Fortune Small Business

Fortune Small Business (FSB) was a magazine published 10 times per year from 1991 to 2009. The publication was a joint venture by The Fortune Group at Time Inc. and American Express Small Business Services. FSB was delivered to 1 million small business owners nationwide.

Introduction

Fortune magazine is an American business magazine that is produced all throughout the country in the United States. It is naturally published by Fortune Media Group Holdings and is headquartered in New York City. This publication company is owned by the Thai businessman known as Chatchaval Jiaravanon. This magazine in particular regularly publishes ranked lists that include the Fortune Small Business, Fortune 500, Fortune 50, etc. All of these publications typically give their consumers an idea of where business, celebrities, music artists, etc. are in terms of revenue. This whole magazine itself, however, was founded by The Atlantic Monthly Company co-founder Henry Luce far back in 1929 and was known as “the Ideal Super-Class Magazine.” It is apparently a “distinguished and de luxe” publication “vividly portraying, interpreting and recording the Industrial Civilization.” Given that this publication began in 1929, it started during a timeframe where the business had it a little harder than most other businesses. For example, it was said that in late October 1929, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred which basically began the Great Depression. This time is a hard time for almost all businesses as it created a time where living was too expensive. However, this hardship did not stop this publication from thriving. In fact, it helped the magazine succeed in launching. Since it was able to successfully launch, Fortune has been able to publish every month since 1978. After that, it successfully began publishing biweekly. This magazine has come a long way since then, however, this is not just about Fortune magazine, no. This is about Fortune Small Business.

History

Fortune Small Business was a magazine sub-published under Fortune as if it were a part of the actual magazine itself but was really its own publication. Although it was connected to Fortune, it was a joint venture by them at Time Inc. and American Express Small Business Services. Each issue provided hard-hitting, informative coverage of the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. economy – small businesses. It was delivered to 1 million small business owners when Time Inc. was a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner. This magazine was initially established in 1991 under a different name called Your Company. It was renamed in the November 1999 issue according to the managing editor's request per Hank Gilman. It explored how small business owners run their companies, what technologies they use, and where they spend time out of the office. FSB published different types of lists, which will be discussed in the next section, where these lists would highlight the companies, trends, and entrepreneurs that would make headlines in the year ahead. Although this publication had its good run, it was unfortunately discontinued in 2009. Why was it discontinued? Well, it turned out it was because they decided to team up with the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University in Houston. The goal that came out of this partnership was mainly to promote small businesses and to help entrepreneurs realize their dreams. It is often said that small businesses are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. economy and contributes the largest amount of job growth and wealth creation. This can definitely be supported by many different testimonies of people out there who decide to interview with a company that is known as a small business. I myself work for a company that is a small business that answers phones for small businesses as well. It's a good way to put your foot into the industry that you're trying to get into while also bettering yourself.

Early Publications

Some of the publications that were published under FSB range from talking about Radio Heads to The New Color of Oil, or to even talking about Jesus Inc. No matter what the publications were released, however, the magazine never strayed very far from what they wanted to achieve in their magazine. A publication from 2007 named “Everybody Wants In” features entrepreneurship as a natural obsession and how that affects veteran business owners. Another publication that can go as far back as December in 2004 called “The Next Little Thing,” talks about an advanced look at companies, products, people, and trends you'll be hearing about in 2005. You can tell from just a couple of these publications that are discussed that FSB never gave up and always provided what they were known for: the list that features businesses in whatever way possible when it comes to the revenue or just about how they're doing in general.

Fortune Franchise

Fortune's global media organization is “dedicated to helping their readers, viewers and attendees succeed big in business through unrivaled access and best-in-class storytelling,” according to their website. The franchise's founding mission is to “reflect industrial life in ink and paper and word and picture as the finest skyscraper reflects it in stone and steel and architecture.” The franchise promotes themselves through many social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram and Pinterest.

Fortune's subscribers have many sections to choose to read from including Auto-motives, careers, design, executive travel, the ledger, venture, finance, energy and environment, health, international, leadership, lifestyle, luxury, retail, sports, technology and commentary. Forbes has a latest tab on their website which shows the latest news going on in the world, for example their top page is titled “Coronavirus Coverage” because of the now (2020) ongoing pandemic. Fortune also has a Coronavirus page on their website which includes 194 pages, according to their website as of December 1, 2020, giving the latest updates on the virus and what could the future hold.

Fortune has also been ranked in many polls. Those include 40 Under 40, 100 Best Companies, Fortune 500, Global 500, Most Powerful Women, World's Greatest Leaders, World's Most Admired Companies, and much more. Subscribers can choose to read their writing in either print or digital format. Their products include magazines, newsletters, videos, podcasts and conferences.

Fortune also has commercial services, including FORTUNE Knowledge Group and FORTUNE Branded Content.

