Journalist Entrepreneurs
To the larger world, for the past century, Forbes has advocated passionately for entrepreneurial capitalism. In the media world, for the past decade, Forbes has innovated a vast variety of new products and business models. This year, we’re merging those legacies into a new program, Journalist Entrepreneurs, designed to deliver ever-better reporting and writing to our readers.
Many top journalists currently wrestle with whether to remain an employee—with the safety of an established platform and regular paycheck—or, increasingly, strike out on their own in pursuit of freedom and unlimited upside.
Forbes seeks to create a third way: Journalist Entrepreneurs will earn a salary and benefits like other staffers, and be able to leverage our editors, fact-checkers, lawyers and designers. But then they’ll split revenue with Forbes—evenly,
without a cap—based on the subscription journalism they create. In addition to great writing for the magazine and Forbes.com, expect a fleet of world-class newsletters, among other new offerings.
We already have Dwight Silverman onboard—the longtime
Houston Chronicle tech editor carries so much weight that Michael Dell personally tweeted him best wishes when he jumped to Forbes.
Suzanne Rowan Kelleher covers travel trends as deftly as Beyoncé commands the stage. Scott Mendelson knows more about Hollywood box office than the studio heads themselves—no small topic as the entertainment business reinvents itself. Dozens more are still to come.
Letting our journalists embrace the same freemarket system we’ve always espoused enables us to create something truly authentic for Forbes. Our ultimate incentive, of course, is one thing above all: making you, the reader, ever happier.