Fortune

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA·FOUNDED 1929·fortune.com

Fortune is an American global business magazine and media company founded by Henry R. Luce in 1929, now owned by Fortune Media Group Holdings under Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon.

Overview

Fortune is a global business magazine and media company headquartered in New York City, publishing news, features and rankings on business, finance, technology and leadership. Fortune also operates a live-events business, including the Fortune Global Forum, Most Powerful Women and Brainstorm conferences. The company is owned by Fortune Media Group Holdings, controlled by Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon.

History

Fortune was conceived in 1929 by Henry R. Luce, co-founder of Time Inc., who envisioned it as "the Ideal Super-Class Magazine," a "distinguished and de luxe" publication devoted to covering American business life. Luce's business partner, Briton Hadden, was skeptical of the idea; after Hadden's sudden death in February 1929, Luce brought a formal proposal to the Time Inc. board, which approved it. The first issue was published in February 1930, several months after the stock market crash that began the Great Depression, as a lavishly illustrated monthly aimed at business leaders and executives.

In 1955, Fortune editor Edgar P. Smith created the Fortune 500, an annual ranking of the largest U.S. corporations by revenue, first published as the "Annual Directory of the 500 Largest Corporations"; the inaugural list was topped by General Motors. Fortune operated as part of Time Inc. for most of its history. In January 2018, Iowa-based media conglomerate Meredith Corporation acquired Time Inc., including Fortune; that December, Meredith sold Fortune to Chatchaval Jiaravanon for $150 million. The magazine has since operated under Fortune Media Group Holdings, independent of Time Inc.'s other former titles.

Notable works

• 2024 Loeb Award FinalistPeter Elkind's Fortune longform investigation, "Inside Elon Musk's $1.4 Billion Score," examining how the Tesla CEO secured outsized Nevada state incentives to build the company's battery "Gigafactory," was named a finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism—the top honor in American business journalism, administered by the UCLA Anderson School of Management. The piece was a finalist, not a winner, in that year's competition.

• 1955–presentSince 1955, Fortune has published the Fortune 500, an annual ranking of the largest U.S. corporations by revenue that has become a standard benchmark of American corporate scale; the magazine also publishes companion rankings including the Fortune Global 500, the Fortune 500 Europe, and the Most Powerful Women list.

Key personnel

• Editor-in-Chief & Chief Content OfficerAlyson Shontell

• Owner, Fortune Media Group HoldingsChatchaval Jiaravanon

• FounderHenry R. Luce (1898–1967)

Audience

Fortune serves business leaders, executives and professionals interested in corporate news, finance, technology and leadership. Content is organized around its rankings products (Fortune 500, Global 500, Most Powerful Women, World's Most Admired Companies) alongside daily news coverage, a print magazine, newsletters, podcasts, video and a live conference and events business.

Location and contact info

HeadquartersNew York, New York

OwnerFortune Media Group Holdings (Chatchaval Jiaravanon)

Websitehttps://fortune.com