Contributors

Fortune's employment strives for a quote from their founder, Henry R. Luce. He quoted, “Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight.” Fortune employment established themselves as an exciting new company. They deepen their investment in journalism, grow their communities and improve technology. They also expand geographic reach. Their main goal is to build the franchise “into the world's preeminent business media brand and help make business better.

As of December 1, 2020 they have no open positions at the time. However their list of employment opportunities include editorial, live media, marketing and sales and product and engineering.

Below is a list of editors, according to their website.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Clifton Leaf DEPUTY EDITOR Brian O'Keefe DIGITAL EDITOR Andrew Nusca SENIOR FEATURES EDITOR Matthew Heimer FEATURES EDITOR Kristen Bellstrom DEPUTY DIGITAL EDITOR Rachel Schallom ASIA EDITOR Clay Chandler

SENIOR EDITORS AT LARGE Geoff Colvin, Shawn Tully CREATIVE DIRECTOR Peter Herbert DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Mia J. Diehl DIRECTOR OF VIDEO Mason Cohn

Fortune also has different departments, just as in any other franchise or company. They hold a chief executive officer, marketing and advertising vice president, sales, live media, communications and finance.

Viewership

Fortune Small Business relies on their viewership through subscribers, who as mentioned before, can choose between a digital or actual print copy magazines.

Fortune's standard subscription includes complete access to their archives and on demand videos and CEO interviews. While their premium subscription plan includes everything in the standard package in addition to many more. Those include investment guides, signature lists, Fortune analytics, weekly proprietary research, monthly roundtables, and print magazines.

Below is a list of subscription benefits included for their subscribers, according to their website.

   - Premium Content
   - Fortune on Demand
   - Exclusive List Analysis
   - Quarterly Investment Guides
   - Fortune Analytics
   - The Inside Story

Award and Recognitions

Fortune had been one of the most competitive and successful business magazines just as its competitor magazines. It has been awarded and recognized for multiple awards for stories that were published in categories such as the “Hottest Business Brand,” International Reporting,” “Travel/Transportation,” “Management/Career,” “Technology,” “Commentary/Opinion,” and “Banking/Finance.”A few stories that Fortune published won awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Fortune also received awards in the Adweek Hot List in the category “Hottest Business Brand” as well as the Loeb Awards in the category “Lifetime Achievement Award, Editing.” Finally, it has received awards from the New York Press Club in the categories “Business Reporting,” “Entertainment News,” “Best Feature Photography,” “Best Feature Reporting,” “Food Writing,” and “Political Coverage.”

In 2016 Fortune received eight awards which includes ASME in the category “ASME Next” and SABEW Best in Business in the categories “Autos/Transportation Medium and Large,” “Banking/Finance Medium,” “Feature and International Medium,” “ Media/Entertainment Small and Medium,” and “Retail Medium.” They also won awards from SPD in the categories “Data Visualization: Information Graphics,” and “iPhoto: Feature, service; single/spread.” Finally, they were also a finalist in the Deadline Club in the category “Headline Writing” and Honorably Mentioned in the SABEW Best in Business in the category “Feature Medium.”

According to a Fortune article “Fortune‘s total of six top prizes matched giant Bloomberg News, and eclipsed that of other publications with hundreds more reporters on staff, including the Wall Street Journal.” According to the president and Time Inc's Chief Content Officer Alan Murray “this is a great tribute to the serious journalism we do at Fortune,” and “Our staff is a fraction of the size of some of our larger business news competitors, but we punch well above our weight.”

Controversies

A controversy in regards to the Fortune Magazine is that the publication shows that there is no coverage of Blacks and the black business community. Fortune is said to be helping maintain a white dominant view of society that places minorities in general- and Blacks in particular- outside the norm. All according to a study called “A textual analysis comparing the content of “Black Enterprise,``''Forbes,” “Fortune” magazines and the message each presents to its readers” by Karen M. Rowley from Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical.

Another controversy that Fortune faced was that they raised concerns about their editorial staff being given second-class citizen statues. All in which was due to the fact that FSB was a lucrative add-on to the main magazine and it was followed under the Fortune/Money Group but for some reason was not on the CNNMoney.com website when it was rebuilt. “Time Inc. has final editorial control over Fortune Small Business,” said a Time Inc. spokeswoman in a ‘New York Post” article. “FSB was profitable, but we’re continuing to look at all of our costs,” said a Time Inc. spokeswoman, who confirmed the cutbacks. Earlier, the main Fortune magazine had gone through its own downsizing in which editors and writers exited the magazine with so-called “voluntary packages.”

Similar Publications

Here will be some of the must-read business magazines/publications for entrepreneurs and business owners that's similar to “Fortune Small Business Magazine.” “We’ve ran each of these websites through our favorite SEO tool, AHREF’s, to find out which of their articles are visited, read, and shared the most.”

All publications include the following:

The “Entrepreneur Magazine” which is an American publication that focuses on entrepreneurship and also features famous figures with business interests.

The “Forbes Magazine” which is also an American publication which focuses on billionaires, wealth and money.

