Forbes Inc.
28. W. 23rd St.
New York, NY 10010
http://www.forbes.com
The Windup
The editorial mission at Forbes.com is noble: to make its readers richer and smarter. Notes Paul Maidment, editor of the site: "We distinguish ourselves by not being a
financial site but a home page for world business leaders," he says. "We focus on the entire Forbes audience: C-level executives, people who run or own companies and high-end
investors."
Forbes.com, which launched in 1996, competes online head-on with the Web sites of traditional rivals Fortune and BusinessWeek. Maidment claims Forbes.com is the No. 1 business
site on the Web, but he could not provide any specific figures since Forbes Inc. is a privately held company. However, the site had 7.5 million users in May, according to
netScore, which measures Internet traffic.
The Pitch
Because a lot of the coverage on Forbes.com is driven from the bottom up, it's key to get to know the Forbes.com reporters individually and the areas they cover. "It's
important to understand what we're about," Maidment says, adding that the site tries hard not to suffer from me-too-ism, or accepting stories that have originally run elsewhere.
It's also crucial to know that most of the coverage on Forbes.com focuses on publicly traded companies with hardly any write-ups about private firms. The site -- which has seven
"channels" ranging from business to technology to lifestyle -- will also tend to run stories about dynamic business personalities who can offer lessons for the Forbes' audiences.
"The most annoying thing is to get a pitch from someone who has no idea what we do," Maidment adds. "The acid test is: does it make our audience richer or smarter and enable
[managers] to run their business better?"
For law, public policy, Wall Street regulation and the film industry, contact "Top of the News" columnist Dan Ackman, [email protected]; for computer hardware & software, aviation and telecommunications, contact Lisa DiCarlo, [email protected]; for the sports business, celebrities and businesspeople, contact Davide Dukcevich, [email protected]; for biotechnology, pharmaceutical industry stories, health care, medicine and science, contact Matthew Herper, [email protected]. For a full list of reporters, refer to the site's masthead, with the attendant links.
Forbes.com reporters like to be initially contacted via e-mail and are amenable to telephone calls once a relationship has been established. Since Forbes.com is a 24-hour
operation there is no one good time to make contact, but know that Forbes.com reporters tend to work hours driven by the industries they cover. So if you're pitching a technology
story, for example, the latter half of the day is the best time to make contact. Note that there is a daily editorial meeting at 2:00 EST where story pitches are fleshed out.
The Follow-Through
In the months ahead, the site will ramp up the number of business lists it deposits into its database and will also enhance its coverage of vertical industries. Look for a
build on coverage on the nexus between information technology and image applications, which is leading to a host of new products, services and media. For instance, how is the
proliferation of "virtual" tours impacting the real estate business? Maidment also is looking to grow the site's Op-Ed area and the 'In My Opinion' forum in particular. This is a
vehicle for executives who have something "prescriptive" to say about their industry, Maidment says. 'In My Opinion' pitches should go to Maidment at [email protected].