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14:32 | 16 May 2023

Luminar Technologies owner buys 82% stake in Forbes

Luminar Technologies founder and CEO Austin Russell, 28, has taken a controlling stake in Forbes Global Media, the publisher of Forbes magazine. The businessman acquired an 82% stake in Forbes Global Media, including the one owned by the Forbes family. The minority stake will be retained by the seller – Hong Kong company Integrated Whale Media Investments. At the end of the transaction Forbes is valued at nearly $ 800 million.

The businessman stressed that he does not intend to participate in the editorial policy of the publication or influence news coverage. In addition, Russell plans to update the board of directors, inviting experts in the fields of media, technology and artificial intelligence.

Integrated Whale Media Investments will remain a minority shareholder in the magazine publisher.

Majority owner Austin Russell plans to become a visionary of the Forbes brand and will not be involved in day-to-day operations. Forbes will appoint a new board of directors, which will consist of American experts in media, technology and artificial intelligence.

Austin Russell heads Luminar Technologies, which develops vision-based lidar and machine vision technology, primarily for self-driving cars. With a market capitalization of $2.1 billion, Luminar generated $40.7 million in revenue last year and is not profitable.

Previously, the head of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance Changpen Zhao was looking at buying Forbes.
In February 2022, it was reported that Binance would invest $200 million in Forbes. Then the media wrote that the funds raised would help Forbes to enter the exchange through a merger with a shell company (SPAC) in the first quarter of this year.Forbes Media announced plans to enter the exchange through a merger with a shell company in late August 2021.


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