The “Inc. Magazine” which was founded in 1979 and based in New York. The magazine is known as a great publication to gain motivation and focuses their articles on small businesses and startups.

The “Bloomberg Businessweek” competes with Fortune and Forbes magazines. It was published back in 1929 and is a go to for information and interpretations of what's current in the business world.

The “Wired magazine” was founded in 1993 and is a magazine that one would go to when looking for content that is not too “business heavy.”

The “Harvard Business Review” publication gets printed 6 times a year and is known to cover a variety of topics relating to leadership, organizational change, negotiation, strategy, operations, marketing, finance and managing.

The “Creative Review” is a UK publication that focuses on their articles design, brand building and advertising, and they publish their content bi-monthly.

The “Adweek” is based in the United States and was first published in 1978. This publication includes topics such as client-agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review and new campaigns.

The “Stuff Magazine” is UK based. It focuses on technology, and innovation, electronics and reviews that is to excite their business and entrepreneur viewers.

(https://www.canny-creative.com/11-must-read-business-magazines-for-entrepreneurs-and-business-owners/)

Content and Format Over Time

As mentioned before, Fortune Small Business magazine was a limited publication between the years 2004–2009. During this time, the content of the magazine included a section called “Features” which is tailored towards the culture, innovation, and economy. In its early years, features included developments in health, infrastructure, tech, and leadership. Another section of the publication was unsurprisingly called “Start-Up” which was dedicated to innovative small businesses. Early reports within the FSB magazine include Intuit, which describes the CEO's position on leadership and developing software that helps small businesses gather data for payroll and taxes. In 2004, software like Intuit was revolutionizing the traditional culture of hiring CPAs and Consultants to solve complex problems. Fortune Small Business was able to interview Intuit's CEO in the early stages of his business which informs its audience on developments that could be implemented in their respective sectors. Today, Intuit is no longer a start-up, but a mogul in its industry by providing software that firms deem essential to their business. Fortune Small Business is able to bring awareness and improve efficiency through its “Start-Up” section. Later publications include sections such as “Off Hours” which are dedicated to lifestyle and opinion pieces. Examples of lifestyle articles depend on the season, so some are dedicated to vacation hotspots, and others are related to holidays like Valentine's Day. These serve to add a balance of business and pleasure. Other columns such as “The Edge” and “Small World” have made appearances in monthly issues, but not consistently. Over time, Fortune Small Business incorporated articles based on principles of ethics. Articles in ethics encourage readers to make the right decisions in their leadership and professional roles. Fortune small business also promotes firms that innovate using the newest sustainability resources. FSB spreads awareness to its readers about shopping responsibly and provides the businesses that uphold these standards. Towards the end of their short reign, Fortune Small Business has included articles pertaining to the great recession. You can access the full collection of Fortune Small Business archives here.

Discontinuation of the Printed Publication

Fortune Small Business was a magazine with goals to entertain and educate. Owned by TimeInc and partnered with eCompany, the magazine survived for a mere four years. One inflicting reason was that the Great recession hindered viewership and ultimately their sales. In 2007 there was approximately a 30% decrease in revenues. Multiple factors contributed to FSB's downfall. First, overhead costs were high. Second, technology advanced as print media started to decline. TimeInc did not facilitate the transition to digital format in a timely fashion, and their sales reflected this. Third, the economy was suffering, and the affordability of commodities in many households significantly decreased. While readers enjoyed subscribing to this magazine, job loss from the recession caused customers to limit their purchases and subscriptions. In order to decrease the impact of the Recession, TimeInc tried to cut unnecessary overhead costs. At the time, Fortune Small Business Magazine was owned and grouped together with other magazines in the Fortune Umbrella as well as Business 2.0, and CNNMoney. The purpose of grouping these publications together was to pitch their advertising packages more efficiently. All of the magazines were already struggling to reach break-even-point, and their advertising sales were very low. Without advertising partnerships, companies are working under limited resources. TimeInc could have sold Fortune Small Business in order to liquidate some of its losses. Instead, they chose to shut down because they did not want to sell to their direct competitors. The discontinuation of Fortune Small Business caused many employees to get laid off. In addition, their officers were demoted to associate positions. While their publications are no longer available, Fortune revitalized their Small Business as a subsection of their website.

Transition to an Online Presence

Although Fortune Small Business ended their print magazine edition back in 2009, their overall presence isn't extinct. Fortune is like many businesses that have adapted to an online presence. With the decline of print media in general, many publications move to a digital format which provides a lot more flexibility to its contributors and viewers. Fortune uses a standard format which relies on their advertisement revenue, and also requires a subscription from their viewers for premium content. This allows the company to continue to produce content that viewers are interested in. Small businesses and start-ups are a desired topic in the sense that viewers are interested in it for research and entertainment purposes. As a result, Fortune Small Business has transitioned from a monthly printed magazine to a tab on Fortune's website. Not only do readers have access to daily content, but they are also able to interact with the posts by commenting and networking within the online community. You can view their official website here.