media from the Forbes family and its minority partner Elevation Partners.

The bidders, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, include: Germany-based Axel Springer; Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd.; G2 Whale Capital Group, also based in China; and separate bids from two Singapore-based firms, Spice Global Private Ltd. and the Oxley Group.

The sixth group is said to be an American investment firm being headed by Jack Laschever, currently the head of the Forbes conference business.